How oft do my thoughts in their fancy take flight

To the home of my childhood away

To the days when each patriot’s vision seem’d bright

Ere I dreamed that those joys should decay – Daniel O’Donnell

Woolly says – Today was a day to discover Cork and all it had to offer. Cork is the second-largest city in the Republic of Ireland, the city centre is actually an island between two channels of the River Lee which meet downstream at its eastern end, where the quays and docks along the river lead outwards towards Lough Mahon and Cork Harbour, one of the world’s largest natural harbours. Cork was founded in the 6th century as a monastic settlement and was expanded by Viking invaders around 915. Its charter was granted by Prince John in 1185. Cork city was once fully walled, and remnants of the old medieval town centre remain around South and North Main streets. The city’s cognomen of “the rebel city” originates in its support for the Yorkist cause in the Wars of the Roses. A number of famous people come from Cork including Academy Award-winning actor Cillian Murphy of Peaky Blinders fame, television host Graham Norton, football legend Roy Keane, revolutionary leader Michael Collins, and legendary blues guitarist Rory Gallagher who moved there as a child.

I had a number of places on the days list, so an early start was imperative, having shuffled the women out the room we headed across the river and into the city.

It’s always interesting to see a new city and Cork seemed to be very much a mixture of modern architecture alongside the Georgian buildings with shops below the wonderful frontages.

We passed an archway which had once had the Corn exchange behind it which was now a small green area, closely followed by a sweet fountain which was in full water mode

A lovely commemorative gothic structure paid tribute to the fallen of the city surrounded by large flowerpots while a few feet further on we found ourselves crossing the water once again and pausing to look at the River Lee.

I knew we weren’t far from our first port of call as its spire rose high above the houses, it looked incredible and far better in person than on the pictures I had seen on google.

Saint Fin Barre’s Cathedral is a Gothic Revival Church of Ireland cathedral with three spires. Designed by William Burges and completed in 1879, it stands on a Christian site dating back to the 7th century and is dedicated to the city’s patron saint, Finbarr of Cork. It certainly looked as though it could take a leading role in a spooky film if the lighting was right.

The closer we got the better it became and having walked round one side passing some headstones that were now repurposed to hold the garden from falling on the path we arrived at the front.

Words failed us all as we stood looking up at the three huge doorways, one would have been for the peasants, one for the upper class and one for the working class, each one had incredible statues flanking its entrance which included the apostles and represented craftsman and women from the time of construction, the more we looked the more we had to exclaim about.

We headed through the only open doorway, the working class one, I kept my paws crossed that it lived up to its frontage inside and I wasn’t disappointed it was spectacular.

Incredible stained glass windows were in every direction with marble facing above the wooden pews and huge archways dividing the building into three parts.

High above us were more stained glass, with seventy in total there was a lot to look at.

We turned our attention to the altar, and I literally wanted to race to the front and lie on my back to admire the ceiling above it. Painted between 1933 and 1935 it was incredible.

Having taken my time to appreciate it fully I then turned to look at the side walls in more details with its marble and memorial plagues, each section also hosted a coat of arms, all impeccably carved.

A strange cranelike structure caught my attention and having read the information I found that it was for people to practice their bellringing prior to being let lose on the main cathedral bells which was a brilliant idea, sadly the ropes were way to high up for me to give them a ding.

The pulpit then grabbed my attention with its wonderful carved frontage which had been completed in 1874 showing the four evangelists with their symbols together with St Paul and winged dragon.

A beautifully carved bishops throne sat next to a side chapel which housed a handwritten Latin memorial book which was another work of art.

Everywhere I looked there was more to see from a wonderful doorway to the wood surrounding the altars area and as for the mosaics floor, well I was floored.

Having admired the altar I peered back up towards the ceilings once more realising that there was more stained glass way up there as well.

Passing behind the altar we found more marble and memorials with small wooden animals beautifully carved at intervals.

Three display cases showed us wooden structures which had been made prior to the building of the cathedral so that wooden would understand William Burges design prior to them starting to work.

Next to them were some lady statues which had been made from plaster to enable the stonemasons to craft the intricate figures surrounding the doors at the entrance.

We came to a strange looking wooden boxed area which had pipes inside of all sizes from teeny tiny to huge which made me scratch my head.

I to wondered what they might be, luckily one of the stewards appeared at the right moment and told that they were in fact the organ pipes, I’ve never seen organ pipes on the ground before and he told us that there are only three other places in Europe with them. The pipes run from the organ underground and then pop up in the box which sounded nuts, but this was the best type of organ pipework to have. The organ pipes had originally been under the rose window at the entrance to the cathedral but were moved in 1889 due to the choir being at the other end and the acoustics meaning that the sound of the organ was delayed in delivery to the choir so they were always at different points of the score which obviously isn’t desirable. The latest rebuild and refurbishment for the pipes had been in 2011 when more were added bringing the total to 4000 pipes in total.

Woolly says – with these fun facts in my head I turned towards the rose window to see the original pipes that had been left in situ. It was a wrench to leave the place and as we headed back outside, I felt we had hit the jackpot first today and nothing was going to live up to this.

With the wonders left behind us we took a five minute stroll to our next destination. Elizabeth Fort is a 17th-century star fort located off Barrack Street in Cork. The original wooden fort had been built in 1601 and named after Queen Elizabeth I, one year later the citizens of Cork demolished it in protest of Jame I taking the throne in England, they were then told to rebuild it which they did but using stone this time. It served as a defensive fortification, military barracks, prison, and police station before opening as a public heritage and tourist site.

Entering through a wooden door we found ourselves in and area with two gents I the corner pretending to fight, they were defiantly pretending as one of the swords was rather bent. Just to the right of them were the fort stocks which I couldn’t resist a quick try off until Jo’s evil eye caught and she threatened to throw things at me at which point raced up the steps in front and into one of the stars that form the fort. The view wasn’t the best but back in the time when the fort was active, I’m sure it would have looked far better.

Below us to the right were the main buildings looking bright and new with a fresh coat of paint. We walked along the walls to find ourselves at the back of the same buildings which looked totally different to the front and in some areas needed some serious work doing to them.

With the walls completed we headed into the bright frontages to have a look at the museum which told us all about the women who had been imprisoned there and their arrival in Australia to serve out their sentence. It must have been pretty grim for them and as I peered into one of the cells it’s appeared that although the ladies were there no more the smell of unwashed bodies had remained, with my trunk twitching at the stench I rounded the girls up and set off for the next location.

This one hasn’t been on my list, but we had spotted it as we crossed the river so crossing back over the bridge again, we found ourselves at the Holy Trinty Church.  Holy Trinity Church, also known as Father Mathew Memorial Church, is a Roman Catholic Gothic Revival church and friary on the bank of the River Lee. It belongs to the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin and is the only church dedicated to Father Theobald Mathew. The building’s listing in the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage describes it as a “Regency Gothic-style church with Gothic-Revival portico”, and it is “one of the first large churches in the south of Ireland to be built in this style.” Construction of the church began in the early 1830s but stalled shortly before the Great Famine. It would only be completed in 1890, in time for the centenary of the birth of Fr. Mathew.

The entrance was most impressive with its height and stone figures.

Inside was a calming yellow with a lovely ceiling and some interesting stained glass, one side of the church had very modern glass work whilst the other was very traditional.

A number of chapels were along the walls and towards the altar for Saints from the Friars order.

It was a peaceful place to be but with other places to go we trotted off toward the English market.

The English Market is a municipal food market in the centre of Cork stretching from Princes Street to the Grand Parade and combines Princes Street Market and Grand Parade Market. The market is regarded for both its mid-19th century architecture and locally produced artisan food.

The term English Market was coined in the 19th century to distinguish the market from the nearby St. Peter’s (which is no longer there) which was known as the Irish Market. There has been a market on the present site since 1788 when it was opened as a meat shambles and known as “new markets.

Inside we were met with all manner of meats, fish, breads, cheeses in fact any food you cared to mention all beautifully displayed and although breakfast was only a few hours ago it did make me feel hungry. Knowing that more food wasn’t on the menu for the time being I dragged Jo and Zoe out before they dribbled all over the chocolate counter and set off for the Butter Market.

Passing more lovely buildings, some monkeys and crossing the river once again.

We found ourselves panting up a very steep road which had some wonderful artwork for us to pause at and try to gain oxygen in our lungs before moving to the next one.

Finally making it to the top we turned the corner to find three interesting buildings, a round one which had once been part of the butter exchange and a much larger building with imposing pillars which has held the butter markets.

Our eyes then turned to the orange building which housed the Butter Museum.

The Cork Butter Museum documents the history of butter production and sale in County Cork housed in a part of the former Cork Butter Market. Dating from 1849, Cork was the largest exporter of butter in the world, with butter exported as far as Australia and India. Today their butter known as Kerry Gold is available across over one hundred countries in the world.

The first part of the museum was a video about how butter in Ireland had ended up being exported so far and wide and featured plenty of cows which made Jo and I very happy. We were then allowed to sample the product which made me even happier.

We headed off to look at the displays which included the international Butter Exchange in the 19th century, the domestic production of butter, and the operations of Kerrygold in more recent times.

There was an area enabling you to print your own butter labels which I thoroughly enjoyed doing as well as, walls were lined with butter wraps which made me feel very hungry and having walked so many miles I felt it much be time for a late lunch, luckily the ladies agreed and leaving the butter behind we headed for sustenance and Guinness, well it would be rude not to.