Cloyne

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Cloyne (Irish: Cluain) is a small village to the south-east of the town of Midleton in eastern County Cork in Ireland. It is also the seat of a Catholic diocese. The Church of Ireland diocese that in some way shadows it is entitled Cork, Ross and Cloyne.

In addition to giving its name to the Catholic Diocese of Cloyne, the village of Cloyne is notable as the home-place of the great Cork hurler, Christy Ring.

Christy Ring was born in and grew up in Cloyne and learned to hurl there moved to play with Glen Rovers in Cork city. But he is buried in Cloyne and has a statue there. Cloyne have a senior hurling team now and recently lost the Cork Senior Hurling Championship final in Oct 2004.

The Cathedral of the Catholic diocese of Cloyne, Cobh Cathedral of Saint Colman overlooks Cork harbour.

The village of Cloyne has a round tower which is the village's symbol.

The land around Cloyne is extremely rich and fertile, being mainly of limestone base. This makes it very suitable for agriculture, with many acres of wheat and barley harvested each year. The underlying limestone rock also gives rise to a spectacular network of caves under and to the south of the town. These caves are accessible from the grounds of Cloyne House on Rock Street. (Permission must be sought from the owner as these are private grounds).

Being only 2 miles from Cork harbour and 3.5 miles from the open ocean, Cloyne has a remarkably mild climate with few extremes of temperature. The highest recorded temperature was 31.1 celsius (88 F), in August 1995 and the lowest was -7.1 celsius (19 F) , recorded in January 1987.

As already mentioned, the climate of Cloyne is mild all year round, with an average of only 6 days frost each year. Snow is almost unknown, especially in recent years. Rainfall averages around 950mms (37 inches) per annum, with the wettest weather usually occurring between October and January. Lengthy dry spells often occur between April and August, sometimes causing drought conditions, although significant rain can also occur even during these months. Sunshine hours average at approximately 1530 hours per year, which makes it one of the sunniest places in Ireland.

There is also a village named Cloyne in Ontario, Canada.

See also: List of towns in the Republic of Ireland

Coordinates: 51°52′N 8°07′W