County Cork has to be one of the most spectacular locations of a beautiful country, and the small market town of Newmarket is one of its important market towns.
Newmarket town – or, in the original Irish language, Áth Trasna – the crossing at the ford, is in the Barony of Duhallow, in the north-west of County Cork. Bordered by Kerry and Limerick, and with the well-known Blackwater river drifting close by, full of its tasty salmon, this is a part of Ireland that you would be wacky to not visit.
The hamlet of Newmarket itself, with hardly 2,500 dwellers, befits the word ‘sleepy’ almost as well as anywhere in the country – unless you happen to be passing through after an excessively spectacular G.A.A. Victory, when the town’s own anthem, Up Up Newmarket, will be heard – they take their sport extremely seriously here.
Located on a valley surrounded by the foothills of the Mulmuaghreirk Mountains, where Fionn (the legendary Finn McCool) pursued the wild boar and the stag, Newmarket also has several amusing pre-historic locations surrounding it – a cairn, gallauns (boundary stones) and forts. It is, indeed, a place full of Irish history; John Philpot Curran was born here and his daughter, Sarah, was the love of rebel head Robert Emmet. Just outside the town is the spectacular Island Wood, that contains the Twelve Apostles Tree – it has 12 smaller trunks growing from out of its main trunk. This secluded wooded area, with the River Dalua, brimming with salmon and trout, flowing wonderfully through it, is a justly popular place for quiet contemplation.
The Island Wood in Newmarket town, in fact, has been blended into a 100-mile walk known as the Duhallow Trail, exploring this enchantingly tranquil part of the world, and passing though Newmarket itself. Other especially notable features of the trail are the mesmerizing town of Kanturk and its well-known castle, taken care of by An Taisce – The Irish National Trust and a wonderful building. At the proximate graveyard of Clonfert, there is a sentimental, small Celtic cross representing the massed burial site of numerous victims of the Great Famine.
In Newmarket itself you will find the lively James O’Keefe Institute – primarily a housedwelling place built in 1725 for the Aldworth family, a member of which had established the town a century earlier. it is now a prosperous centre for the local community.
There are no hotels in Newmarket, County Cork,, Ireland though there are many fine guesthouses or places doing B&B in the area. K.D.’s Fast Food, has a good respect for the quality of its menu and its breezy aura and there are other locations where you can find excellent food, such as Marie’s Restaurant, on the Main Street. It is certainly a town where you can be assured of a genuine, warm Munster welcome.
Co. Cork has a wide range of splendid attractions for visitors. The historic city of Cork itself is of course world famous. The exotic blue flag beaches of Ballybunnion are close to hand. Blarney Castle and Killarney are just a brief drive away. And there are amazingly spectacular golf links courses, lakes, mountains and rivers.
Situated on the R576, at its junction with the R578, Newmarket, one of County Cork’s hidden gems, should be part of everyone’s program when they’re in Ireland’s southwestern corner.