Cork, located onIreland's south coast, is the second largest city within the Republic of Ireland after Dublin and the third largest on the island of Ireland after Dublin and Belfast. Cork City is the largest city in the province ofMunster. Its history dates back to the sixth century.
| Year | Pop. | ±% |
|---|---|---|
| 1659 | 4,826 | — |
| 1813 | 64,394 | +1234.3% |
| 1821 | 100,658 | +56.3% |
| 1831 | 107,016 | +6.3% |
| 1841 | 80,720 | −24.6% |
| 1851 | 82,625 | +2.4% |
| 1861 | 79,594 | −3.7% |
| 1871 | 78,642 | −1.2% |
| 1881 | 80,124 | +1.9% |
| 1891 | 75,345 | −6.0% |
| 1901 | 76,122 | +1.0% |
| 1911 | 76,673 | +0.7% |
| 1926 | 78,490 | +2.4% |
| 1936 | 93,322 | +18.9% |
| 1946 | 89,877 | −3.7% |
| 1951 | 112,009 | +24.6% |
| 1956 | 114,428 | +2.2% |
| 1961 | 115,689 | +1.1% |
| 1966 | 125,283 | +8.3% |
| 1971 | 134,430 | +7.3% |
| 1979 | 138,267 | +2.9% |
| 1981 | 136,344 | −1.4% |
| 1986 | 133,271 | −2.3% |
| 1991 | 127,253 | −4.5% |
| 1996 | 127,187 | −0.1% |
| 2002 | 123,062 | −3.2% |
| 2006 | 119,418 | −3.0% |
| 2016 | 125,657 | +5.2% |
| 2019 | 210,000 | +67.1% |
| [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] | ||
Cork began as amonastic settlement, founded bySt Finbar in the sixth century.[9] However the ancestor of the modern city was founded between 915 and 922,[10] when Viking settlers established a trading community.[11] The Viking leaderOttir Iarla is particularly associated with raiding and conquests in the province ofMunster. TheCogad Gáedel re Gallaib connects this with the earliestViking settlement of Cork.[12] The Norse phase of Cork's history left a legacy of family names, such asCotter and Coppinger, peculiar to Cork which are claimed to have Norse origins.[13] In the twelfth century, this settlement was taken over by invadingAnglo-Norman settlers. The Norsemen of Cork fought against the Norman incomers, mounting an expedition of 32 ships against them in 1173, which was defeated in a naval battle.[14] Cork'scity charter was granted byPrince John in 1185.[15] 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 byroyal charter in 1318, and the title was changed to Lord Mayor in 1900.[15]
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For much of the Middle Ages, Cork city was an outpost ofOld English culture in the midst of a predominantly hostileGaelic countryside and cut off from the English government inthe Pale aroundDublin. Neighbouring Gaelic andHiberno-Norman lords extorted "Black Rent" from the citizens 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 ofwool and hides and the import ofsalt,iron andwine.
The medieval population of Cork was about 2,000.[16] It suffered a severe blow in 1349 when almost half the townspeople died ofbubonic plague when theBlack Death arrived.[16] In 1491 Cork played a part in the EnglishWars of the Roses whenPerkin Warbeck a pretender to the English throne, landed in the city and tried to recruit support for a plot to overthrowHenry VII of England. The former mayor of CorkJohn Atwater and several important citizens went with Warbeck to England but when the rebellion collapsed they were all captured and executed.[17] Cork's nickname of the 'rebel city' originates in these events.[18]
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".[19][20]
The character of Cork was changed by theTudor conquest of Ireland (c. 1540–1603) which left the English authorities in control of all of Ireland for the first time,[21] introduced thousands of English settlers in thePlantations of Ireland and tried to impose theProtestant Reformation on a predominantly Catholic country. Cork suffered from the warfare involved in the reconquest, particularly in theSecond Desmond Rebellion in 1579–83, when thousands of rural people fled to the city to avoid the fighting, bringing with them an outbreak ofbubonic plague.
Shandon Castle (just outside the walls of the city) became the official residence of thePresident of Munster in the late sixteenth century.[22] As a "centre of English administration" in the area,[22] Cork by and large sided with the Crown in the conflicts of the period, even after aSpanish expeditionary force landed at nearbyKinsale in 1601 during theNine Years War.[23] However, the price the citizens demanded for their loyalty was toleration of theirRoman Catholic religion. In 1603, the citizens of Cork along withWaterford andLimerick rebelled, expelling Protestant ministers, imprisoning English officials, seizing the municipal arsenals and demanding freedom of worship for Catholics. They refused to admitLord Mountjoy's English army when it marched south, citing their charters from the twelfth century. Mountjoy retorted that he would, "cut King John his charter withKing James his sword" and arrested the ringleaders, thus ending the revolt.[24]
In 1641, Ireland was convulsed by theIrish Rebellion of 1641. 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 ensuingIrish Confederate Wars. An ineffectiveIrish Confederate attempt to take the city in 1642 was beaten off at thebattle of Liscarroll. In 1644,Murrough O'Brien, Earl Inchiquinn, the commander of English forces in Cork, expelled the Catholic townsmen from the city.[23] 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 5,000, most of whom lived outside the city walls.
In 1649–53, Ireland wasre-conquered by an EnglishParliamentarian army underOliver Cromwell. Inchiquin had briefly led Cork into an alliance with theConfederates, in 1648, but the garrison changed sides again in 1650, going over to English Parliamentarian side under the influence ofRoger Boyle, 1st Earl of Orrery.
In 1690 during theWilliamite war in Ireland,Cork was besieged and taken for theWilliamites by an English army underJohn Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough.[25]
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In the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries French Protestants (Huguenots) arrived in Cork fleeing from religious persecution at the hands ofLouis XIV of France. 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 eighteenth century. Like Dublin, much of Cork's medieval architecture was replaced by neo-classicalGeorgian buildings. Examples of this include,Christ Church (1720–26), St Anne's Shandon (1722–26) and a Customs House (1724). During the eighteenth century, trade in Cork's port expanded considerably. Cork merchants exported large amounts ofbutter andbeef to Britain, France and the Caribbean, where it was used to support the development of sugar plantations and slavery.
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During the early nineteenth century the population of Cork expanded.[26] 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, aterrible famine. This led to extremes of poverty and overcrowding in Cork city during this century.[26] Another effect of this influx was to reverse the denominational character of the city, which became predominantly Catholic again.
However, in the later nineteenth 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 toPeterborough, Ontario, Canada assisted by Peter Robinson (who organised 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 nearbyCobh became major points of departure for Irish emigrants, who left the country in great numbers after theGreat Irish Famine of the 1840s.
During the nineteenth and early twentieth century important industries in Cork included brewing, distilling, wool and shipbuilding.[27] In addition, there were some municipal improvements such as gas light street lights in 1825, two local papers, theCork Constitution published from 1823 and theCork Examiner, 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.[26]
Much nineteenth-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.[28] TheVictorian influence on the city is noticeable in place names such as Victoria Cross (afterQueen Victoria), Albert Quay (after Prince Albert), Adelaide Street (afterQueen Adelaide) and the Victoria Hospital on the Old Blackrock Road.
Since the nineteenth century, Cork had been a predominantlyIrish nationalist city, with widespread support forIrish Home Rule and theIrish Parliamentary Party, but from 1910 stood firmly behindWilliam O'Brien's dissidentAll-for-Ireland Party. O'Brien published a third local newspaper, theCork Free Press.[29]
Following the outbreak ofWorld War I in 1914 many of Cork'sNational Volunteers enlisted to serve with theRoyal Munster Fusiliers, suffering heavy casualties both inGallipoli and on theWestern Front. In the period 1916–1923, Cork was embroiled in a conflict between Irish nationalists and the British state in Ireland. The turmoil of this period ultimately led to substantial Irish independence for 26 of the 32 Irish counties in 1922, but also to a bitter civil war between Irish nationalist factions in 1922–23.
In 1916, during theEaster Rising as many as 1000Irish Volunteers mobilised in Cork for an armed rebellion against British rule but they dispersed without fighting. However, during the subsequentIrish War of Independence 1919–1921, Cork was the scene of much violence.[30]
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In particular, the city suffered from the action of theBlack and Tans – a paramilitary police force raised to help theRoyal Irish Constabulary combat theIrish Republican Army. On 20 March 1920,Thomas Mac Curtain, theSinn FéinLord Mayor of Cork was shot dead, in front of his wife at his home, by policemen.[31] His successor as Mayor,Terence McSwiney was arrested in August 1920 and died onhunger strike in October of that year. On 11 Decemberthe city centre was gutted by fires started by theBlack 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 asPeter Hart have written that 'enemy' groups such as Protestants and ex-soldiers were targeted at random by the IRA. Gerard Murphy's book "Year of the Disappearances" put the number of Protestants killed in Cork at 73. This thesis is disputed by other scholars such as John Borgonovo, who write that their studies suggest that the IRA's 30 or so confirmed 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.[32][33]
The local IRA units, for the most part, did not accept theAnglo-Irish Treaty negotiated to end the war -ultimately repudiating the authority of the newly createdIrish Free State. After the withdrawal of British troops in early 1922, they took over the military barracks in Cork and the surrounding area. By July 1922, when theIrish Civil War, broke out, Cork was held by anti-Treaty forces as part of a self-styledMunster Republic -intended to be a stronghold for the preservation of theIrish Republic annulled by the Treaty.[34]
Cork however, was taken in August 1922 by the pro-TreatyNational Army inan attack from the sea. TheFree State forces landed at nearbyPassage West with 450 troops and several artillery pieces. There was fighting for three days in the hills aroundDouglas andRochestown, in which roughly 20 men were killed and about 60 wounded as the anti-Treaty IRA contested the National Army's advance into the city. However the badly armed anti-Treaty forces did not make a stand in Cork itself and dispersed after sporadic fighting, burning a number of buildings and the barracks they had been holding (for example atElizabeth Fort andCollins Barracks).[35]
Subsequently, they reverted to guerrilla warfare and took to destroying all the roads and bridges connecting Cork with the rest of the country.Michael Collins, commander in chief of the National Army, was killed in an IRA ambush at Beal na mBlath, west of the city on 22 August 1922.
Guerrilla warfare raged in the surrounding countryside until April 1923, when the Anti-Treaty side called a ceasefire and dumped their arms. There were attacks on Free State troops in the city, but not on the scale of the campaign against British forces in 1919–21.
In the post independence period, Cork has been acknowledged as the Republic of Ireland's second city. It has produced a number of political leaders, notablyJack Lynch – who becameTaoiseach (Irish prime minister) in the 1960s. Its citizens half jokingly refer to it as the "real capital".
Cork's inner cityslums were cleared by the municipal authority from the 1920s onwards,[36] and their inhabitants were re-housed inhousing estates on the periphery of the city -especially on its north side. Cork's economy dipped in the late twentieth century as the old manufacturing industries in Cork declined. TheFord car factory closed in 1984 as did theDunlop 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.[37]
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 andCork Airport Business Park first opened in 1999. Cork, like other cities in Ireland benefited somewhat from theCeltic Tiger economic boom, with growth in industries such as information technology, pharmaceuticals, brewing, distilling and food processing. ThePort of Cork is also a busy and important port. Into the twenty-first century, tourism has grown in economic importance, and in 2005 Cork was namedEuropean Capital of Culture.[38]
SeeAnnals of Inisfallen (AI)
