Qualla: Castlemartyr

Castlemartyr: Introduction

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Nicholas Hilliard, Public domain. The Fitzgeralds of Imokilly were not called the Dogs of Blood for nothing. The local peasantry coined the name - in Irish, Madraí na Fola - because the family that built and held this castle from 1420 onwards was bloody-minded enough to earn it. In 1581 the Earl of Ormond overran Imokilly, captured the elderly mother of the seneschal John FitzEdmund, and hanged her from the castle wall. FitzEdmund submitted to the Earl and never got the place back; the Crown handed it to Sir Walter Raleigh instead. Today the tower house is a roofless ruin in the grounds of a five-star spa hotel, on the N25 between Cork and Waterford, sixteen kilometres west of Youghal.

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Image: Nicholas Hilliard | Public domain

Castlemartyr: Three Names, Many Layers

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit User Thesteve on en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Castlemartyr has been anglicised over the centuries as Ballymarter, Ballymartyr, and finally the present spelling. The original Irish, Baile na Martra, refers to the relics or martyrs of an old church at nearby Ballyoughtera - now a ruined graveyard, but once a monastic settlemen...

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Image: User Thesteve on en.wikipedia | CC BY-SA 4.0

Castlemartyr: Raleigh's Grant, Boyle's Inheritance

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Sarah777, CC BY-SA 2.0. After the Desmond Rebellion crushed the old Geraldine power, the Crown confiscated everything between Lismore and Castlemartyr and handed it to Walter Raleigh. He held the lands only until 1602, when Richard Boyle - the future 1st Earl of Cork - bought them for £1,000. The Boyle ...

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Image: Sarah777 | CC BY-SA 2.0

Castlemartyr: The Chauffeur

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Paul Leonard, CC BY-SA 2.0. On the evening of 27 November 1920, Liam Heffernan from nearby Conna was sitting in a parked car on Castlemartyr Main Street. He was a chauffeur by trade and an IRA volunteer by night, employed to drive officers of the local battalion. Two Royal Irish Constabulary officers, recog...

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Image: Paul Leonard | CC BY-SA 2.0

Castlemartyr: Tea at Mrs Farrell's

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit User: (WT-shared) Spircle at wts wikivoyage, CC BY-SA 4.0. January 1965. The Rolling Stones were touring Ireland and driving from Waterford to play the Savoy Theatre in Cork. The N25 ran straight through Castlemartyr, and the band stopped here for refreshments. Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts took tea at Mrs Farrell's eating-house. Across t...

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Image: User: (WT-shared) Spircle at wts wikivoyage | CC BY-SA 4.0

Castlemartyr: The Village Now

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Chmee2, CC BY-SA 3.0. Approximately 1,900 people live in Castlemartyr and its hinterland according to the 2016 census, most commuting under 45 minutes to school or work in Cork or Midleton. The village has a Catholic church from around 1860, a Church of Ireland church from 1731, a greengrocer, a super...

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Image: Chmee2 | CC BY-SA 3.0