Cloyne () is a small town located to the southeast of Midleton in eastern

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 is also a see city of the

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

(

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 ...

) Diocese of Cork, Cloyne and Ross, while also giving its name to a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, prov ...

. The town is in a

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

of the same name. St Colman's Cathedral in Cloyne is a cathedral church of the

while the Pro Cathedral of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Cloyne, Cobh Cathedral of Saint Colman, overlooks Cork Harbour. Cloyne is within the Cork East Dáil constituency.

History

The first evidence of settlement in Cloyne is a 4000-year-old portal dolmen that lies to the West of the town. The bishopric of Cloyne was founded by St. Colman Mac Léníne, (530–606 A.D.) as his principal monastery in the sixth century. The origin legend '' Conall Corc and the Corco Loígde'' claims that the land for the foundation of the monastery was not given by the local king, but by Coirpre mac Crimthainn (d. ''c''. 580 A.D.), who was

king of Munster The kings of Munster () ruled the Kingdom of Munster in Ireland from its establishment during the Irish Iron Age until the High Middle Ages. According to Gaelic traditional history, laid out in works such as the ''Book of Invasions'', the earli ...

from the Eóganacht Glendamnach: :Coirpre mac Crimthainn it was who gave Cloyne to

God In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...

and to Colman mac Colcon who is also called Mac Lénéne and Aired Cechtraige and Cell Náile. Because of this they he Eoganacht Glendamnachare entitled to secular rule. The

Danes Danes (, ), or Danish people, are an ethnic group and nationality native to Denmark and a modern nation identified with the country of Denmark. This connection may be ancestral, legal, historical, or cultural. History Early history Denmark ...

plundered Cloyne in 822, 824 and again in 885 when, according to the

Annals of the Four Masters The ''Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland'' () or the ''Annals of the Four Masters'' () are chronicles of Middle Ages, medieval Irish history. The entries span from the Genesis flood narrative, Deluge, dated as 2,242 Anno Mundi, years after crea ...

, the

Abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the head of an independent monastery for men in various Western Christian traditions. The name is derived from ''abba'', the Aramaic form of the Hebrew ''ab'', and means "father". The female equivale ...

and

Prior The term prior may refer to: * Prior (ecclesiastical), the head of a priory (monastery) * Prior convictions, the life history and previous convictions of a suspect or defendant in a criminal case * Prior probability, in Bayesian statistics * Prio ...

of the monastery were killed. The Annals of Inisfallen mention that in 978 A.D. the people of Ossory plundered Cloyne and that in 1088 A.D. Diarmait Ua Briain devastated it. Cloyne was recognised as a diocese at the Synod of Kells in 1152. The only major action of 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 ...

in Cloyne was on 4 May 1920 when

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 ...

volunteers of the Fourth Battalion attacked the local

Royal Irish Constabulary The Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC, ; simply called the Irish Constabulary 1836–67) was the police force in Ireland from 1822 until 1922, when all of the island was part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom. A sep ...

barracks. The volunteers at first failed to gain entry but succeed in setting fire to the building, which resulted in the entire surrender of the garrison. The prisoners had their hands tied before being ordered to march the road to Midleton while the

flying column A flying column is a small, independent, military land unit capable of rapid mobility and usually composed of all arms. It is often an ''ad hoc'' unit, formed during the course of operations. The term is usually, though not necessarily, appl ...

made their escape.

Climate and geography

Cloyne is situated approximately 7.6 kilometres from the major town of Midleton. The town is located at the bottom of a

valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains and typically containing a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams over ...

and is surrounded by large hills to the North and South as well as the Celtic Sea to the East and Cork Harbour to the West. Being only 2 miles (3.2 km) from Cork harbour and 3.5 miles (5.6 km) from the open ocean, Cloyne has a mild climate with few extremes of temperature. The highest recorded temperature was 31.1 °C (88.0 °F), on 3 August 1995 and the lowest was −7.1 °C (19.2 °F), recorded on 2 January 1979 and also on 13 January 1987. The climate of Cloyne is mild all year round, with an average of only six days of frost each year. Snow is almost unknown, with notable exceptions in March 1993, January 2010, and Storm Emma in March 2018. 2010 was also one of the frostiest years recorded for the Cloyne area, with 62 days recording an air frost, over 10 times the average. Rainfall averages around 1041 mm (41.5 in) per annum, with the wettest weather usually occurring between October and January. The driest year ever recorded was in 1975 when 583.7 mm fell, while the wettest was in 2009 with 1433.4 mm.

Places of interest

Cloyne has a round tower which is the town's symbol. The tower dates back to about 560 A.D. when St. Colman founded his monastery. In 1749 a lightning strike caused some damage to the top of the tower. There is also ruins of a Norman watchtower on a hill overlooking the town. The

in Cloyne, St. Colman's Cathedral, was first founded in 1250 AD. The local

church, St. Colmans, was built in 1815 and celebrates

Mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...

every day of the week.

Demographics

According to the 2011 Census, people of Irish ethnicity make up 86.2% of the population with mostly Polish and

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

people making up the rest. In terms of religion, 87% of Cloyne's population are

, 7% belong to other religions (e.g.

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

) and 6% state no religion. 601 persons could speak the

Irish language Irish (Standard Irish: ), also known as Irish Gaelic or simply Gaelic ( ), is a Celtic language of the Indo-European language family. It is a member of the Goidelic languages of the Insular Celtic sub branch of the family and is indigenous ...

and 71 people could speak Polish.

Economy

The land around Cloyne is rich and fertile, being mainly of

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

base. This makes it suitable for

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

, with many acres of

wheat Wheat is a group of wild and crop domestication, domesticated Poaceae, grasses of the genus ''Triticum'' (). They are Agriculture, cultivated for their cereal grains, which are staple foods around the world. Well-known Taxonomy of wheat, whe ...

and

barley Barley (), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains; it was domesticated in the Fertile Crescent around 9000 BC, giving it nonshattering spikele ...

harvested each year. The underlying limestone rock also gives rise to a network of caves under and to the south of the town. Cloyne Cave, which is the biggest in

, is estimated to be up to 7 km long. A section of the main street collapsed into the caves during the 20th century. The cave is accessible from the grounds of Cloyne House on Rock Street. (Permission must be sought from the owner as these are private grounds). The town has a number of pubs and small shops in the centre of town while there is also a Thai and traditional Irish restaurant in the town.

Notable people

George Berkeley George Berkeley ( ; 12 March 168514 January 1753), known as Bishop Berkeley (Bishop of Cloyne of the Anglican Church of Ireland), was an Anglo-Irish philosopher, writer, and clergyman who is regarded as the founder of "immaterialism", a philos ...

(1685–1753), the Anglo-Irish philosopher, was the Church of Ireland Bishop of Cloyne from 1734 until his retirement in 1752. There is a monument to him in the north transept of Cloyne Cathedral. One year after arriving in Cloyne, he wrote ''The Querist'', the first of three volumes containing questions on the social and economic problems of Ireland. He was known in Cloyne as a dedicated pastor as well as a scholar, who personally ministered to the sick and destitute of the parish. * Nicholas Joseph Clayton (1840–1916), a Victorian-era architect based in

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, was born in Cloyne. He moved, with his widowed mother, to the United States in the 1840s and eventually to

Galveston, Texas Galveston ( ) is a Gulf Coast of the United States, coastal resort town, resort city and port off the Southeast Texas coast on Galveston Island and Pelican Island (Texas), Pelican Island in the U.S. state of Texas. The community of , with a pop ...

. The historic district of Galveston features a number of Clayton's buildings that have survived the ravages of storms and fires through the years. * Cynthia Longfield (1896–1991), an entomologist and explorer, was born and lived in Cloyne up until her death in 1991. She also served as a driver in the Royal Army Service Corps during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, and is buried in Cloyne Cathedral. * Sir John Madden (1844–1918), a judge and politician in Australia, was born in Cloyne. He emigrated to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

with his family in 1857 and served as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Victoria before his death in 1918. * Christy Ring (1920–1979), the noted Cork hurler, was born and grew up in Cloyne where he learned to hurl before joining Glen Rovers in Cork city. He is buried in Cloyne and is also commemorated locally by a statue. *Several modern-day hurlers with the Cork senior hurling team, including Dónal Óg Cusack (b.1977), Diarmuid "The Rock" O'Sullivan (b.1978) and his brother Paudie O'Sullivan (b.1988), are from Cloyne.

Education

The local primary school is St. Colman's National School.

Sport

Cloyne GAA is the local

Gaelic Athletic Association The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA; ; CLG) is an Irish international amateur sports, amateur sporting and cultural organisation, focused primarily on promoting indigenous Gaelic games and pastimes, which include the traditional Irish sports o ...

club. They play in the traditional kit of red and black stripes. The club has two grounds known locally as the "old" and "new" pitches. Churchvilla FC is the local

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

club. The club was formed in 1968 and has since grown to 150 players in both juvenile and senior teams.

References

External links

Cloynens.com - Cloyne National SchoolCloyne.ie - Historical Cloyne
(archived) {{County Cork, state=collapsed Towns and villages in County Cork Civil parishes of County Cork