This is the first in a series of articles on day trips you can take by car while in Kinsale, County Cork, Ireland. This day’s adventures offer: 1) a bit of history, 2) various ancient sites, 3) oddities from the past, and of course, 4) good Irish food and charming Irish towns. With a fantastic landscape in between, what more can we ask for?
The route
Although they are getting better, road signs in Ireland are unpredictable at best. Don’t assume that because you saw it on a traffic sign that your destination will be constantly on the signs from then on. You haven’t taken a wrong turn, just because the next sign doesn’t mention where you’re going. In general, roads with the R number will have some markings. When a frontage road joins the main road at a curve, follow the white line down the middle around the curve instead of going straight. Visitors should remember that roads in Ireland were determined by things like cow tracks, and if you are from countries with modern straight roads it will take some getting used to.
Our route takes us from Kinsale on the R600, around the Old Head (R604) to visit the site where the Lusitania sank, and on to Timoleague, where we’ll see a ruined abbey. Continuing for R600, we will have lunch at Clonakilty. We then take the main N71 road past Ross Carberry until we turn off onto the R597 to see the stone circle at Drombeg. On our way back, just before Clonakilty, we turn left onto the R599 towards Ballynacarriga. Our path veers off to the right of R599 at a large green grain silo, and we continue for a mile or so until we can see the old stone castle on our left. Continuing a little further along the same road, we come across the R586 and turning right will take us to Bandon and the signs are easy enough to follow through Innishannon and up the R605 back to Kinsale. If we go out between nine and ten in the morning, we should be home at five in the afternoon.
The places
Mary at the Grotto and the Ballinspittle Miracle – It’s a short way south of Kinsale is the small town of Ballinspittle. About a half mile before you reach the town, you will come to what is a major crossroads for this rural area. On one side of the crossing is a large grotto with a statue of the Virgin Mary. In July 1985, many people saw the statue move and felt a sense of peace come over them. The result was that more than a quarter of a million people visited the site over the next few months, most of them with some hopeful experience. You can watch the videos on You Tube.
Monument to Lusitania and Cabeza Vieja – is home to one of the world class private championship golf courses. Old Head Peninsula offers much of the same beauty, if less scale, of the famous Cliffs of Moher. Because it is a private golf course, tourists are not allowed to walk the peninsula, but don’t worry, park your car at the last junction on the right, just before going down to the course. There will be a dilapidated building to your right and the memorial to the sinking of the Lusitania which sank off this coast in 1950 killing 1180 people. You can walk through the fields to get great shots of the Old Head.
Timoleague Abbey – Worth a half hour or more of exploring, you can park by the water and walk up the stairs to the back of the ruined abbey. Worth a half hour of exploring, the Abbey was founded by a Franciscan order in 1240 AD, although built on a site that had been used for monastic purposes since the 6th century. Don’t forget your camera for this one, and if you’re there on a nice sunny day, there’s a feast of photos to be taken.
clonakilty – is a quaint seaside town that has won many awards in Ireland for the consistent upkeep of its shops and award-winning hand-painted Celtic signage for its businesses. A short investigation through the city with lunch is a great idea, but don’t stay too long as there are two more fantastic sites still on our tour.
drombeg circle – is the best example of stone circles to be found in County Cork, although there are over 300 sites in the county. Most have only one, perhaps two or three stones still standing, having interfered with plowing for agriculture or made good foundation structures for one use or another and been moved. Of course, no one knows exactly what the purpose of the standing stone circles was. This was excavated in the 1950s and has 17 stones. The site is also home to the ruins of a stone hut, suggesting that this area was inhabited for at least parts of the year from the birth of Christ to the early 7th century.
Ballynacarriga Tower House – is not strictly speaking a castle, although it is often called that. Built in the 16th century, it has the easiest and best example of a Sheela Na Gig in this part of Cork. My partner and I hunt in the Irish countryside finding and taking photos of Sheelas because they seem so interesting and mysterious. Believed to protect against evil, erotically carved nude stone women come in all shapes and sizes and are often found in churches. If you arrive at Tower House in the late afternoon, you can knock on the door of the pub around the corner. Whilst not kept up to modern standards it is still a working establishment, and the caretaker has the key to the Tower House which he will give you if you promise to lock behind you and return the key. It is well worth the extra effort to be able to enter the castle, carefully climb the stairs to the upper area and see the ancient Celtic carving above the windows in what would have been their living space.
Enjoy the Irish countryside while you travel. Feel free to stop and ask for directions if you’re not sure where to go next. The Irish are open and friendly with travelers, often joking with each other about how hard it is to find something the first time. However, each stop along this road is well worth the time and energy required to get there. I know you will find, like all the visitors I have taken on this route before you, that this is going to be a fantastic day.