Glanmire
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Glanmire (Gleann Maghair in Irish) is a town located just outside Cork City. It has a population of almost 20,000 people, and is rapidly expanding as new housing estates are being built.
The region called Glanmire is actually made up of several small towns and villages, including Glanmire Village, Riverstown, Brooklodge, Glyntown, Copper Valley and Sallybrook. There also is an area outside Glanmire called Upper Glanmire, which includes Whites Cross, Ballyphilip, Timpalmichael and Bucklarys Cross.
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[edit] History
Glanmire has a long history that dates back to early Christian Ireland. The stone bridge located in Riverstown is one of the oldest constructions in Cork. Oliver Cromwell is reputed[citation needed] to have ridden over it, when he inspected Glanmire during the Cromwellian conquest of Irelands. Brian of Glanmire, nephew of the Gaelic imperialist Brian Boru, lived here. At the parish church located on a hill above the village, Sarah Curran, lover of the hanged Robert Emmet married Captain Henry Sturgeon in 1805.
In the 1800s Glanmire was much smaller, and mainly just consisted of the village area. It was a highly industralised area with woolen factories and mills scattered around the nearby river Glashaboy. A smallpox fever once killed many people in the village. Riverstown House, actually located nearer Brooklodge, was resided in at this time. It was in the 20th century that Glanmire started to expand. In the later half of the century, more houses and facilities were built. A new primary school was built in Riverstown in 1979, while a new, modern secondary school was built in Brooklodge in 1996.
In 2006, a new primary school was built for the Glanmire area. Gaelscoil Ui Drisceoil operates from the Old Christians RFC clubhouse in Rathcooney.
[edit] Sports
The most popular Gaelic sports in Glanmire are hurling and Irish football. Sarsfields Gaelic Athletic Association Club was established in 1986 at the Pike Inch in Sallybrook. In 1944 Sarsfields Gaelic Athletic Association Club split into two separate club, Sarsfields Hurling Club and Glanmire Football Club. In 1951 the Sarsfields senior hurling team won their first Cork County Championship and the following year Paddy Barry represented Sarsfields as captain of Cork and Cork won the All-Ireland Hurling Championship. Sarsfields retained the County title in 1957.
Other sports popular in Glanmire are basketball, football (Riverstown & Brooklodge soccer clubs), rugby (Old Christians), camogie (Sarsfields), women's football, pitch and putt (St. Stephens), inline hockey, badminton, and martial arts such as karate and tae kwon do.
[edit] Recent News
As of 2005, Glanmire was expanding rapidly, and spilling over into the neighbouring town of Mayfield. The two towns are becoming so interconnected that they are sometimes referred to as the one area. However, this has led to bad press in the late months of 2005, as an RTÉ documentary on anti-social behaviour listed the Glanmire-Mayfield area as a particularly bad spot for anti-social behavoiur.
This problem has also been addressed by local politicians, such as Fianna Fail's Billy Kelleher, who in February 2005 proposed as ASBO system similar to the one in use in parts of England, but which was rejected by Dáil Éireann. By December 2005, Glanmire has seen the development of new domestic expansion in the Glyntown area, and the opening of a new supermarket in Brooklodge, to deal with the growing number of residents.
In January 2006 a sewage spill in the Buttlarstown River caused widespread concern over the quality of the drinking water from Glashaboy Waterworks. This was rectified at the cost of 1.5 million euro. Though for a time water in the Cobh, Little Island and Glounthaune areas were deemed unsafe for public consumption.
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