One of the most picturesque and interesting trips I made in Great Britain was the trip by the Cork, Muskerry and Donoughmore railway to Blarney. The train follows the winding, grass grown, tree shaded banks of the river Lee for some miles.

All Saints Well is located in the townland of Killeens and situated on a private working farm located near the western end of where the Lower Killeens Road exits to…

1776, Sept.15th, the Blarney Castle, S.J. Jefferys Esq., of whose great works in building a town at Blarney, I cannot give so particular an account as I wish to do; for I got there just as he and his family were setting out for France.

Fr. Horgan states he received the account from a few of his parishioners whose fathers had been eye-witnesses to the event described. He recounts how baronies, and sometimes counties formerly, contended in this noble and manly game of hurling.

Listing of the first Applicants for Membership of the newly forming ‘Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception’ Blarney Boys Club’, under the direction of the Blarney Praesidium of The Legion of Mary.

On 10th January 1923, the Commissioner of Public Works wrote to the Secretary of the Minister of Home Affairs informing him that the local assistant architect had visited Blarney and had found that the only suitable accommodation for the Civic Guard was a house near the Muskerry train terminus owned by Mrs. Cotter, a school teacher and wife of Eugene Cotter, also a school teacher, of Emerald House, Blarney.

Blarney Group LDF 1942, Nominal Roll 13/1/42 – 24/3/42.

Compiled by Brian Gabriel  Harvest Home at Blarney – October 1850 We witnessed, last Saturday, one of those delightful entertainments, which are annually given by St. John Jefferyes, Esq., the…

Blarney Hunt Club or ‘The Hunt Club’ as it was locally known, was founded and established in 1886 and lasted for 133 years until it was eventually disbanded in 2019.

War at Sea, Food Shortages, Regulation. The battlefields of Belgium and France may have seemed far away but the war was also being fought just off the coast of Ireland.

The original school was founded by the late Mrs. Peg O’Connor in the Emer Hall, Waterloo Road in 1952. Among the teachers in those early days were Mr. Aodán O’Donoghue, later to become Cigire in the Dept. of Education, and the late Ms. Marie Hobbs, later a Vice-Principal in St. Aloysius, Cork.

(Before Messrs. W.J. Hara, R.M. (in the Chair). Thomas Andrews and T. Sheehan.)

Patrick Fleming, who was stated to reside at Passage West was charged by Sergeant Hogan with having made a statement likely to prejudice the recruiting of his Majesty’s forces by shouting “Up the Germans!”

For some years prior to 1931, the Temperance Hall (also known as the T.A. Hall or Total Abstinence Hall) at Shane Lower, Blarney was closed and in general dis-use, being used only occasionally by travelling show people, while the young men and women of Blarney village had to travel to other centres for amusement.

Cork Examiner Thursday 1st May 1913New Hall Opened – Temperance Cause – Bazaar and Fete The accommodating hall, erected by the Blarney Total Abstinence Athletic Club was formally declared open…

How many people living locally realise that Blarney once had its own museum? Do others still remember it and where it was located? Who owned it or how long it stayed open? This is the background.

In many of the countries of north-west Europe, quantities of butter have been found in bogs on a regular basis over the past 300 years or so and are still being found to the present day.

PARKER – June 10, at the Presbytery, Blarney, the Very Rev. David Canon Parker, P.P. aged 76. Office and Requiem Mass at 11 o’clock, on Tuesday morning, 12th instant, at Waterloo Church – R.I.P.

Newcastle was on the left of a “Y” turn immediately past the lodge of Garrycloyne House, about 5 miles north of Blarney.

The extent of the popularity Parnell enjoyed at this point in his career can be gauged from the reception he received on making the trip to the southern home of his new constituents on the 3rd of October 1880.

The Church of The Immaculate Conception was begun in March 1893 and sanctified on the 21st of October 1894. The following day the Cork Examiner gave a report of the opening ceremony of dedication.

Dawstown is composed of two parts; the larger one consisting of 502 acres lies in the old parish of Garrycloyne, while the rest, consisting of 341 acres is in the old parish of Matehy.

As sad an accident of this nature has occurred for a long time in or near the city, took place within the past week, by which a young family of…

On Dec 10th, 1941, just days after the Japanese attack on the U S base at Pearl Harbour, two British battleships, the modern Prince of Wales and First World War era battlecruiser Repulse were called to Singapore to assemble for possible operations against the Japanese.

William Molyneux (1656-1698), influential Natural Philosopher from Dublin, asked the onetime Military Governor of Cork, Richard Cox (1650-1733), for a description of Cork and its environs as a contribution toward a proposed “Natural History of Ireland” (a work which was never published).

The village of Blarney, which fifty years ago (1832) was very unimportant, and would not have been known outside the county, but for the famous old castle and caves, and still more famous ‘kissing stone’, has now assumed a position which bodes well for its future. 

During its time in existence, St. Ann’s Hydropathic Establishment played host to countless members of royal families, statesmen, politicians, celebrities and wealthy families from across Europe, all wishing to partake of the waters of Doctor Richard Barter’s Hydropathic Establishment which was founded in 1843. Apart from the hotel section St. Ann’s had a number of very desirable residences which were rented at the location. 

On the day of this fatality, the boys went there. Young Dan Burke asked a servant of the defendant “Where is the Blarney Stone?” and Harrington, the servant, pointed across to the stone and said “Over there”, but gave no warning as to any danger to a person approaching or kissing it.

It still is important to many of our readers to describe briefly the architecture and arrangements of this large and prosperous establishment. It occupies the summit of a hill overlooking the valley of the Shourna, facing Blarney Castle and its historic groves.

A quiet, un-assuming man walked amongst the residents of Blarney village on a daily basis and not many people are aware that he had been an All-Ireland Champion Boxer, not once but twice.

“The year 1836 dawned in an air permeated with an element of tension arising from the seething unrest that existed between the Catholic laity and the Protestant clergymen of the day.

About three miles to the northwest of Blarney Castle and village lies the townland of Garrycloyne. The old 18tth century road to Kanturk, Newmarket and North Kerry passes through here….

Gas was manufactured in Blarney Woollen Mill from “gas coal”, a usually bituminous coal used for making gas by distillation.

Right now, I cannot think of a better way of spending a beautiful summer’s day in mid-June than to ramble around the parish of Inniscarra and retrace some of the steps of my youthful days.

The Great War cast a long shadow over Blarney and the surrounding districts. Many young (and some not so young) men joined the armed services at the beginning of the war, some from a sense of duty, some from a need for adventure, but many from sheer economic necessity; to support themselves and their families and to escape the grinding poverty of unemployment and unskilled labour.

Killowen forge was located in the townland of Killowen approximately 1½ miles north-west of Blarney village, the forge was originally owned by Hannah Murphy’s family. Edmund Murphy who was better known as “Ned The Smith” came to work in the forge in 1882.

Killowen forge was located about 60 metres above the water-tower on the left-hand side of the road, in the townland of Killowen, approximately 1½ miles north-west of Blarney village.

This will be a vulgar article, not to say low, for it relates to slang, which is both. Therefore, you who are particular in these things, or squeamish, would do well to skip.

It is not a bad thing to be inquisitive, or to wonder, about your locality and its many historical aspects. Do not stay indoors at home, but go outside, look at and explore your area.

Blarney, that most interesting centre of Irish romance, with its magnificent groves and lake and castle and Stone, unquestionably possesses associations of the proudest character …

My father served as Superintendent of the Gardaí in the Blarney District from 1944 until he retired in 1962. He was so happy living and working in Blarney that he declined an offer of promotion as Chief Superintendent so that he could end his days there.

The following is a list of the names of the main occupiers (tenants) of the Mahony Mill Houses and the rents paid by them, as per the records in the Mahony Rent Ledger, for the period from 3rd January 1955 to 29th June 1959.

I came from across the Irish Sea in 1953, to land in Dunleary, on a visit to Ireland wanting to see for myself what makes the Irish tick and see why they have attained such heights away from their homeland.

As early as 14 July 1920 Lieutenant Colonel William Wilfred Ashley (1867-1939), asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Lieutenant Colonel Sir Hamar Greenwood (1870-1948) in the British House of Commons:

With industry comes pollution and more has probably been written on this aspect of the river than any other. Not so much the unsightly disposal of a refuse bag or the discarding of an old mattress but pollution more insidious.

Grenagh is a rural parish with agriculture as its major industry. The great majority of the non-farming workforce have to travel outside the area for employment, mainly to Cork or Mallow.

Athletics and hurling are as old as civilization itself when people had to run and jump to escape predators. They later learned to use sticks as spears and stones to kill animals for food.

Sir George Oliver Colthurst
The Cork Examiner Friday 25th August 1882
Colthurst: On the 24th Inst. At Inchers, County Cork, the wife of Sir George St. John Colthurst, Bart. Of Blarney Castle, County Cork, of a son.

The Cork Examiner Tuesday 1st September 1903: Coming of Age of Master George Oliver Colthurst.  Rejoicing at Blarney

For almost 100 years the Sodalities founded by the Sisters of Charity played a prominent part in the spiritual life of the community. Here is their story, told in the words of the convent annals.

The binding of cartwheels was another task undertaken by the blacksmith, which required great skill and accuracy. This duty was usually performed once a month at the Killowen forge.

The Blarney Tapping Station 1920 – 22 The role of I.R.A. intelligence in the war against the British forces between 1919 and 1921 has been well documented. Secret agents working…

Golf’s origin in the Barony of Muskerry, a vast tract of land extending to over 300,000 acres extending from Blarney in the east to the ‘county bounds’ with Kerry, can be traced to the former St. Ann’s Hydro near Tower.

June 1997 saw the removal of a prominent land mark in the Blarney/Tower area to make way for a proposed new garage. Located across the road from the avenue leading to where the world-famous St. Ann’s Hydropathic Establishment was situated.

By the will of Nicholas Mahony, his nephews Martin and Edmund Roynane, were appointed trustees of a sum of £5000 to be spent in establishing a convent of Sisters of Charity in Blarney.

This church, situated in the hamlet of Waterloo, is located approximately 2.5 km north of the village of Blarney. It is tucked away in the north-east corner of the town-land of Knocknasuff.

As someone who was born and raised in Blarney, I have always felt a special attachment to the place. My memories of growing up there, going to school, messing around the village, the woods and the castle grounds,

On an untarred, unpaved earthen country road known as the Glen Road, Grenagh, running beneath the embankment parallel to the railway above, passengers on the main-line steam trains on their journey to Cork City,

The War of Independence in County Cork stepped up a gear on January 2nd 1920 with simultaneous attacks on police barracks in Carrigtwohill, Kilmurry and Inchigeela.

In September of 1776, Arthur Young visited S.J. Jeffery’s, Esq; at Blarney Castle.  

Of whose great works in building a town at Blarney, I cannot give so particular an account as I wish to do; for I got there just as he and his family were on the point of setting out for France.

On December 5th 1948, there was continued and heavy rain which resulted in severe flooding in the river valleys which feed Blarney, namely, the Martin, the Blarney and the Shournagh. 

One of the first things we would notice if we could go back in time would be the darkness.  Once the sun had gone down people had only candles to give them light and these candles were smoky and smelly.

Following Timothy Mahony’s death on 2nd January 1818, the business was run by Martin, who possessed a different temperament to his brother.

James St. John Jefferyes inherited the Blarney estate in 1740 and eventually set about developing industry in the village, building an inn, a new church, 90 houses and some flax mills – a development noted with approval by the English agronomist Arthur Young in his ‘Tour of Ireland.’

When Donagh, the last of the McCarthy family, left Blarney to live on an island in the Wadden Sea off the North-West of the Netherlands, where he ended his days in relative comfort, Blarney Castle and lands were put up for sale.

Blarney has welcomed many visitors over the years. Some have left a record of their visit for posterity, usually in words, but sometimes in visual media; a drawing, a print, watercolour or oil painting.

The very beautiful and highly illuminated stained glass windows which make up the display above the organ and choir gallery in the Church of the Immaculate Conception, Blarney, depict, appropriately, the martyred Saint Cecilia – Patron Saint of Church Music.

A large number of men from the Blarney area, for many different reasons, left to take part in the First World War between 1914 and 1918. Many returned but quite a number of them did not and they will never be forgotten.

On Saturday 12th September 1903 ‘The Times’ in London published the following letter which it claimed to have received from a C.R. Warwick. The Times said that: – “We have…

July 12th 2015 heralded the 30th Anniversary of the foundation of The Blarney & District Historical Society.

Blarney Temperance Festival at Inchicummane near Blarney – Nov 1842 The members of the Inchicummane Total Abstinence Society gave their annual soiree on Sunday evening the 30th ultimo. Besides the…

On Friday, 23rd November 1917, during the Battle of Cambrai, in Fontaine – Notre Dame, which is located about 4 kilometres to the West of Cambrai, a British Mark IV ‘female’ tank of 6 Company, 12th section, B Battalion, was knocked out by German artillery.

In Griffiths Valuation, 1854, the Townland of Dawstown, Parish of Garrycloyne, the house is occupied by Edmond Mullane, the lessor being Charles Putland and the house valued at twelve pounds.

The village of Blarney stands on the River Martin and it was to this place that the Mahony Brothers were attracted in 1823 when they were considering relocating their business from Blackpool in Cork city to Blarney in 1824.

1942. Europe and the world were in turmoil at the height of World War 2, with almost all nations involved with the exception of a small number which remained neutral. Ireland was one of the neutral ones and the period was declared ‘The Emergency’.

Many of the more senior readers of the ‘Old Blarney’ Journals or the Muskerry News will have memories of the roadside water pumps located about the district where an essential daily supply of water was collected in enamel buckets and other receptacles for household use.

On Friday June 10th 1988, Blarney was the sixth town in the Cork area to have an official tourist information point which was officially declared open for business by the Minister of State for Tourism, Mr. Denis Lyons T.D.

Do many people realise that Blarney had/has its own Emblem?

Do many people remember the Blarney Emblem?

How many people actually bought and still have a framed copy of the Emblem?