Cork

Third-largest city in Ireland; port and county town of County Cork, important industrial and trading centre on the River Lee, at the head of the long inlet of Cork harbour, 21 km/13 mi from the sea; population (2002) 123,100. The lower harbour, at Cobh, can berth liners. The city has breweries, distilleries, container ports, and iron foundries. Other industries include cars, chemicals, food processing, oil refining, pharmaceuticals, pottery, steel, and tanning; manufacturing includes rubber and metal products, and computer hardware and software. St Fin Barre founded a school and an abbey here in the 7th century. The area was subsequently settled by Danes, who were in turn dispossessed by the Normans in 1172.

Cork has retained a tradition of learning; University College, founded in 1845 as the Queen's University Cork, became the University of Cork, part of the national University of Ireland in 1909. There is a Protestant cathedral dedicated to St Fin Barre, the city's patron saint, and a Roman Catholic pro-cathedral of St Mary and St Fin Barre (built in 1808). There is also an art gallery, an art school with an international reputation, a museum, and an airport 6 km/4 mi from the city centre. The city hall opened in 1937.

Location and economy The nucleus of Cork is built on an island formed by two arms of the River Lee, known as the North and South channels; the rest of the city spreads in all directions. Large suburbs have developed, particularly since 1946. Many of the chemical and pharmaceutical industries are sited at the Little Island industrial estate between Cobh and Cork (Ringaskiddy).

Cork's principal imports are animal feed, coal, fertilizers, fruit, maize, machinery and spare parts, oil, rock containing phosphate (used to make fertilizer), iron pyrites (used to manufacture sulphuric acid), rubber, salt, steel, timber, and wheat. The principal exports are bacon, butter, clay, confectionery, eggs, malt, meat, livestock, oil products, poultry, and computer hardware and software. A natural gas field off Kinsale serves Cork City; the gas is also piped north to Dublin.

Cork harbour The harbour at Cork is the most important on the south coast of Ireland; it is studded with islands, and its shores are wooded. The lower harbour is at Cobh; the upper harbour at Cork can provide berthage for certain vessels at all tides. Cork harbour is administered by a harbour board, comprised of members of the local authorities and commercial, employers', and labour organizations. Crane facilities are provided, and most quays have rail connections.

Architectural features The only monument of the Middle Ages still standing in Cork is the tower of the Red Abbey, an Augustinian foundation. The Cork skyline is dominated by the steeple of Shandon Church (built 1772). Most of the interesting buildings date from within the last 200 years. The customs house (1818), occupying a commanding position overlooking the river; the Courthouse (1835); the Cork Savings Bank (1842); the former Mansion House (now the Mercy Hospital), erected in 1767; and the County Hall (1965) are the most notable. Many of Cork's buildings are constructed in a local limestone, which is unusually pale in colour, and was also used for the stone quays.

Churches Cork has several interesting churches, many in the 19th-century Gothic style. The Church of Ireland St Fin Barre's Cathedral, a magnificent Neo-Gothic cruciform structure built between 1863 and 1878, is said to occupy the site of an ancient 6th-century church of St Fin Barre. The original buildings were demolished after the siege of 1690 and another church was erected which in turn was replaced by the existing cathedral, an imposing building in French Gothic style designed by William Burges. Its three high spires are a familiar Cork landmark and it contains some fine stone carvings. The peal of eight bells were cast by Rudhalls of Gloucester, England. The pro-cathedral of St Mary and St Fin Barre (1808) was built in a pointed Gothic style, also on the site of an older church. The 18th-century church of St Ann's, Shandon, has a remarkable tower with two sides finished in white limestone, and two in red sandstone; it is famous for its bells, which are immortalized in the song ‘The Bells of Shandon’. The church of St Peter and St Paul (1866) is regarded as one of A W N Pugin's best works.

Of the many other churches in Cork, the most notable include Holy Trinity, run by the Capuchin Fathers, and erected in 1832 to commemorate Fr Matthew, the Apostle of Temperance; St Finnbarr's South (1766), which contains the Dead Christ by Hogan, an eminent Cork sculptor; St Patrick's (1836); St Vincent's at Sunday's Well; Christ the King (1931) at Turner's Cross, a good example of functional architecture; the Augustinian church in Washington Street; the Franciscan church (1953) in Liberty Street, an outstanding 20th-century interpretation of the Byzantine style; and the Honan Chapel (1916) in the university grounds, which is modelled on Cormac's Chapel at Cashel, a 12th-century masterpiece in an Irish version of the Romanesque style.

History In the 9th century the Danes devastated the settlement that had grown up around St Fin Barre's foundation. After their arrival in 1172, the Normans built walls around the city. William III took the city after a siege in 1690. During the Anglo-Irish War 1919-21 the Black and Tans caused considerable damage to the city centre. Cork was also an important strategic centre during the Irish Civil War (1922-23).