South Parish Walk

Bishop Lucey Park

Opened in 1985 to celebrate the 800th anniversary of Cork becoming a city, Bishop Lucey Park is in the heart of the medieval city and adjacent to one of the earliest church sites in the city. There has been a church on the site of Triskel/ChristChurch since at least 1050. The park is the site of an associated late-medieval College of the Holy Trinity, Christ Church (built 1482), and later colleges and alms houses. Remains of these structures and other medieval houses were excavated in the 1970s.

Directly inside the park gates, there's a small stretch of the medieval wall that once enclosed the city around North and South Main Streets. In the 1990s, a portion of one of the mural towers, Hopewell Castle, was excavated to the north on Christ Church Lane, and the skeletal remains of at least 23 people, thought to have been dumped there from Christ Church graveyard, were uncovered during archaeological excavations in the 1970s.

The gates at the entrance to the park were originally the entrance pillars to the city's Corn Market on Anglesea Street, built in 1860 where the City Council's civic offices now stand.

Inside the park, there's a bronze sculpture of the Onion Seller, by Seamus Murphy and a bronze fountain, with eight swans symbolizing Cork's 800 years as a chartered city, by John Behan.

Tuckey Street

Modern day North and South Main Streets are the spine of Cork city's medieval main street. Dozens of narrow laneways, including Tuckey's Lane, led from the street to the walls that encircled the medieval city. In 1761, Tuckey's Lane was widened to the north side and the limestone street plaque that's inserted in the wall of no. 8 Tuckey Street commemorates that development.

At the west end of the street, the Oval Bar is one of the older pubs in the city. Originally a Beamish & Crawford 'managed pub', it retains many of its early 20th-century features.

At the east end of the street, the Masonic Lodge was originally the 18th-century Assembly Rooms. The Freemasons have owned the premises since the mid-19th century and have preserved an astonishing wealth of historic items within, including furnishings from the 18th-century St Finbarre's Cathedral.

Beamish & Crawford

This is the site of what was the oldest brewery in Cork. All that’s left of the brewery is the ‘Counting House’ with its 1920’s mock-Tudor façade. This was the part of the brewery where financial and commercial transactions took place.. Beamish & Crawford's was established in 1792, continuing a tradition of brewing on this site that dates back to at least the mid-1600s. By the early 1800s, it was the largest brewery in Ireland. It closed in 2009, but its flagship product Beamish Stout is still produced at the Heineken Brewery in Blackpool.

The site is one of the most important archaeological areas of the city, where Hiberno-Norse (Viking) remains have been excavated, along with the remains of the early 12th-century St Laurence's Church.

During the medieval period, several laneways radiated from the main street back to the city wall on this plot, and the city's South Gate defences and later County Gaol stood in the southeast corner of the site.

South Gate Bridge

This is the oldest bridge in the city and, built in 1713, it is also one of Ireland's oldest three-centred arched bridges. The west side of the bridge is original, but the east side was extended in c. 1824.

As the name indicates, it is at the site of the southern gated entrance to the medieval city. There were only two entrances by road into the medieval city and these were not only defensively important but also served as purveyors of taxes collected from merchants entering to trade in the city.

In the early 18th century, a jail was built on the north side of the bridge and served as the County Gaol until it was replaced in the 1790s by a new jail off the Western Road.

This part of the city has produced the earliest evidence for occupation in the city. To the north and south of the bridge, archaeological excavations have uncovered remnants from Hiberno-Norse (Viking) settlements dating back to at least the 11th century.

Keysers Hill

The origin of the name Keysers Hill was obscure by at least the 16th century, but it is thought to be of Viking origin, possibly meaning a bend or curve leading down to the waterfront. The Hiberno-Norse (Vikings) are thought to have colonised the area around the south bank of the River Lee in the 9th century, although the earliest archaeological evidence for their settlement so far comes from the 11th century.

The hill leads up to the 17th-century Elizabeth Fort and was also known as 'New Fort Lane'.

St Fin Barre's Cathedral

In 606AD, St Fin Barre is said to have founded his monastery on this site. The monastery seems to have incorporated a substantial amount of land, stretching west as far as the grounds of UCC and incorporating the land around Gillabbey Street and Terrace.

There were at least two previous churches on this site, the present cathedral having been completed in 1876. Designed in the French Neo-Gothic style by William Burges, it retains some features from its predecessors enclosure: a carved doorway from the medieval church set into the south boundary wall on Dean Street, and gates from the 18th-century cathedral.

The white limestone of the exterior is local, as is the red marble that lines the interior walls, both probably from the disused quarry at Beaumont. Most of the carvings, including the 32 gargoyles, were executed on-site by local craftsmen.

There is a local legend that the 'Goldy Angel' that stands on the east side of the church will blow her trumpets to herald the end of the world, allowing Cork people to enter heaven first!

Bennett's Hill - The Stones '65

In January of 1965, The Rolling Stones played two gigs at the Savoy Theatre in Cork. This mural celebrates the 50th anniversary of the concert. Featured are Bill Wyman (bass guitar), Keith Richards (guitarist) and their legendary frontman Mick Jagger.

Elizabeth Fort

Elizabeth Fort is a star-shaped fort, originally built as a timber and earth defensive structure in 1601. In the 1620s, it was replaced by a stone structure whose defences were further strengthened under Cromwell in 1649. In 1719, an army barracks was constructed within the fort to house soldiers, until Collins Barracks was built on the northside of the city in 1806. For a couple of decades, the fort then served as a holding depot for misfortunate convicts awaiting transportation to Australia.

During the War of Independence, the British used Elizabeth Fort again, as a base for troops brought in to fight the IRA.

During the Civil War, the barracks buildings were burnt down by Anti-Treaty fighters as they fled the city. The Garda station that survives today was built in 1929 and operated until 2013.

Cork City Council took ownership of the Fort in 2014 and have developed it as a tourist attraction and cultural venue. The view from the ramparts, particularly of the medieval area of the city, are unsurpassed. Two of the houses are now operated as rental properties by the Irish Landmark Trust.

Nano Nagle Place

The South Presentation Convent and former school now houses a heritage centre, shop, garden café and educational space for various projects and community groups. It is still home to a small number of Presentation Sisters, a Catholic order founded by Nano Nagle in 1775.

In the early 1750s, Nano had established a covert school near this site for educating poor Catholic children. Despite the Penal Laws, it proved so successful that she established a further six schools in the city. With an inheritance from an uncle, Nano established a convent in 1771 on this site for the Ursuline Sisters, an enclosed order who she invited to Cork from France.

Nano's commitment to educating and helping the poor led her to found an order that was devoted to God but wasn't enclosed, so she and her fellow nuns could continue their charitable work. Nano Nagle died in 1784 and you can visit her tomb on the site.

In 2017, Nano Nagle Place was opened to the public after a €10.5-million redevelopment, and now adjoins the Cork Centre for Architectural Education, opened in 2018.

Red Abbey Tower

The Order of St Augustine has been in Cork since the late 13th century, and this crossing tower is all that remains above ground of their earliest priory. Originally known as St Austin’s or St Augustine’s, it became known as Red Abbey because of the red sandstone used in its construction.

The Augustinians were expelled from the city in 1644 and the Abbey was taken over by Roger Boyle, protestant Dean of Cork, in the 1660s. The Duke of Marlborough is said to have watched the 1690 Siege of Cork from the Red Abbey tower. By 1717, the Abbey was in use as a sugar refinery, but it was mostly destroyed by fire in 1799.

Archaeological excavations have identified associated mid-13th-century walls and pottery, and a stone-lined grave and burials dated from sometime between the 14th and mid-16th centuries.

The tower, which is the oldest building in the city, is a National Monument, maintained by Cork City Council.

St Finbarr’s South Church

This is the oldest Roman Catholic church in the city, built in 1766, as attested by the datestone in the northern edge of the façade. The original church was extended in 1809 and 1875 to include a new sanctuary and sacristy, but the church retains much of its original internal and external fabric. It is regarded as a ‘rare Catholic Mass House’ of the period. Inside, beneath the altar, is one of three sculptures of the 'Dead Christ' carved by the celebrated 19th-century artist John Hogan – the other two are in Newfoundland and Dublin.

The site and style of St Finbarr’s South, located down a side street and built without embellishments, reflects the political and religious temperament of its time. Compare it to the prime location and opulent style of Holy Trinity Church, which was designed less than 70 years later but when the Penal Laws had been repealed.

Holy Trinity Church

When work on Holy Trinity Church started, in 1832, the Penal Laws had been repealed and Catholic emancipation was in effect. Building of the church was commissioned by Fr Theobald Mathew, the temperance reformer known popularly as Fr Mathew. The prominent location and the opulent gothic revival design of the church reflects the growing confidence and affluence of the Catholic middle class. The design chosen for Holy Trinity was by George Richard Pain, and although the foundation stone was laid in 1832, the church was still incomplete when it opened in 1850. The façade was finally redesigned and finished by Dominick J. Coakley (architect) and built by John Sisk. It reopened in 1890. The limestone for the building came from one of only two local quarries, in Little Island. An adjoining Capuchin friary was built in 1884. Holy Trinity has had several additions and renovations since, most extensively renovated in 1982.

CIT Cork School of Music

The Cork School of Music (f. 1878) was the first municipal music school to be established in Ireland.

A purpose-built building from the 1950s was demolished in 2005 and the present building was opened in 2007. Designed by Murray Ó Laoire Architects, the building won the Best Educational Building RIAI award in 2008. It incorporates a 500-seat auditorium, a 48-track recording studio, a two-storey library, purpose-built tuition rooms, a rehearsal hall and lecture rooms.

The four, small carved plaques, depicting musical instruments, set in the lower red sandstone facade are by Cork sculptor Seamus Murphy and were salvaged from the 1950's building.

Cork City Hall

Cork City Hall, the administrative hub of Cork City Council, was one of the last large-scale, classical stone buildings built in Ireland. It was built, 1932-36, to replace the old City Hall that was burned by the Black and Tans in 1920. The first meeting was held in the Council Chambers on 24th April 1935, and the building was officially opened by Eamon de Valera in 1936.

The building, which incorporates an elegant concert hall and later functional hall (the Millennium Hall), was designed by Jones and Kelly and built by local firm Sisk using limestone from Little Island, one of only two such quarries in Cork.

In the lobby of the Anglesea Street entrance, there are busts of Lord Mayors Tomás MacCurtain and Terence MacSwiney by Cork sculptor Seamus Murphy, as well as a profile of US President John F. Kennedy, which commemorates his visit to Cork in 1963.

The adjoining Civic Offices were completed in 2006.