Visit Newmarket Town, County Cork, Ireland

County Cork, Ireland must be one of the most splendid areas of a fantastic country, and the small market town of Newmarket is one of its unique market towns.

Newmarket town – or, in the original Irish expression, Áth Trasna – the passage at the ford, is in the Barony of Duhallow, in the north-west of Co. Cork. Bounded by Limerick and Kerry, and with the well-known Blackwater river flowing close by, brimming with its unbeatable salmon, this is a part of Ireland that you would be crazy to not visit.

The town of Newmarket itself, with just around 2,500 dwellers, perfectly suits the description ‘sleepy’ almost as well as anywhere in the country – unless you appear to be passing through after an extremely 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 glen surrounded by the foothills of the Mulmuaghreirk Mountains, where Fionn (the legendary Finn McCool) chased the wild boar and the stag, Newmarket also has a number of alluring pre-historic sites surrounding it – a cairn, gallauns (boundary stones) and forts. It is, indeed, a place soaked in Irish history; John Philpot Curran was born here and his daughter, Sarah, was the love of rebel leader Robert Emmet. Just outside the town is the spectacular Island Wood, that houses the Twelve Apostles Tree – it has twelve smaller trunks growing from out of its main trunk. This secluded wooded area, with the River Dalua, brimming with salmon and trout, running wonderfully through it, is an aptly popular location for solitary contemplation.

The Island Wood in Newmarket, County Cork, in fact, has been blended into a 100-mile trek known as the Duhallow Trail, investigating this enchantingly quiet section of the earth, and passing though Newmarket itself. Other especially notable sectors of the trail are the charming town of Kanturk and its famous castle, managed by An Taisce – The Irish National Trust and a wonderful building. At the nearby graveyard of Clonfert, there is a touching, small Celtic cross marking the massed burial site of numerous victims of the Great Famine.

In Newmarket itself you will get to see the lively James O’Keefe Institute – really a housedwelling place built in 1725 for the Aldworth family, a member of which had set up the town a century earlier. it is now a prosperous centre for the local community.

There are no hotels in Newmarket, Co. Cork, though there are several fine guesthouses or places doing Bed and Breakfast in the area. K.D.’s Fast Food, has a good respect for the quality of its menu and its breezy atmosphere and there are other places where you can find good food, such as Marie’s Restaurant, on the Main Street. It is for sure a town where you can be guaranteed of a real, warm Cork welcome.

Co. Cork has a wealth of fascinating attractions for visitors. The historic city of Cork itself is justifiably world renowned. The safe blue flag beaches of Ballybunnion are close to hand. Blarney Castle and Killarney are just a few minutes drive away. And there are superbly scenic golf links courses, lakes, mountains and lakes.

located on the R576, at its joining with the R578, Newmarket, one of County Cork’s hidden assets, is worth being part of everyone’s schedule when they’re in Ireland’s southwestern corner.