Ballydesmond (), formerly Kingwilliamstown, is a rural village in

County Cork County Cork () is the largest and the southernmost Counties of Ireland, county of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, named after the city of Cork (city), Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster ...

, Ireland. It lies on the

Blackwater River A blackwater river is a type of River#Classification, river with a slow-moving channel flowing through forested swamps or wetlands. Most major blackwater rivers are in the Amazon Basin and the Southern United States. The term is used in fluvial ...

(near its source in Menganine) on the Cork– Kerry border. The Ballydesmond quarry is an area of geological interest, containing the best example of tundra forest polygons found in Ireland. It is located at the junction of the R577 and R578 regional roads.

History

Ballydesmond was established in the 1830s as a

model village A model village is a mostly self-contained community, built from the late 18th century onwards by landowners and business magnates to house their workers. "Model" implies an ideal to which other developments could aspire. Although the villages ...

, and named Kingwilliamstown after King

William IV of the United Kingdom William IV (William Henry; 21 August 1765 – 20 June 1837) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from 26 June 1830 until his death in 1837. The third son of George III, William succeeded h ...

. It had formerly been known as Tooreenkeogh. In 1951, it was officially renamed ''Ballydesmond'', an anglicisation of the Irish name ''Baile Deasumhan''. This is thought to refer to legendary rebel, the 15th Earl of Desmond, who is believed to have taken refuge in the nearby hills. However, Kingwilliamstown remained the official name of the

townland A townland (; Ulster-Scots: ''toonlann'') is a traditional small land division used in Ireland and in the Western Isles of Scotland, typically covering . The townland system is of medieval Gaelic origin, predating the Norman invasion, and mo ...

. Daniel Buckley, Hannah Riordan and Bridget Delia Bradley from Ballydesmond survived the sinking of the

RMS Titanic RMS ''Titanic'' was a British ocean liner that Sinking of the Titanic, sank in the early hours of 15 April 1912 as a result of striking Iceberg that struck the Titanic, an iceberg on her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York Ci ...

. The Tureengarriffe ambush occurred near Ballydesmond, where a number of British army officers were killed during the

Irish War of Independence The Irish War of Independence (), also known as the Anglo-Irish War, was a guerrilla war fought in Ireland from 1919 to 1921 between the Irish Republican Army (1919–1922), Irish Republican Army (IRA, the army of the Irish Republic) and Unite ...

by untrained members of the local flying column of the

Irish Republican Army The Irish Republican Army (IRA) is a name used by various Resistance movement, resistance organisations in Ireland throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Organisations by this name have been dominantly Catholic and dedicated to anti-imperiali ...

. Nora Herlihy, a founder member of the

Irish League of Credit Unions The Irish League of Credit Unions (ILCU) ( Irish: Conradh na hÉireann de Chomhair Chreidmheasa) is a trade association for credit unions in Ireland. It operates in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. It is an unincorporated body g ...

, is from Ballydesmond.Nora Herlihy
. Ilcu.ie. Retrieved on 23 April 2012.

Local economy

Ballydesmond's local economy is based around a number of small businesses. Ballydesmond is also home to a large employer in the Cork-Kerry region, construction materials company, Munster Joinery.

Transport

The village is located on what was formerly the main

Cork "Cork" or "CORK" may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Stopper (plug), or "cork", a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container *** Wine cork an item to seal or reseal wine Places Ireland * ...

–

Tralee Tralee ( ; , ; formerly , meaning 'strand of the River Lee') is the county town of County Kerry in the south-west of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The town is on the northern side of the neck of the Dingle Peninsula, and is the largest town in ...

road. The village centre is on the R577 regional road where it is joined by the R578 from the north and just west of where it is joined by the R582 from the south, and is about west of Newmarket and east of Castleisland, County Kerry.

Education

There are two primary schools in the parish. Ballydesmond National School sits beside the local church, overlooking the village. Foilogohig National School, or "Foyle" as it is locally known, used to operate in North Ballydesmond, catering for students who live a long distance from the village. There is also a crèche in Ballydesmond. Foilogohig N.S closed at the end of the 2008–2009 school year as there was insufficient numbers for the school to remain open. Ballydesmond N.S. got an internal refurbishment in 2010.

Culture

Ballydesmond lies in the

Sliabh Luachra Sliabh Luachra (), sometimes anglicised Slieve Logher, is an upland region in Munster, Ireland. It is on the borders of counties County Cork, Cork, County Kerry, Kerry and County Limerick, Limerick, and bounded to the south by the Munster Blackw ...

area which is famed for its traditional Irish music and culture. There is the Sliabh Luachra Bar (John D's) in the village.

References

External links

Ballydesmond websiteBallydesmond GAA Official website
{{coord, 52, 11, N, 9, 14, W, region:IE_type:city, display=title Towns and villages in County Cork Geology of Ireland