Qualla: Blarney https://qualla.com/blarney en-us © 2026 Bendyline Wed, 08 Jul 2026 02:40:11 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_res/siteimages/rsslogo.png Qualla: Blarney https://qualla.com/blarney Blarney: Introduction https://qualla.com/blarney/ Eight kilometres northwest of Cork city centre, a village of a few thousand people receives a steady stream of tourists from across the world for a single reason: to lie on their backs at the top of a fifteenth-century castle and press their lips against a block of limestone set into the parapet. The Blarney Stone is the most photographed cold rock in Ireland, and the legend that kissing it confers the Gift of the Gab - eloquence, charm, the skill of persuasion - has anchored the village of Blarney to the global tourist map for more than two centuries. The MacCarthy dynasty built the castle. Their descendants and the village that grew up around it built the legend, mostly by repeating it.

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]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/1/z/blarney-wp/gc1z-blarney-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Blarney: The Stone and the Story https://qualla.com/blarney/ The legend has several suggested roots, all involving the MacCarthy dynasty - builders and original owners of Blarney Castle. None of them quite agree with each other, which is fitting for a tradition built around the gift of talking your way out of corners. What matters is what ...

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]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/1/z/blarney-wp/gc1z-blarney-the-stone-and-the-story.mp3 0:06 2 full Blarney: The Woollen Mills https://qualla.com/blarney/ Built in 1823 and originally known as Mahony's Mills, the Blarney Woollen Mills was once a water-powered operation producing tweeds and woollens for export. It closed in the early 1970s, and for a moment looked as though it might join the long list of disused Irish industrial bui...

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]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/1/z/blarney-wp/gc1z-blarney-the-woollen-mills.mp3 0:06 3 full Blarney: A Square the Locals Won't Let Go https://qualla.com/blarney/ The Square at the centre of the village is not paved. It is not lined with cafés. It is a grass field, and every attempt over the years to develop it has been met with what the Wikipedia entry calls, with admirable restraint, "stiff objection from the locals." Markets used to be ...

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]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/1/z/blarney-wp/gc1z-blarney-a-square-the-locals-wont-let-go.mp3 0:06 4 full Blarney: Trains That Picked Their Own Blackberries https://qualla.com/blarney/ Blarney had its own railway once, the Cork and Muskerry Light Railway, which opened in 1887 and ran until 29 December 1934. Locals called it the Hook and Eye, and the tram was famously slow - so slow, the story went, that passengers could reach out from the moving carriages and p...

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]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/1/z/blarney-wp/gc1z-blarney-trains-that-picked-their-own-blackberries.mp3 0:06 5 full Blarney: Sport, Brass, and the Other Blarney https://qualla.com/blarney/ There is a Blarney behind the tour buses. The local GAA club were All-Ireland Intermediate Hurling Champions in 2009. Blarney United FC plays in the Premier Division of the Munster Senior League. The Blarney Brass and Reed Band, formed in 1981 by locals who wanted a community mus...

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]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/1/z/blarney-wp/gc1z-blarney-sport-brass-and-the-other-blarney.mp3 0:06 6 full