History of Cork - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Cork (city)

Cork is the second largest city in the Republic of Ireland and the island of Ireland's third most populous city. It is the principal city and administrative centre of County Cork and the largest city in the province of Munster. Cork has a population of 119,418, while the addition of the suburban...

, located on Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

's south coast, is the Republic of Ireland

Republic of Ireland

Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...

's second largest city and the largest city in the province of Munster

Munster

Munster is one of the Provinces of Ireland situated in the south of Ireland. In Ancient Ireland, it was one of the fifths ruled by a "king of over-kings" . Following the Norman invasion of Ireland, the ancient kingdoms were shired into a number of counties for administrative and judicial purposes...

. Its history dates back to the 6th century.

Origins

Cork has it beginnings in monastic settlement, founded by St Finbar in the sixth century. However the ancestor of the modern city was founded between 915 and 922, when Viking settlers established a trading community. The Viking leader Ottir Iarla

Ottir Iarla

Ottir Iarla or Jarl Óttar , also Ottir Dub or Óttar the Black, and in English sources Oter comes or Count Óttar, was a jarl who occupied a prominent position among the Norse of Britain and Ireland in the early 10th century. He is believed to be the founder of the settlement, Loch dá Caech in the...

is particularly associated with raiding and conquests in the province of Munster

Munster

. The Cogad Gáedel re Gallaib connects this with the earliest Viking

Viking

The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...

settlement of Cork. The Norse phase of Cork's history left a legacy of family names, such as Cotter and Coppinger, peculiar to Cork which are claimed to have Norse origins. In the twelfth century, this settlement was taken over by invading Anglo-Norman settlers

Norman Ireland

The History of Ireland 1169–1536 covers the period from the arrival of the Cambro-Normans to the reign of Henry VIII of England, who made himself King of Ireland. After the Norman invasion of 1171, Ireland was under an alternating level of control from Norman lords and the King of England...

. Cork's city charter was granted by King John of England in 1185. Over the centuries, much of the city was rebuilt, time and again, after numerous fires. The city was at one time fully walled, and several sections and gates remain. The title of Mayor of Cork was established by royal charter in 1318, and the title was changed to Lord Mayor in 1900.

A settler outpost

For much of the Middle Ages, Cork city was an outpost of Old English

Old English (Ireland)

The Old English were the descendants of the settlers who came to Ireland from Wales, Normandy, and England after the Norman invasion of Ireland in 1169–71. Many of the Old English became assimilated into Irish society over the centuries...

culture in the midst of a predominantly hostile Gaelic

Gaels

The Gaels or Goidels are speakers of one of the Goidelic Celtic languages: Irish, Scottish Gaelic, and Manx. Goidelic speech originated in Ireland and subsequently spread to western and northern Scotland and the Isle of Man....

countryside and cut off from the English government in the Pale

The Pale

The Pale or the English Pale , was the part of Ireland that was directly under the control of the English government in the late Middle Ages. It had reduced by the late 15th century to an area along the east coast stretching from Dalkey, south of Dublin, to the garrison town of Dundalk...

around Dublin. Neighbouring Gaelic and Hiberno-Norman

Hiberno-Norman

The Hiberno-Normans are those Norman lords who settled in Ireland who admitted little if any real fealty to the Anglo-Norman settlers in England, and who soon began to interact and intermarry with the Gaelic nobility of Ireland. The term embraces both their origins as a distinct community with...

lords extorted "Black Rent" from the citizens in order to keep them from attacking the city. The Cork municipal government was dominated by about 12-15 merchant families, whose wealth came from overseas trade with continental Europe - in particular the export of wool and hides and the import of salt, iron and wine. Of these families, only the Ronayne family were of Gaelic Irish origin.

The medieval population of Cork was about 2000 people. It suffered a severe blow in 1349 when almost half the townspeople died of bubonic plague

Bubonic plague

Plague is a deadly infectious disease that is caused by the enterobacteria Yersinia pestis, named after the French-Swiss bacteriologist Alexandre Yersin. Primarily carried by rodents and spread to humans via fleas, the disease is notorious throughout history, due to the unrivaled scale of death...

when the Black Death

Black Death

The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350. Of several competing theories, the dominant explanation for the Black Death is the plague theory, which attributes the outbreak to the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Thought to have...

arrived in the town. In 1491 Cork played a part in the English Wars of the Roses

Wars of the Roses

The Wars of the Roses were a series of dynastic civil wars for the throne of England fought between supporters of two rival branches of the royal House of Plantagenet: the houses of Lancaster and York...

when Perkin Warbeck

Perkin Warbeck

Perkin Warbeck was a pretender to the English throne during the reign of King Henry VII of England. By claiming to be Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York, the younger son of King Edward IV, one of the Princes in the Tower, Warbeck was a significant threat to the newly established Tudor Dynasty,...

a pretender to the English throne, landed in the city and tried to recruit support for a plot to overthrow Henry VII of England

Henry VII of England

Henry VII was King of England and Lord of Ireland from his seizing the crown on 22 August 1485 until his death on 21 April 1509, as the first monarch of the House of Tudor....

. The mayor of Cork and several important citizens went with Warbeck to England but when the rebellion collapsed they were all captured and executed. Cork's nickname of the 'rebel city' originates in these events.

A description of Cork written in 1577 speaks of the city as, "the fourth city of Ireland" that is, "so encumbered with evil neighbours, the Irish outlaws, that they are fayne to watch their gates hourly...they trust not the country adjoining [and only marry within the town] so that the whole city is linked to each other in affinity"

Wars of religion

The character of Cork was changed by the Tudor conquest of Ireland (c.1540-1603) which left the English authorities in control of all of Ireland for the first time, introduced thousands of English settlers in the Plantations of Ireland

Plantations of Ireland

Plantations in 16th and 17th century Ireland were the confiscation of land by the English crown and the colonisation of this land with settlers from England and the Scottish Lowlands....

and significantly, tried to impose the Protestant Reformation

Protestant Reformation

The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...

on a predominantly Catholic country. Cork suffered from the warfare involved in the reconquest, particularly in the Second Desmond Rebellion

Second Desmond Rebellion

The Second Desmond rebellion was the more widespread and bloody of the two Desmond Rebellions launched by the FitzGerald dynasty of Desmond in Munster, Ireland, against English rule in Ireland...

in 1579-83, when thousands of rural people fled to the city to avoid the fighting, bringing with them an outbreak of bubonic plague

Bubonic plague

. Cork by and large sided with the Crown in these conflicts, even after a Spanish expeditionary force landed at nearby Kinsale

Kinsale

Kinsale is a town in County Cork, Ireland. Located some 25 km south of Cork City on the coast near the Old Head of Kinsale, it sits at the mouth of the River Bandon and has a population of 2,257 which increases substantially during the summer months when the tourist season is at its peak and...

in 1601 during the Nine Years War. However, the price the citizens demanded for their loyalty was toleration of their Roman Catholic religion. In 1603, the citizens of Cork along with Waterford

Waterford

Waterford is a city in the South-East Region of Ireland. It is the oldest city in the country and fifth largest by population. Waterford City Council is the local government authority for the city and its immediate hinterland...

and Limerick

Limerick

Limerick is the third largest city in the Republic of Ireland, and the principal city of County Limerick and Ireland's Mid-West Region. It is the fifth most populous city in all of Ireland. When taking the extra-municipal suburbs into account, Limerick is the third largest conurbation in the...

rebelled, expelling Protestant ministers, imprisoning English officials, seizing the municipal arsenals and demanding freedom of worship for Catholics. They refused to admit Lord Mountjoy’s English army when it marched south, citing their charters from 12th century. Mountjoy retorted that he would, "cut King John his charter with King James

James I of England

James VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...

his sword" and arrested the ringleaders, thus ending the revolt. It was an ominous sign for the coming century.

In 1641, Ireland was convulsed by the Irish Rebellion of 1641

Irish Rebellion of 1641

The Irish Rebellion of 1641 began as an attempted coup d'état by Irish Catholic gentry, who tried to seize control of the English administration in Ireland to force concessions for the Catholics living under English rule...

. Cork became a stronghold for the English Protestants, who sought refuge there after the outbreak of the rebellion and remained in Protestant hands throughout the ensuing Irish Confederate Wars

Irish Confederate Wars

This article is concerned with the military history of Ireland from 1641-53. For the political context of this conflict, see Confederate Ireland....

. An ineffective Irish Confederate

Confederate Ireland

Confederate Ireland refers to the period of Irish self-government between the Rebellion of 1641 and the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland in 1649. During this time, two-thirds of Ireland was governed by the Irish Catholic Confederation, also known as the "Confederation of Kilkenny"...

attempt to take the city in 1642 was beaten off at the battle of Liscarroll

Battle of Liscarroll

The Battle of Liscarroll was fought in County Cork in July 1642, at the start of the Eleven years war. An Irish Confederate army around 6000 strong and commanded by Garret Barry – a professional soldier - was defeated by an English force commanded by a Protestant Irishman, Murrough O'Brien, Baron...

. In 1644, Murrough O'Brien, Earl Inchiquinn, the commander of English forces in Cork, expelled the Catholic townsmen from city. Although most of them went no further than the city's suburbs, this was the beginning of Protestant domination of the city that would last for nearly two centuries. The population of Cork by this times was around 5000, most of whom lived outside the city walls.

In 1649-53, Ireland was re-conquered

Cromwellian conquest of Ireland

The Cromwellian conquest of Ireland refers to the conquest of Ireland by the forces of the English Parliament, led by Oliver Cromwell during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. Cromwell landed in Ireland with his New Model Army on behalf of England's Rump Parliament in 1649...

by an English Parliamentarian

Parliament of England

The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England. In 1066, William of Normandy introduced a feudal system, by which he sought the advice of a council of tenants-in-chief and ecclesiastics before making laws...

army under Oliver Cromwell

Oliver Cromwell

Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....

. Inchiquin had briefly led Cork into an alliance with the Confederates

Confederate Ireland

, in 1648, but the garrison changed sides again in 1650, going over to English Parliamentarian side under the influence of Roger Boyle, 1st Earl of Orrery

Roger Boyle, 1st Earl of Orrery

Roger Boyle redirects here. For others of this name, see Roger Boyle Roger Boyle, 1st Earl of Orrery was a British soldier, statesman and dramatist. He was the third surviving son of Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork and Richard's second wife, Catherine Fenton. He was created Baron of Broghill on...

.

In 1690 during the Williamite war in Ireland

Williamite war in Ireland

The Williamite War in Ireland—also called the Jacobite War in Ireland, the Williamite-Jacobite War in Ireland and in Irish as Cogadh an Dá Rí —was a conflict between Catholic King James II and Protestant King William of Orange over who would be King of England, Scotland and Ireland...

, Cork was besieged

Siege of Cork

The Siege of Cork took place during the Williamite war in Ireland in the year of 1690, shortly after the Battle of the Boyne when James II attempted to retake the English throne from King William III....

and taken for the Williamite

Williamite

Williamite refers to the followers of King William III of England who deposed King James II in the Glorious Revolution. William, the Stadtholder of the Dutch Republic, replaced James with the support of English Whigs....

s by an English army under John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough

John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough

John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, Prince of Mindelheim, KG, PC , was an English soldier and statesman whose career spanned the reigns of five monarchs through the late 17th and early 18th centuries...

Eighteenth century Cork

In the late 17th and early 18th centuries French Protestants (Huguenots) arrived in Cork fleeing from religious persecution at the hands of Louis XIV of France

Louis XIV of France

Louis XIV , known as Louis the Great or the Sun King , was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre. His reign, from 1643 to his death in 1715, began at the age of four and lasted seventy-two years, three months, and eighteen days...

. Their influence can still be seen in the names of the Huguenot Quarter and French Church Street. Many new buildings were erected in Cork in the 18th century. Like Dublin, much of Cork's medieval architecture was replaced by neo-classical Georgian

Georgian architecture

Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1720 and 1840. It is eponymous for the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover—George I of Great Britain, George II of Great Britain, George III of the United...

buildings. Examples of this include, Christ Church (1720–26), St Anne’s Shandon (1722–26) and a Customs House (1724). During the 18th century, trade in Cork's port expanded considerably. Cork merchants exported large amounts of butter and beef to Britain, the rest of Europe and North America.

Population explosion, famine and emigration

During the early 19th century the population of Cork expanded rapidly. By mid century Cork had a population of about 80,000. The increase was due to migration from the countryside as people fled from poverty and in the 1840s, a terrible famine. This led to extremes of poverty and overcrowding in Cork city during this century. Another effect of this influx was to reverse the denominational character of the city, which became predominantly Catholic again.

However in the later 19th century the population of Cork declined slightly due to emigration, principally to Britain or North America. In 1825, over 1,800 Irish residents departed from Cork to emigrate to Peterborough, Ontario, Canada assisted by Peter Robinson (who organized the scheme on behalf of the British Government). This resulted in the area known as "Scott's Plains" being renamed "Peterborough" as a tribute. Cork and also nearby Cobh

Cobh

Cobh is a seaport town on the south coast of County Cork, Ireland. Cobh is on the south side of Great Island in Cork Harbour. Facing the town are Spike Island and Haulbowline Island...

became major points of departure for Irish emigrants, who left the country in great numbers after the Great Irish Famine of the 1840s.

During the 19th and early 20th century important industries in Cork included, brewing, distilling, wool and shipbuilding. In addition, there were some municipal improvements such as gas light street lights in 1825, two local papers, the Cork Constitution

Cork Constitution (newspaper)

The name Cork Constitution can refer to two different newspapers that were published in Cork city .The Cork Advertiser, which was published from 1799 to 1824, called itself the Cork Constitution in 1823....

published from 1823 and the Cork Examiner

Irish Examiner

The Irish Examiner, formerly The Cork Examiner and then The Examiner, is an Irish national daily newspaper which primarily circulates in the Munster region surrounding its base in Cork, though it is available throughout the country...

, first published in 1841 and, very importantly for the development of modern industry, the railway reached Cork in 1849. Also in 1849, University College Cork opened.

Much 19th century architecture can still be seen in many areas around the city such as the neo-Georgian and Victorian buildings that now house Banks and Department stores. The Victorian

Victorian era

The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...

influence on the city is noticeable in place names such as Victoria Cross (after Queen Victoria), Albert Quay (after Prince Albert), Adelaide Street (after Queen Adelaide) and the Victoria Hospital on the Old Blackrock Rd.

Since the nineteenth century, Cork had been a strongly Irish nationalist city, with widespread support for Irish Home Rule and the Irish Parliamentary Party

Irish Parliamentary Party

The Irish Parliamentary Party was formed in 1882 by Charles Stewart Parnell, the leader of the Nationalist Party, replacing the Home Rule League, as official parliamentary party for Irish nationalist Members of Parliament elected to the House of Commons at...

, but from 1910 stood firmly behind William O'Brien

William O'Brien

William O'Brien was an Irish nationalist, journalist, agrarian agitator, social revolutionary, politician, party leader, newspaper publisher, author and Member of Parliament in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland...

's dissident All-for-Ireland Party

All-for-Ireland League

The All-for-Ireland League , was an Irish, Munster-based political party . Founded by William O'Brien MP, it generated a new national movement to achieve agreement between the different parties concerned on the historically difficult aim of Home Rule for the whole of Ireland...

. O'Brien published a third local newspaper, the Cork Free Press

Cork Free Press

The Cork Free Press was a nationalist newspaper in Ireland, which circulated primarily in the Munster region surrounding its base in Cork, and was the newspaper of the dissident All-for-Ireland League party...

Tans, troubles and civil war

Following the outbreak of World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

in 1914 many of Cork's National Volunteers

National Volunteers

The National Volunteers was the name taken by the majority of the Irish Volunteers that sided with Irish Parliamentary Party leader John Redmond after the movement split over the question of the Volunteers' role in World War I.-Origins:...

enlisted to served with the Royal Munster Fusiliers

Royal Munster Fusiliers

The Royal Munster Fusiliers was a regular infantry regiment of the British Army. One of eight Irish regiments raised largely in Ireland, it had its home depot in Tralee. It was originally formed in 1881 by the amalgamation of two regiments of the former East India Company. It served in India and...

, suffering heavy casualties both in Gallipoli and on the Western Front. In the period 1916-1923, Cork was embroiled in a conflict between radical Irish nationalists and the British state in Ireland. The turmoil of this period ultimately led to substantial Irish independence in 1922, but also to a bitter civil war between Irish nationalist factions in 1922-23.

In 1916, during the Easter Rising

Easter Rising

The Easter Rising was an insurrection staged in Ireland during Easter Week, 1916. The Rising was mounted by Irish republicans with the aims of ending British rule in Ireland and establishing the Irish Republic at a time when the British Empire was heavily engaged in the First World War...

as many as 1000 Irish Volunteers

Irish Volunteers

The Irish Volunteers was a military organisation established in 1913 by Irish nationalists. It was ostensibly formed in response to the formation of the Ulster Volunteers in 1912, and its declared primary aim was "to secure and maintain the rights and liberties common to the whole people of Ireland"...

mobilised in Cork for an armed rebellion against British rule but they dispersed without fighting. However, during the subsequent Irish War of Independence

Irish War of Independence

The Irish War of Independence , Anglo-Irish War, Black and Tan War, or Tan War was a guerrilla war mounted by the Irish Republican Army against the British government and its forces in Ireland. It began in January 1919, following the Irish Republic's declaration of independence. Both sides agreed...

1919-1921, Cork was the scene of much violence.

In particular, the city suffered from the action of the Black and Tans

Black and Tans

The Black and Tans was one of two newly recruited bodies, composed largely of British World War I veterans, employed by the Royal Irish Constabulary as Temporary Constables from 1920 to 1921 to suppress revolution in Ireland...

- a paramilitary police force raised to help the Royal Irish Constabulary

Royal Irish Constabulary

The armed Royal Irish Constabulary was Ireland's major police force for most of the nineteenth and the early twentieth centuries. A separate civic police force, the unarmed Dublin Metropolitan Police controlled the capital, and the cities of Derry and Belfast, originally with their own police...

combat the Irish Republican Army

Irish Republican Army

The Irish Republican Army was an Irish republican revolutionary military organisation. It was descended from the Irish Volunteers, an organisation established on 25 November 1913 that staged the Easter Rising in April 1916...

. On the 20 March 1920, Thomas Mac Curtain, the Sinn Féin

Sinn Féin

Sinn Féin is a left wing, Irish republican political party in Ireland. The name is Irish for "ourselves" or "we ourselves", although it is frequently mistranslated as "ourselves alone". Originating in the Sinn Féin organisation founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith, it took its current form in 1970...

Lord Mayor of Cork

The Lord Mayor of Cork is the honorific title of the Chairman of Cork City Council which is the local government body for the city of Cork in Ireland. The incumbent is Terry Shannon of Fianna Fáil. The office holder is elected annually by the members of the Council.-History of office:In 1199 there...

was shot dead, in front of his wife at his home, by Policemen. His successor as Mayor, Terence McSwiney was arrested in August 1920 and died on hunger strike

Hunger strike

A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance or pressure in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke feelings of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most hunger strikers will take liquids but not...

in October of that year. On December 11 the city centre was gutted by fires

The Burning of Cork

The Burning of Cork is the name commonly given to a devastating series of fires that swept through the centre of Cork City on the night of 11 December 1920. The burning and the subsequent controversy is one of the most significant events of the Irish War of Independence.-Fire:During the War of...

started by the Black and Tans

Black and Tans

in reprisal for IRA attacks in the city. Over 300 buildings were destroyed and two suspected IRA men were shot dead in their beds by British forces on the night. This atrocity did not stop IRA activity in the city however. Attacks and reprisals continued in the city until the fighting was ended in a truce agreed in July 1921.

Another, highly disputed aspect of the War of Independence in Cork was the shooting of informers. Historians such as Peter Hart

Peter Hart

Peter Hart was a Canadian historian, specialising in modern Irish history.-Life:Hart was born and raised in St. John's, Newfoundland. He studied for one year at the Memorial University of Newfoundland before moving to study at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. He graduated from there with...

have written that 'enemy' groups such as Protestants and ex-soldiers were targeted at random by the IRA. This thesis is disputed by other scholars such as John Borgonovo, who write that their studies suggest that the IRA's 30 or so civilian victims in Cork do seem to have been targeted because the IRA believed they were passing information to the British and not for any other reason.

In The Year of Disappearances:Political Killings in Cork 1921-22 (2010), Gearoid Murphy wrote that IRA Intelligence officers Sean O'Hegarty

Seán O'Hegarty

Seán O'Hegarty was a prominent member of the Irish Republican Army in Cork during the Irish War of Independence and served as O/C of the Cork No. 1 Brigade of the IRA after the deaths of Tomás Mac Curtain and Terence MacSwiney....

, Florrie O'Donoghue

Florence O'Donoghue

Florence O'Donoghue was an Irish historian and head of intelligence of the Cork No. 1 Brigade of the Irish Republican Army during the Irish War of Independence.He was born in Rathmore, County Kerry, Ireland in 1895...

, Martin Corry

Martin Corry (Irish politician)

Martin John Corry was a farmer and long-serving backbench Teachta Dála for Fianna Fáil. He represented various County Cork constituencies covering his farm near Glounthaune, east of Cork city. He was a founder member of Fianna Fáil in 1926, and among its first TDs after the June 1927 general...

and Connie Neenan, of the Cork No 1 Brigade, were responsible for the abduction and killing of seventy-three civilian members of the Protestant community of Cork city and its surroundings. (Irish Examiner
Irish Examiner
The Irish Examiner, formerly The Cork Examiner and then The Examiner, is an Irish national daily newspaper which primarily circulates in the Munster region surrounding its base in Cork, though it is available throughout the country...

, Friday 5 November 2010). Murphy's claims have been widely disputed however, and doubt has been cast over whether his figure of 73 killed is accurate.

Civil War

The local IRA units, for the most part, did not accept the Anglo-Irish Treaty

Anglo-Irish Treaty

The Anglo-Irish Treaty , officially called the Articles of Agreement for a Treaty Between Great Britain and Ireland, was a treaty between the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and representatives of the secessionist Irish Republic that concluded the Irish War of...

negotiated to end the war -ultimately repudiating the authority of the newly created Irish Free State

Irish Free State

The Irish Free State was the state established as a Dominion on 6 December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty, signed by the British government and Irish representatives exactly twelve months beforehand...

. After the withdrawal of British troops in June 1922, they took over the military barracks in Cork and the surrounding area. By July 1922, when the Irish Civil War

Irish Civil War

The Irish Civil War was a conflict that accompanied the establishment of the Irish Free State as an entity independent from the United Kingdom within the British Empire....

, broke out, Cork was held by anti-Treaty forces as part of a self-styled Munster Republic

Munster Republic

The Munster Republic was an informal and affectionate term used by Irish republicans to refer to the territory they held in the province of Munster at the start of the Irish Civil War...

-intended to be a stronghold for the preservation of the Irish Republic

Irish Republic

The Irish Republic was a revolutionary state that declared its independence from Great Britain in January 1919. It established a legislature , a government , a court system and a police force...

annulled by the Treaty. Cork was retaken in August 1922 by the pro-Treaty National Army

Irish Army

The Irish Army, officially named simply the Army is the main branch of the Defence Forces of Ireland. Approximately 8,500 men and women serve in the Irish Army, divided into three infantry Brigades...

in an attack from the sea. The Free State forces landed at nearby Passage West

Passage West

Passage West is a port town in County Cork, Ireland, situated on the west bank of Cork Harbour. It is some 10 km from Cork city, separated by the green belt from the urban sprawl of Douglas and Rochestown. The town has many services, amenities and social outlets...

with 1,500 troops and several artillery pieces. The badly armed anti-Treaty forces dispersed after sporadic fighting, burning the barracks they had been holding (for example at Elizabeth Fort

Elizabeth Fort

Elizabeth Fort is a 17th century star fort off Barrack Street in Cork, Ireland. Originally built as a defensive fortification outside the city walls, the city eventually grew around the fort, and it took on various other roles - including use as a military barracks, prison, and police...

and Charles Fort

Charles Fort (Ireland)

Charles Fort is a star fort located on the water's edge, at the southern end of the village of Summer Cove, on Kinsale harbour, County Cork, Ireland. James' Fort is located on the other side of the harbour....

). Guerrilla warfare

Guerrilla warfare

Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare and refers to conflicts in which a small group of combatants including, but not limited to, armed civilians use military tactics, such as ambushes, sabotage, raids, the element of surprise, and extraordinary mobility to harass a larger and...

raged in the surrounding countryside until April 1923, when the Anti-Treaty side called a ceasefire and dumped their arms.

Late Twentieth Century Cork

In the post independence period, Cork has been acknowledged as Ireland's second city. It has produced many political leaders, notably Jack Lynch

Jack Lynch

John Mary "Jack" Lynch was the Taoiseach of Ireland, serving two terms in office; from 1966 to 1973 and 1977 to 1979....

- who became Taoiseach

Taoiseach

The Taoiseach is the head of government or prime minister of Ireland. The Taoiseach is appointed by the President upon the nomination of Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas , and must, in order to remain in office, retain the support of a majority in the Dáil.The current Taoiseach is...

(Irish prime minister) in the 1960s. Its citizens half jokingly refer to it as the "real capital".

Cork's inner city slum

Slum

A slum, as defined by United Nations agency UN-HABITAT, is a run-down area of a city characterized by substandard housing and squalor and lacking in tenure security. According to the United Nations, the percentage of urban dwellers living in slums decreased from 47 percent to 37 percent in the...

s were cleared by the municipal authority from the 1920s onwards, and their inhabitants were re-housed in housing estates on the periphery of the city -especially on its north side. Many of these new suburbs have since suffered from social deprivation and high crime rates - a pattern repeatedly found in Irish urban development.

Cork's economy dipped in the late 20th century as the old manufacturing industries in Cork declined. The Ford

Ford Motor Company

Ford Motor Company is an American multinational automaker based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. In addition to the Ford and Lincoln brands, Ford also owns a small stake in Mazda in Japan and Aston Martin in the UK...

car factory closed in 1984 as did the Dunlop

Dunlop Rubber

Dunlop Rubber was a company based in the United Kingdom which manufactured tyres and other rubber products for most of the 20th century. It was acquired by BTR plc in 1985. Since then, ownership of the Dunlop trade-names has been fragmented.-Early history:...

tyre factory. Shipbuilding in Cork also came to an end in the 1980s. As a result of these closures unemployment was high in Cork in the 1980s.

However in the 1990s new industries came to Cork. For instance, Marina Commercial Park was built on the site of the old Dunlop and Ford plants and Cork Airport Business Park first opened in 1999. Cork, like other cities in Ireland has benefited from the Celtic Tiger

Celtic Tiger

Celtic Tiger is a term used to describe the economy of Ireland during a period of rapid economic growth between 1995 and 2007. The expansion underwent a dramatic reversal from 2008, with GDP contracting by 14% and unemployment levels rising to 14% by 2010...

economic boom and today other industries in Cork include chemicals, brewing, distilling and food processing. Cork is also a busy and important port. Tourism is also an important industry in the city's economic life. In 2005, Cork was the European Capital of Culture

European Capital of Culture

The European Capital of Culture is a city designated by theEuropean Union for a period of one calendar year during which it organises a series of cultural events with a strong European dimension....

Sources

Christopher Coughlan, Olde Cork, Historical-Theatrical-Commercial, Feehan & Co, Cork 1975
Michael Hopkinson, The Irish War of Independence, Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2004.
Michael Hopkinson, Green Against Green -The Irish Civil War, Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 2002
History of Cork by Tim Lambert www.localhistories.org/cork.html - 12k
Colm Lennon, Sixteenth Century Ireland, Gill & MacMillan, Dublin 1994.
Jane Ohlmeyer, John Keegan (ed’s), The Civil Wars, Oxford 1998.
Richard Stanihurst, Richard Hollinsed's Irish Chronicle (1577), Edited by Liam Miller and Eilleen Power, Dolmen Press, Dublin 1979.
Todd, James Henthorn
James Henthorn Todd
James Henthorn Todd was a biblical scholar, educator, and Irish historian. He is noted for his efforts to place religious disagreements on a rational historical footing, for his advocacy of a liberal form of Protestantism, and for his endeavours as an educator, librarian, and scholar in Irish...

(ed. & tr.). Cogadh Gaedhel re Gallaibh: The War of the Gaedhil with the Gaill. London: Longmans. 1867.
Gearoid Murphy, The Year of Disappearances: Political Killings in Cork 1920-1921, Gill & McMillian Ltd., ISBN 9780717147489.