Macroom is a market town in County Cork, Ireland which formed in the valley of the River Sullane, about halfway between Cork city and Killarney. Its Irish Gaelic may translate as “meeting place of followers of the god Crom” or “crooked oak”, the latter a reference to a large oak tree that apparently grew in the town-square during the reign of King John. Its population has grown and receded over the centuries as it went through periods of war, famine and workhouses, forced emigration and intermittent prosperity. The 2016 census recorded an urban population of 3,765 people.Bridge over the river Sullane, viewed from Masseytown

Macroom began as a meeting place for the Druids of Munster. It is first mentioned is in 6th-century records, and the immediate area hosted a major battle c. 987 involving the Irish king Brian Boru. During the middle ages, the town was invaded by a succession of warring clans, including the Murcheatach Uí Briain and Richard de Cogan families. In the early modern period the MacCarthy’s took control and later the area found prosperity via milling. The MacCarthys built a series of tower houses, many of which survive. The family lost influence during the Williamite wars of the 1690s, after which authority over the town castle waxed and waned between the MacCarthys and a number of ambitious English families. In the 17th century, Macroom became a central point of conflict in the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland.

The population fell in the 1840s during the Great Irish Famine. Evidence can be found in the former workhouse, now the district hospital at the north side of New Street, and the mass graveyard to the west, near Clondrohid. During the late 18th and early 19th century a number of Anglo-Irish families, and a branch of the Massey family, settled in the area; but many of their estate houses were burned by rebels during and after the Irish War of Independence as the town was caught the turmoil of IRA activity.

From 1976 to 1982 Macroom hosted the Mountain Dew Rock festival, with lineups that included Rory Gallagher, Thin Lizzy and Van Morrison, attended by Sex Pistol John Lydon.

Today the town is an economic hub for the mid west Cork region, and location a major Danone milk processing factory, which dries and cans Infant formula from milk supplied by local dairy farmers. Until the 1950s New Street was the town’s economic hub, and contained many small retail outlets. In September 2019 Macroom was designated a rent pressure zone.

Tourism

View of the back square, showing the late Gerard Golden’s public house; commonly “the pub that never served a fool”

Tourist attractions include the town centre, an 18-hole golf course, and the Castle Grounds, with fishing and golfing grounds. The town’s surroundings contain large amounts of megalithic monuments, early Christian holy wells, churches and sacred sites associated with ancient visionaries and healers. Mushera Mountain is located a few kilometres to the north of the town, near Millstreet Country Park. It contains the ancient Saint John’s Well. Carrigaphooca Castle a tower house 6 km west of the town no longer accessible to the public.

The Castle Arch, the centerpiece of the old castle grounds, admits walkers to the demesne parklands. It is held in trust to, and in the possession of the people of Macroom. Its large park contains riverside walks among mature oak and beech trees.

The Gearagh

The Gearagh is a national nature reserve on an inland delta, is located 1.5 kilometres (0.93 mi) south of Macroom. It comprises a series of small islands, separated by anastomosing, mostly flat, river channels or streams, and is bounded by Toon Bridge, Illaunmore, and Anahala Bridge. The area is thought to have been wooded since the end of the last Ice Age c. 8,000 bc.^[18] The alluvial woodland extended as far as the Lee Bridge, and consisted of a large number of mature oak and ash trees.

The reserve was gutted in 1954 when the Lee hydro-electric scheme led to extensive tree-felling and flooding. Now submerged houses are visible from the area around Two Mile Bridge. The scheme resulted in the loss of sixty percent of the former oak woodland. Today, the Gearagh is of interest and importance due to its rich and rare diversity of wildlife, and represents the only extant extensive alluvial woodland in Western Europe.

The Gearagh is primarily of interest and importance due to its rich and rare diversity of wildlife, and it represents the only extant extensive alluvial woodland in Western Europe. It hosts numerous rare plant species including marsh marigold, meadowsweet and nightshade, and 62 species of moss and liverwort. While oak and ash trees once pre-dominated, today there are a number of willow and alder trees on the higher islands and inlets. It hosts a large diversity of birds and wildfowl and attracts both summer and winter migrants. Examples include mallards, wigeon, Greylag geese, herons and coots. It also hosts Atlantic salmon and the near extinct freshwater pearl mussel. The area is protected under the international Ramsar Convention.

Today the Gearagh comprises wide but shallow water enclosing a series of small islands separated by anastomosing, mostly flat, river streams. It remains an area of outstanding natural beauty, with a diverse ecological system and wide variety of plants, birds and fish, including freshwater pearl mussel, Atlantic salmon, whooper swans, kingfishers and otters.

Carrigaphooca Castle

Carrigaphooca Castle is a ruined five storey rectangular tower house situated on a steep-sided rock overlooking the River Sullane. It is located 6 km west of Macroom, in an area once known as Gleann na n-Dearg (Valley of the Reds). The tower dominates the landscape of Lissacresig (Fairyland) in Clondrohid, and Lower Shanballyshane, in Kilnamartyra. Carrigaphooca is made of sandstone and limestone and was built as a defensive tower by MacCarthy clan member Donal MacCarthy of Drishane c. 1336–51. Cormac Teige McCarthy, the Lord of Blarney took refuge in the tower after he had sided with the Irish during the Siege of Kinsale in 1601. He stayed there until he was forgiven by Elizabeth I after he had written a personal letter of apology to her. In 1602, the castle was attacked and taken by Donal Cam O’Sullivan Beare and another member of the extended McCarthy family. After a protracted siege, their forces broke through the outer wall and burned the timber door at the north face entrance. The defenders surrendered and were allowed to go free.

Carrigaphooca is positioned in an area rich with neolithic monuments; a stone circle lies two fields to the east. The tower is located on private property, and no longer accessible to the public, although it is owned by the state and maintained by the Office of Public Works.

Mountain Dew festival

From 1976 to 1982 Macroom hosted the annual Mountain Dew festival, organised by young local business people. The festivals attracted up to 20,000 attendees each year. It was the first of its kind for Ireland, and was intended to reinvigorate a town that was then stagnant economically. According to one of the organisers, Martin Fitzgerald, “The town needed a bit of shake rattle and roll to tempt not just international investors but Irish people to rest there a bit long…a rock concert fitted the bill”. Line ups included Rory Gallagher, Phil Lynott, Elvis Costello Van Morrison, Marianne Faithfull and Horslips, and was attended by John Lydon of the Sex Pistols.

Churches

The Roman Catholic church of St. Coleman’s was built in 1841 and remodeled in 1893, based on a design by Dominic Coakley. The Macroom Church of Ireland building was construed in 1823, on foot of a load of £1000 from the Board of Fruits. The building is now derelict, although the graveyard is still in use. The remains of a thatched-chapel lies to the west of the town, on Lackaduduv mountain. A rare surviving form, the remnants are known locally as “Carrignaspirroge Chapel”.