CLONAKILTY! BEST TOWN IN EUROPE! That's what the world said in 2017. Let me walk you around the town

Описание: Previously I think Ennis or Westport were my favourite Irish towns, but now I'm confused! We’re visiting the town of Clonakilty in County Cork, and it’s very, very beautiful.

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Immediately on arriving I visit the statue of Michael Collins. Now if you’re viewing from outside Ireland and perhaps don’t yet have a full grasp of Irish history, Collins was perhaps the most significant Irish soldier/polititian of the 20th Century. He was Director of Intelligence for the IRA during the war of independence and was one of the founders of the Irish Free State. He was killed in an ambush by anti-treaty forces north of here during the Civil War.

And immediately I stumbled upon the quaint Spiller’s Lane, a charming little oldie-worldie arcade that really kicks off this Clonakilty tour in the most colourful way. Great old well-built stone buildings that will last forever. There are some lovely shops, with gorgeous shopfronts and this is a really animated town with lots going on.

A little bit about Clon. It has just over 5000 residents and…unsurprisingly perhaps as I look around, it won Best Town in Europe in 2017 - that’s some achievement. But, not resting on its laurels the town went on to be named Best place of the year in the same year by the Royal Institute of Architects in Ireland.

It was the Norman Thomas de Roach who marked this spot with a market back in 1292, or quite close to here anyway and the Normans had castles in various places around where the town now is. But the town had to wait until 1613 before it gained its charter from James I.

O’Donovan’s hotel was the venue for several speeches that Michael Collins made in the town.

And as we admire the beauty of this street it’s worth noting that much of Clon was burned in 1641 by Catholic Rebels who chased the Protestant settlers out to the town of Bandon. But every action provokes a reaction - certainly in war anyway, and the following year the town was re-taken by a protestant force. No sooner was it recovered that catholic rebels once again attacked the town killing the two Scottish companies who refused to retreat. And the town was taken back again by a protestant force who drove the rebels out to the Island of nearby inchydoney where 600 of them were drowned at high tide. So many lives lost in the struggle to hold on to this town. I think I’d wanna hold on to this town though if it were my town.

In 1691, during the Williamite war Clon was again a venue for battle. And later in 1798 a place near here called Shannonvale was the site of the Battle of Big Cross. So I think we can safely say that history has left its mark here.

We visit a street named after Tomás McCurtain. McCurtain was a previous Lord Mayor of Cork City, where there’s also a McCurtain Street. He was a member of the Gaelic league as well as a number of other cultural and political movements including being a Sinn Fein politician. He commanded 1000 Irish volunteers in Cork during the Easter Rising and became a commandant of what became the IRA after the failed rising. He was shot dead in front of of his wife and son by men wit their faces blacked in 1920, who were found in the inquest to have been members of the RIC, the Royal Irish Constabulary. Amid the outrage that ensued, the inquest passed a verdict of wilful murder against the British Prime Minister of the time Lloyd George. The RIC perpetrators were later all killed by Michael Collins’ infamous 12 apostle brigade. That’s another story.

Edward Twomey’s butchers is where the famous Clonakilty black pudding was born. This pudding is now world famous.