CHAPTER ONE:

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he County of Cork (Contae Corcaigh) is the largest county

in Ireland. It was described in a topographical directory of

Ireland in 1837 as, “a populous rural district of great beauty and fertility, with many small rivulets intersected by the river Lee and its noble estuary.” Its wild rugged mountains, fertile valleys, many bogs and peatlands and rocky and indented coastline make it one of the most picturesque counties of Ireland.

The economy was dominated by small tenant farms, fishing, some mining and the production of linen from flax. Butter was one of the chief exports. There was, however, widespread poverty, and most of the population of more than 800,000 eked out a subsistence living.

Like the other counties in Ireland, Cork was impacted by poverty, oppression and lack of opportunity, although resistence to persecution was perhaps more pronounced. The southernmost of the Irish counties, its sprit of independence earned it the reputation as “The Rebel County.” Some even went so far as to refer to it as the People’s Republic of Cork. The people of Cork were proud and enterprising. Nestled in the valleys, beside the meandering rivers and along the rocky coasts, most rural people earned their living by farming and fishing. The major Gaelic names in the county were McCarthy, Murphy, O’Keeffe, O’Mahony, O’Callaghan, O’Donovan, O’Driscoll and O’Riordan.

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