Co. Cork must be one of the most splendid parts of a beautiful country, and the small market town of Newmarket is one of its unique market towns.
Newmarket – or, in the classical Irish expression, Áth Trasna – the passage at the ford, is in the Barony of Duhallow, in the north-west of Co. Cork. Bounded by Kerry and Limerick, and with the well-known Blackwater river drifting close by, filled with its unbeatable salmon, it is a part of Ireland that you would be foolish to not visit.
The town of Newmarket itself, with hardly 2,500 inhabitants, perfectly suits the word ’sleepy’ almost as well as anywhere in the country – unless you get to be passing through after an extremely spectacular G.A.A. Victory, when the town’s own verse, Up Up Newmarket, will be heard – they take their sport absolutely seriously here.
Positioned on a glen surrounded by the foothills of the Mulmuaghreirk Mountains, where Fionn (the legendary Finn McCool) hunted the wild boar and the stag, Newmarket also has a number of alluring pre-historic locations around it – a cairn, gallauns (boundary stones) and forts. It is, indeed, a place soaked in Irish history; John Philpot Curran was born here and his daughter, Sarah, was the sweetheart of rebel head Robert Emmet. Just outside the town is the splendid Island Wood, that contains the Twelve Apostles Tree – it has 12 smaller trunks shooting out from out of its main trunk. This isolated wooded area, with the River Dalua, brimming with salmon and trout, running splendidly through it, is an aptly popular spot for quiet contemplation.
The Island Wood in Newmarket, Co. Cork, Ireland, in fact, has been incorporated into a 100-mile walk known as the Duhallow Trail, exploring this wonderfully tranquil section of the globe, and passing though Newmarket itself. Other especially remarkable sectors of the trail are the attractive town of Kanturk and its well-known castle, managed by An Taisce – The Irish National Trust and a splendid structure. At the proximate graveyard of Clonfert, there is a poignant, small Celtic cross marking the massed burial site of a lot of victims of the Great Famine.
In Newmarket itself you will get to see the lively James O’Keefe Institute – really a place of residence built in 1725 for the Aldworth family, a member of which had set up the town a century earlier. it is now a prosperous centre for the local community.
There are no hotels in Newmarket, Co. Cork,, Ireland but still there are many nice guesthouses or places doing Bed and Breakfast in the area. K.D.’s Fast Food, has a good respect for the quality of its menu and its breezy atmosphere and there are other locations where you can get good food, such as Marie’s Restaurant, in the Main Street. It is undoubtedly a town where you can be sure of a real, warm Cork welcome.
County Cork has a wealth of fascinating attractions for visitors. The wonderful city of Cork itself is doubtlessly world renowned. The superb blue flag beaches of Ballybunnion are close to hand. Blarney Castle and Killarney are just a brief drive away. And there are wonderfully exotic golf links courses, lakes, mountains and lakes.
located on the R576, at its intersection with the R578, Newmarket, one of County Cork’s hidden treasures, should be part of everyone’s schedule when they’re in Ireland’s southwestern corner.