Castletownshend () is a village about south-east of
Skibbereen
Skibbereen (; ) is a town in County Cork, Ireland. It is located in West Cork on the N71 national secondary road. The River Ilen runs through the town; it reaches the sea about 12 kilometres away, at the seaside village of Baltimore. Located ...
, 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
Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
. The village developed around a small 17th-century
castle
A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...
built by
Richard Townsend.
History
Evidence of ancient settlement in the area includes a number of
ringfort
Ringforts or ring forts are small circular fortification, fortified settlements built during the Bronze Age, Iron Age and early Middle Ages up to about the year 1000 AD. They are found in Northern Europe, especially in Ireland. There are ...
,
fulacht fiadh
A burnt mound is an archaeological feature consisting of a mound of shattered stones and charcoal, normally with an adjacent hearth and trough. The trough could be rock-cut, wood-lined or clay-lined to ensure it was watertight. Radiocarbon ...
,
standing stone
A menhir (; from Brittonic languages: ''maen'' or ''men'', "stone" and ''hir'' or ''hîr'', "long"), standing stone, orthostat, or lith is a large upright rock (geology), stone, emplaced in the ground by humans, typically dating from the Eur ...
and
bullaun stone
A bullaun (; from a word cognate with "bowl" and French ''bol'') is the term used for the depression in a stone which is often water filled. Natural rounded boulders or pebbles may sit in the bullaun. The size of the bullaun is highly variable ...
sites in 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 ...
s of Castletownsend, Drishane, Gurranes and Farrandau.
The modern village developed around a fortified
country house
image:Blenheim - Blenheim Palace - 20210417125239.jpg, 300px, Blenheim Palace - Oxfordshire
An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a Townhou ...
, originally built by
Richard Townsend , which was extended in the 19th century. The main street of the town, lined with large homes from the 18th century, runs down a sharply sloped hill leading to
Castlehaven
Castlehaven () is a civil parish in County Cork, Ireland. It is located in West Cork, approximately 45 miles south-west of Cork City on the coast. The civil parish includes the town of Castletownshend and the hamlets of Rineen and Tragumna. Th ...
Harbour and the castle.
Drishane House, another large country house which is historically associated with the Somerville family, dates to the .
The village's
Church of Ireland
The Church of Ireland (, ; , ) is a Christian church in Ireland, and an autonomy, autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the Christianity in Ireland, second-largest Christian church on the ...
(Anglican) church, the
Church of St Barrahane, was built in 1827 and overlooks the town. The local Catholic church, also dedicated to Saint Barrahane, was built to the northwest of the village.
Demographics
As of the
2022 census, Castletownshend had a population of 164. Of these, 73.2% were born in Ireland, 17.1% in the United Kingdom, 1.2% in Poland, 4.9% in other EU countries excluding Ireland and Poland, and 3.7% in the rest of the world.
People
*
Edith Somerville
Edith Anna Œnone Somerville (; 2 May 1858 – 8 October 1949) was an Irish novelist who habitually signed herself as "E. Œ. Somerville". She wrote in collaboration with her cousin "Martin Ross" ( Violet Martin) under the pseudonym "Somervill ...
(1858–1949) lived in Castletownsend. She was one half of the writing duo
Somerville and Ross
Somerville and Ross ( Edith Somerville and Violet Florence Martin, writing under the name Martin Ross) were an Anglo-Irish writing team, perhaps most famous for their series of books that were made into the TV series '' The Irish R.M.''. The te ...
, who together authored the ''Irish RM'' series of humorous novels on Irish life in the early 1900s.
*
Sir Patrick Buckley (1841–1896), who became Attorney-General of New Zealand, was born in the area.
See also
*
List of towns and villages in the Republic of Ireland
This is a link page for cities, towns and villages in the Republic of Ireland, including townships or urban centres in Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway, Waterford and other major urban areas. Cities are shown in bold; see City status in Ireland for a ...
References
External links
*
{{County Cork
Towns and villages in County Cork