County Cork, Ireland has to be one of the most beautiful areas of a wonderful country, and the small market town of Newmarket is one of its unique market towns.
Newmarket - or, in the classical Irish language, Áth Trasna - the intersection at the ford, is in the Barony of Duhallow, in the north-west of Co. Cork. Bounded by Limerick and Kerry, and with the famous Blackwater river running close by, filled with its tasty salmon, this is a portion of Ireland that you would be crazy to leave off.
The town of Newmarket itself, with hardly 2,500 occupants, stands proof for the word ’sleepy’ almost as well as anywhere in the country - unless you appear to be passing through after an especially spectacular G.A.A. Victory, when the town’s own song, Up Up Newmarket, will be heard - they take their sport extremely seriously here.
Positioned on a valley surrounded by the foothills of the Mulmuaghreirk Mountains, where Fionn (the legendary Finn McCool) hunted the wild boar and the stag, Newmarket also has numerous alluring pre-historic locations near it - a cairn, gallauns (boundary stones) and forts. It is, indeed, a location soaked in Irish history; John Philpot Curran was born here and his daughter, Sarah, was the love of rebel chieftain Robert Emmet. Just outside the town is the beautiful Island Wood, home of the Twelve Apostles Tree - it has twelve smaller trunks growing from out of its main trunk. This secluded wooded area, with the River Dalua, crammed with salmon and trout, flowing wonderfully through it, is an appropriately popular spot for solitary contemplation.
The Island Wood in Newmarket, Co. Cork, Ireland, in fact, has been assimilated into a 100-mile trek known as the Duhallow Trail, investigating this wonderfully serene portion of the world, and passing though Newmarket itself. Other especially notable sectors of the trail are the charming town of Kanturk and its famous castle, taken care of by An Taisce - The National Trust for Ireland and a magnificent structure. At the proximate graveyard of Clonfert, there is a poignant, small Celtic cross marking the massed burial site of a lot of victims of the Great Famine.
In Newmarket itself you will find the lively James O’Keefe Institute - really a place of residence built in 1725 for the Aldworth family, a member of which had established the town a century earlier. it is now a thriving centre for the local community.
There are no hotels in Newmarket, County Cork,, Ireland though there are several nice guesthouses or places offering B&B in the area. K.D.’s Fast Food, has a good reputation for the quality of its menu and its friendly ambience and there are other places where you can get good food, such as Marie’s Restaurant, in the Main Street. It is for sure a town where you can be assured of a real, warm Irish welcome.
Co. Cork has a whole array of spectacular attractions for visitors. The historic city of Cork itself is justifiably world famous. The exotic blue flag beaches of Ballybunnion are close to hand. Blarney Castle and Killarney are just a short drive away. And there are superbly spectacular golf courses, lakes, mountains and lakes.
found on the R576, at its junction with the R578, Newmarket, one of County Cork’s hidden treasures, should be part of everyone’s program when they’re in Ireland’s south west corner.
Information
