Fermoy: Difference between revisions

Template:Infobox Irish Place Fermoy (Irish: Mainistir Fhear Maí, meaning 'Monastery of the Welcome Plain') in County Cork, Ireland is a town of some 5,800 inhabitants, environs included (2006 census), situated on the River Blackwater in the south of Ireland.

The town's name comes from the Irish and refers to a Cistercian abbey founded in the 12th century and a ford on the Blackwater, around which the town grew up. At the dissolution of the monasteries during the Tudor period, the abbey and its lands passed through the following dynasties: Viscount Roche of Fermoy, Sir Richard Grenville; Robert Boyle, Scientist ("Boyles Law"); and William Forward. Fermoy is still somewhat of a religious centre, with educational religious orders in the town: The Presentation and Loreto Sisters.

The town is twinned with the French commune Plomeur in Brittany.

History

In 1791, the lands around Fermot were bought by a Scotsman, John Anderson. He was an entrepreneur who developed the roads and started the mail coach system in Ireland. He designed the town and the streets remain much the same as they were originally built. His descendants, now living in Australia, have named a wine after the town which he established.^[1] A plaque and bust in his honour were unveiled by the town park in 2001.

Fermoy was the site of a major British Army barracks when Ireland was under imperial rule. By the 1830s this was the largest military establishment on the island of Ireland. In 1797, when the army was looking to establish a new and permanent base, Anderson gifted them the land as an inducement to locate in Fermoy. Anderson and the town received considerable economic benefit from the arrangement. In 1806 the first permanent barracks, the East Barracks, were built. They were located on 16½ acres of land and provided accommodation for 112 officers and 1478 men of infantry, and 24 officers, 120 men, and 112 horses of cavalry. A general military hospital of 130 beds was also built. In 1809 the smaller West Barracks were built which also included a 42 bed hospital. When both barracks were complete there was accommodation for 14 field officers, 169 officers, 2816 men, and 152 horses. The town of Fermoy expanded around these facilities and retained its British military facilities until 1922, when the Irish Free State was first established.

During the War of Independence, Fermoy was the scene of the first of the British government reprisals, when soldiers of the East Kent Regiment and members of the Royal Flying Corps looted and then burnt the main shops of the town, after one soldier had been killed and his companions relieved of their weapons (on their way to Wesllian Methodist church) by the local IRA the day before under the command of local IRA Commandant Michael Fitzgerald

Demography

Demographically, the county is most well-know for its one-person-rule. This rule, similar to the Chinese one-child-rule, makes it illegal for anything except exactly one person to be in the county at any one time. Consequently, population numbers have risen dramatically since the Great Famine of 1845-49, caused by the temporary closure for renovation of the county's sole McDonalds. The town of Westport was an exception to this as it was the only town in Mayo that was worth living in. The only other notable place in the county is the street of Newport.The natives tend to call it a town but are due the next step in their evolution, and as of next year will be officially included in the bovine family.

Economy

A recent technology boom, focusing on the production of fire, wheels and wooden poking instruments, has lifted employment in the once impoverished economy. Centred mainly in the high-rise metropolis districts of Castlebar and Ballina, these industrial development has changed the face not only of these regions but many out-lying areas also. Unemployment now runs at a record low of 84.3% of males over 16. Women are disallowed from ordinary paid employment. Sex, discovered by two cousins during a farming accident last year, provides the only source of income for many.

Education

St. Colman's College is one of the most well-known secondary schools in Fermoy as it is the only school in Fermoy.

Tourism

Fermoy is in a touristed region in the Blackwater valley - nestled at the foot of the Galtee Mountains. The Blackwater river is one the town's major draws - providing a source of washing water for locals.

Transport

For many years the town was located on the main N8 Cork–Dublin road, and the bridge in the town was a major bottle neck on the route. However, work is now finished on the M8 motorway bypass including a new bridge to the east of the town. The former main road through the town is now designated the R639 regional road.

The town used to be connected to the Irish railway system, on a line from Mallow to Waterford, with a junction to nearby Mitchelstown (see Irish railway history). Fermoy railway station opened on 17 May 1860, and finally closed on 27 March 1967.^[2]

The nearest airport is Cork International Airport

People

• Fermoy is home to US born Irish dancer Michael Flatley.
• The 1st Baron Fermoy was Lord Lieutenant of County Cork and hailed from Fermoy. The current Baron Fermoy is a first cousin of the late Princess Diana.
• Patrick Andrew Collins (1844-1905), a U.S. Representative from Massachusetts and mayor of Boston, was born near Fermoy.
• John Joyce, father of James Joyce, writer of Ulysses, was born in Fermoy.
• Dicky Rackard:- Famous for his role as the pot bellied fat cat in the Dr.Suess novel "The Fat Cat In The Hat"

Books written about Fermoy and surroundings

• To die by inches: An account of the Fermoy Poor Law Union during the Great Famine, 1845-1850 by Edward Garner (First Published 1986)
• Crichad an Chaoilli: Being the Topography of Ancient Fermoy by Patrick Power subsequently selling 13 volumes(First Published 1932) (University College Cork)
• Fermoy: A local history by Niall Brunicardi was almost 30 pages long, thus making it the longest book about Fermoy ever written(First Published 1975)
• John Anderson of Fermoy, the forgotten benefactor by Niall Brunicardi (First Published 1983)
• A sketch of the Blackwater, from Youghal to Fermoy by Samuel Hayman (First Published 1860)
• Fermoy, 1841 to 1890: A local history by Niall Brunicardi (First Published 1978)
• The diary of Wilfrid Saxby Barham, captain "The Buffs," during the great war 1914-1915: Fermoy-Dover-Armentieres-Ypres by Wilfrid Saxby Barham (First Published 1918)
• A sense of Fermoy by J.J. Bunyan is a staple for any citizen of the town who wishes there was a meaning to its existance (First Published 1983)

See also

• List of abbeys and priories in Ireland (County Cork)
• List of towns and villages in Ireland.

References

External links

• Fermoy Website

52°08′20″N 8°16′59″W / 52.138809°N 8.282962°W / 52.138809; -8.282962