Overview
The village of Cloyne (Irish: Cluain Uamha, ‘meadow of the caves’) sits in a broad, fertile valley in east County Cork, about ten minutes’ drive from Midleton. It is a quiet place of colour-washed cottages and a handful of pubs, but for its size it carries an unusual weight of history: a round tower older than a thousand years, a cathedral tied to one of the Enlightenment’s sharpest minds, and the birthplace of a hurler locals will tell you was simply the best there ever was. Most of it is a few minutes’ walk apart.
The round tower and the dolmen
Human history here runs deep. West of the village, a 4,000-year-old portal dolmen is among the clearest marks of prehistoric settlement in this part of Cork. By the 6th century St Colman Mac Léníne had founded a monastery, the seed of the Diocese of Cloyne. The standout landmark, though, is the round tower: 10th or 11th century, about 30 metres tall, one of only two left standing in the county. A lightning strike in 1749 took off its conical cap, but the limestone shaft still dominates the skyline.
The tower was long one of the few round towers in Ireland you could actually climb. It is currently closed to the public over the cost of insurance, so for now you can only take it in from the outside – which, to be fair, is how it looks best anyway.
The cathedral and George Berkeley
St Colman’s Cathedral (Church of Ireland) was first founded in 1250 and has been in use ever since. It is plain to look at and heavyweight in its associations. Its most famous bishop was George Berkeley, the Anglo-Irish philosopher who held the see from 1734 to 1752 and after whom the city of Berkeley in California is named. Locally he was remembered as a hands-on pastor who visited the sick himself; more widely, his work turned Enlightenment thinking about perception and reality on its head. The cathedral also holds the tomb of Bishop John Brinkley, an astronomer of real standing in his day.
There is a catch to seeing inside: the cathedral has no set opening hours, and you get in by finding the keyholder on site during daylight. The nave is reachable by a ramp. Nearby, St Colman’s Roman Catholic Church (1815) holds daily Mass, though the Catholic diocese’s pro-cathedral is now over in Cobh.
Caves, castles and local lore
The name Cluain Uamha points at the limestone under the valley floor, which is riddled with a network of caves. Local tradition adds a good story to the geology: a secret underground passage said to run from Cloyne House to the Catholic graveyard, used to move about during the Penal times. How much is fact and how much is folk memory, nobody will swear to.
Just outside the village, Castle Mary was the seat of the Longfield family, a 17th-century manor with the remains of a druid altar near its orchard. It was also the lifelong home of Cynthia Longfield, the entomologist and explorer known for her work on dragonflies.
Christy Ring and the GAA
Cloyne is the birthplace of Christy Ring, widely reckoned one of the greatest hurlers of all time. His statue stands on Chapel Street, and the tally behind it is worth pausing over: eight All-Ireland senior medals and eighteen Railway Cup titles with Munster. The local GAA club still turns out in its red and black stripes, and hurling remains the thread that runs through village life.
Practical information
- Getting there: Cloyne is about 25 km east of Cork city and ten minutes from Midleton on the R630. A bus from Cork city (for example route 240) takes around half an hour.
- Parking: free on-street parking through the village centre; the spaces near the round tower fill quickly on summer weekends.
- Access: the round tower and cathedral exterior are viewable at any time. The round tower interior is closed. For the cathedral interior, find the keyholder on site during daylight.
- Admission: the outdoor landmarks and walks are free.
- Nearby: the beaches at Shanagarry, Garryvoe and Ballycotton are all within a short drive, as is the Jameson Distillery Midleton.
Track down the cathedral keyholder before you count on getting inside – there is no set opening time, and it is the one door here you will need someone to unlock.