Page 184 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Ireland

182  IRELAND REGION B Y REGION

j Cobh
Irish Emigration
Road map C6. Co Cork. * 13,000.
£ n Old Yacht Club (021 481 3612). Between 1848 and 1950 more than six million people emigrated from
∑ visitcobh.com Ireland – two and a half million of them leaving from Cobh. The
famine years of 1844–8 (see p223) triggered mass emigration as the
Cobh (pronounced “cove”) lies impoverished made horrific transatlantic journeys in cramped,
on Great Island, one of the three insanitary conditions. Many headed for the United States and Canada,
islands in Cork Harbour which and a few risked the long journey to Australia. Up until the early 20th
are now linked by causeways. century, emigrants waiting to board the ships were a familiar sight in
The Victorian seafront has rows Cobh. However, by the 1930s world recession and immigration
restrictions in the United States and Canada led to a fall in the
of steeply terraced houses numbers leaving Ireland.
overlooked by the Gothic
Revival St Colman’s Cathedral.
Following a visit by Queen
Victoria in 1849, Cobh was
renamed Queenstown but
reverted to its original name in
1922. The town has one of the
world’s largest natural har bours,
hence its rise to prom inence as
a naval base in the 18th century.
It was also a major port for
merchant ships and the main
port from which Irish emigrants
left for America. 19th-century engraving of emigrants gathering in Cobh Harbour
Cobh was also a port of call
for luxury passenger liners. In
1838, the Sirius made the first E The Queenstown Story notorious “coffin ships”. The
transatlantic crossing under Cobh Heritage Centre. Tel 021 481 exhibition also documents
steam power from here. Cobh 3591. Open daily. Closed 22 Dec– Cobh’s role as a port of call
was also the last stop for the 5 Jan. & 0 7 = for transatlantic liners.
Titanic, before its doomed ∑ cobhheritage.com
Atlantic crossing in 1912. Housed in a Victorian railway Environs
Three years later, the station, The Queenstown Story is North of Cobh is Fota Island,
Lusitania was an exhibition detailing the with Fota House and Gardens.
torpedoed and town’s marine history. Exhibits This glorious Regency mansion,
sunk by a German and audiovisual displays recall surrounded by landscaped
submarine just off the part Cobh played in Irish gardens, has a 19th­century
Kinsale (see pp176– emigration and the transporta­ arboretum with rare trees
7), south west of tion of convicts. Between 1791 and shrubs.
Cobh. A memorial and 1853, 40,000 convicts were Also on the island is the Fota
on the promenade sent to Australian penal Wildlife Park, which concentrates
is dedicated to all colonies in on breeding and reintroducing
those who died
in the attack.

Cobh Harbour with the steeple of St Colman’s Cathedral rising above the town
For hotels and restaurants in this region see pp298–9 and pp313–16

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Eyewitness Travel LAYERS PRINTED:
Catalogue template “UK” LAYER
(Source v1.9)
Date 20th August 2012
Size 125mm x 217mm