County Cork · Munster
Blarney
An Bhlarna
the little field, from blár, a field
The story
A small town eight kilometres north-west of Cork city, now inside the city's boundary, and known the world over for its castle and the stone you kiss for the 'gift of the gab'. The legend has several suggested roots, all tied to the MacCarthys who built the castle. The Woollen Mills began in 1823 as Mahony's water-powered tweed mill, and the grassy Square in the middle has seen off every attempt to develop it.
Castles and monuments within 15 km
- Farran · holy well · 12 km
- Blarney Castle · castle · under 1 km
- Carrigrohane Castle · castle · 4 km
- Ballincollig Castle · castle · 6 km
- Dundanion Castle · castle · 11 km
- Blackrock Castle · castle · 12 km
- Kilcrea Castle · castle · 13 km
Straight-line distances from the town centre, from each site's documented coordinates.
Worth seeing nearby
- Béal na Bláth · The bend in the road where Michael Collins was shot on 22 August 1922, in his own county, by his own former comrades.
- Spike Island · Monastery, fortress, for a few years in the mid-19th century probably the biggest prison in the British Empire, holding convicts awaiting transportation, then a garrison — 'Ireland's Alcatraz'.
All of these are pinned on the Hidden Ireland map.
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