Overview
Every August bank holiday weekend, Dunmanway’s streets fill with horses. The Ballabuidhe Horse Fair trades under a charter granted by King James I in 1615 and is the last street fair of its kind in Ireland – horse dealing at the roadside, trotting races, a horse show. The rest of the year the town is quieter: a market town in the Bandon river valley, about 60 km west of Cork City, that calls itself the geographical centre of West Cork and the gateway to the mountains. The Shehys rise just to the north.
A planned town
Dunmanway’s grid of streets is no accident. Sir Richard Cox, Lord Chancellor of Ireland, laid the town out in the 1690s under a royal charter for markets and fairs, then built an economy to fill it – bringing flax and linen workers down from Ulster to train local people, with rent-free housing and production prizes as the bait. The market square and the two riverside triangles still follow his plan, a rarity in Irish towns.
This was MacCarthy territory from the mid-13th century to the late 17th, and their Dunmanway Castle stood on the banks of the Sally River; the tower house itself is long gone. Older still are the ringforts, standing stones and an Ogham stone in the surrounding townlands, and a Bronze Age trumpet found locally that now sits in the British Museum.
The Famine hit hard – an 1847 letter from the town’s Indian Meal Ladies’ Committee to American relief groups described the hunger along the roads – and the War of Independence came close, with the Kilmichael Ambush fought nearby in 1920 and Canon Magner, a local priest, killed the same year. On a happier note, the town won the Irish Tidy Towns Competition outright in 1982.
Sam Maguire
The name on the All-Ireland football trophy belongs to Dunmanway. Sam Maguire (1877–1927) was born in the townland of Mallabracka, captained the London Hibernians in multiple All-Ireland finals, and later worked in Dublin for the GAA and the new Irish Civil Service. He died of tuberculosis in 1927 and lies in St Mary’s Church of Ireland graveyard under a Celtic cross erected in 1941. The cup itself last visited in 1987, after which the GAA retired the original to Croke Park and a replica took over. His birthplace, about 6 km north of the town centre, is marked by a monument in a quiet valley.
Lakes, trails and the only pool in West Cork
Anglers do well here. The River Bandon and the lakes at Cullineagh, Shiplake, Ballinacarriga and Curralickey hold brown trout, sea trout, salmon and coarse fish, and access to all the lakes is free. Chapel Lake, close to the centre, is the easy option for a picnic and a short stroll. Mountain bikers should head 3 km out the R586 to Clashnacrona forest, which holds some of the most demanding single-track in Ireland – experienced riders only. Trail guides for the town heritage walks and the hill routes are published by Explore West Cork.
The sports facilities outdo the town’s size: a 25 m heated indoor pool – the only public pool in West Cork – an 18-hole pitch-and-putt course, tennis courts, an astro pitch, an outdoor gym and Dohenys GAA club at Sam Maguire Park.
Heritage centre and genealogy
The Dunmanway Heritage Centre on Main Street covers Maguire, the Famine, the planned town and the area’s four castles, and holds the records family historians want: the 1901 and 1911 censuses, Griffith’s Valuation of 1852 and church registers for the area, with staff on hand to help. Entry is free and access is level. The hours are short – Monday to Thursday 9.30am–3pm, Friday 11am–1pm and 2pm–4pm, closed at weekends.
Getting there
Dunmanway sits on the R586, reached from Cork City via the N71 – about 60 km. Clonakilty is 23 km away, Bantry 35 km. Bus Éireann runs regular services from Cork, so a car isn’t essential. The railway closed in 1961; the old station still stands, and walkers occasionally follow the trackbed of the West Cork Railway. Town-centre car parks are free.
Other dates for the diary: the Agricultural Show at Dromleena Lawn on the first Sunday of July, the Feel the Force sci-fi and fantasy festival with its cosplay parade, and the Dunmanway 10K through the surrounding countryside. Bantry Bay is a short drive southwest, with Clonakilty and Skibbereen close by for food and craft shops. And if it’s the horse fair you’re coming for, book a bed early – Ballabuidhe fills every B&B in town for the bank holiday weekend.