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YOUGHAL |
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YOUGHAL is an ancient port at the mouth of the River Blackwater,
where the counties of Cork and Waterford meet. In a small way it
combines the richness of the Blackwater towns with the prettiness of
Kinsale and Cobh. A picturesque town, popular with holidaying Irish
families, Youghal has a colourful history and some fine architecture to
remember it by; even if you're en route elsewhere, it's worth stopping
off to take in some of the character of the place.
Youghal's walls were first built by the Norman settlers who established
the town, but those which stand today were erected by Edward I in 1275.
From medieval times the town prospered as one of Ireland's leading ports,
trading with the Continent - particularly France - and with England.
Political disturbances and trade restrictions imposed on Irish ports by
the English Crown, however, meant the town's growth began to slow in the
mid-sixteenth century. It fell into the hands of the Earl of Desmond,
and in 1579 the "Rebel" Earl (rebelling against Elizabeth I) sacked and
burned the place. After Desmond's death, Youghal was part of the 40,000
acres granted to Walter Raleigh during the Munster Plantations, with
which Elizabeth hoped to control Ireland. Raleigh, though, had little
interest in Ireland, and spent most of his time composing poetry in an
attempt to curry favour with the queen. In this he was abetted by Edmund
Spenser, another local colonist, author of The Faerie Queen . Spenser
proved to be capable of both great poetry and of barbarism in his
dealings with the Irish: they eventually repaid him by burning down his
castle, Kilcolman, near Buttevant. Raleigh himself spent little time in
Youghal, selling his land to Richard Boyle, the "Great" Earl of Cork (and
father of the scientist), who then greatly developed the town as he did
all his newly acquired land.
When Cromwell reached New Ross in 1649, the English garrison at Youghal
went over to the Parliamentarian side, and so the town escaped
destruction. Nonetheless, the importance of the port continued to
diminish through the seventeenth century. Still, the decline was only
relative to its former stature, and there is enough fine eighteenth-century
architecture to make it clear that a small but affluent class of
merchants still prospered. Today, Youghal is a quiet seaside resort, and
the history preserved in its buildings continues to suggest prosperity
earned through centuries of vigorous commerce, and offers an insight
into the privileged lives of the early colonists
The Town
Youghal's most famous landmark is the clock tower , which bridges the
long, curvy main street. A superbly proportioned Georgian structure of
warm, plum-coloured stone, it was used as a prison a century ago; more
recently it served as a museum, but it's now closed indefinitely. Steps
leading off the tower climb the steep hill through little lanes to the
top of the town, where the walls and turrets of the old defences still
define the shape of the compact harbour.
The most charming buildings lie, in the main, on the landward side of
North Main Street and in the lanes that run behind it. On North Main
Street itself the Red House , built in 1710, is a fine example of
domestic architecture, clearly showing the Dutch influence of the
original merchant owner. Here, too, are seventeenth-century almshouses,
built by Richard Boyle to house Protestant widows. Lanes off to the west
of this end of Main Street lead to the Elizabethan Myrtle Grove , known
as "Raleigh's House", since it was once part of the extensive estates
granted to him by Elizabeth I, one of the oldest unfortified houses in
Ireland but, sadly, no longer open to the public.
Nearby, you'll find the Collegiate Church of St Mary's , a large,
simple, thirteenth-century building, one of the few of such age still in
use in Ireland. The building has been greatly altered over the centuries,
but still has interesting medieval tombs and effigies. Particularly
notable are the thirteenth-century monuments in the south transept (entrance
is by a little door to the left as you walk up towards the church, or by
the main door when open). Wrecked when the town was sacked by Desmond's
men in 1579, they were later restored by Boyle, with the addition of
effigies in seventeenth-century costume. Heading out of town towards
Waterford, you pass the ruins of North Abbey, a thirteenth-century
Dominican priory of which little remains.
On the east side of North Main Street is Tyntes Castle , a fifteenth-century
tower house that is now sadly dilapidated (and, by the look of it,
rapidly deteriorating). Edmund Spenser's widow married a former resident
of the house, Robert Tynte. Lanes off this side of the street lead to
the quayside . Here it's all very quaint: warehouse buildings warm with
the patina of age surround the harbour; yucca palms decorate the
walkways, and the cultivated fields of Waterford across the water look
very near.
There is an interesting walking tour of the town, which sets off from
the tourist office (1hr 30min; June-Aug Mon-Sat at 11am; at other times,
tours for groups of four or more can be arranged; £3/¬3.81). Signposted
from here too is Fox's Lane Museum (July & Aug Tues-Sat 10am-1pm &
2-6pm, Sun 2-6pm; rest of year open by prior appointment, call
024/91145; £2/¬2.54), which displays with illuminating clarity and
imagination a collection of domestic gadgetry - everything from sausage
makers to petrol-fuelled irons and cucumber straighteners - all mapping
the dogged march of progress from the nineteenth century.
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