Knocknaheeney
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KNOCKNAHEENY or KNOCKNAHEENEY (Irish: Cnoc na hAoine, Friday's Hill )
Knocknaheeny is located north of the River Lee high on hills overlooking the great and vast city of Cork. it is famous (locally) for its many colourful characters and unmistakably strong Cork accent. Knocknaheeny consists mainly of Council housing which are small, closely cropped, terraced houses and painted in different colours.
Knocknaheeny is a relatively new community. Today some 1500 families live in the area but less than a quarter of a century ago it consisted of rolling countryside bordering on the Gurranabraher, Churchfield and Farranree areas. Cattle grazed on what is now Harbour View Road and a Windmill stood on the site of Killala Gardens. Corkonians walked out the country for a stroll to Croppy Boy or along Nashs Boreen.
The older townlands were named after plants e.g. * Knocknaheeny meant the Hill of the Rushes * Knocknacullen meant the Hill of Holly * Knockfree means the Hill of Heather * Shanakiel means Old Wood or Foxes Wood
In 1862 Griffiths Land Valuation Survey reported that fifteen families formed the lands of Knocknaheeny, Knocknacullen. They paid rent to the Lord Cork. One family, Forrest, still farms land near to Clogheen. Having constructed the road system which serves the area the corporation had to name the terraces and avenues of modern Knocknaheeny.They decided to name the individual roads and streets after harbours and coastal areas around the country.
Many of the Knocknaheeny street names are named after parts of the Irish Coastline e.g. * Courtown Courtown Park & Courtown Drive * Ardmore Ardmore Avenue * Killala Killala Gardens * Dunmanus Dunamanus Gardens * Cork Harbour Harbour View Road * Glandore Glandore Park * Foyle Foyle Avenue * Kilmore Kilmore Road (upper & Lower) * Killiney Killiney Heights * Fota Fota Lawn * Dunmore Dunmore Gardens
Many of the houses in Knocknheeny were not built to habitable building standards and ran into neglect, however over the past few years Cork City Council have made efforts to improve this situation and the area seems to be going through a bit of a revitalisation. Development and improvement is now visible all over the area with a new Town Centre currently under construction on Harbour View Road. Residential areas are also popping up with housing now erected at the Reservoir (Rezza) stretching down to Nash's Boreen and the New affordable housing located on Hollyhill Lane and the Shanakiel Development at the top of the Blarney Road.
LEARNING KNOCKNAHEENY
Primary School: St. Mary's on the Hill Boys National School / Girls National School, Knocknaheeny, Cork - Tel - 021 4392507
Secondary School: Terence MacSwiney Community College (formerly Scoil mhic Shuibhne), Knocknaheeny, Cork - Tel - 021-4395842
Learning Institute: St. John's Northside Campus, Terence MacSwiney Community College, Knocknaheeny, Cork - Tel - 021 4255500
SPORTING KNOCKNAHEENY
Sporting activities in Knocknheeny are the ever popular GAA Sports of Hurling and Football.
St Vincents Hurling and Football club (Club colours: Green & White) In 1943 St Vincents was founded to promote Gaelic games in the Blarney Street and Sundays Well and later expanded to encompass Knocknaheeny, Gurranabraher and Churchfield. The club has won numerous honours, in 1946 the club won the Junior Football County Final, in 1968 the intermediate hurling county title and a senior hurling league in 1972. Recent years has heralded great success at underage level with various teams winning honours at the premier and A grades. The highlight of this has been the winning of the Minor Premier County in 1998. These players would go on to join with members of other successful underage teams from the 90's to help the club win its first intermediate football title in 2006 and has ensured that the club retained Senior status for the first time since the 70's.
Soccer is also a big part of the community,
The local teams are
Knocknaheeny Celtic (Club colours: Blue/White & Blue) Club Ground: Kilmore Road, Knocknaheeney
Grattan United (Club colours: Blue/White & Blue) Club Ground: O’Neill Park, Knocknaheeney
Billy Clarke Ipswich Town F.C. (born December 13, 1987 in Knocknaheeny, Cork) is a professional Irish footballer currently playing in Britain for Ipswich Town. The striker made his professional debut as a substitute for Ipswich against Cardiff City in late November 2005. Billy has had loan spells at Colchester United and Falkirk FC. He also won the FA Youth Cup in 2005. He also has an extensive Irish International record at youth level. He has 34 appearances for Irish at Under 16, 17, 18, 19 and 21 and has scored 13 international goals so far. Billy won the Irish Examiner Junior Sports Star of the year award for Soccer in 2005 and was nominated for Irish Under 19 Player of the year award in 2006.
Knocknaheeny man Patsy Freyne had a long playing career with League of Ireland football team Cork City FC and later as player/manager for Munster Senior League team Castleview FC
Athletics Mark Carroll (born 15 January 1972) from Harbour View Road, is a Knocknaheeny man to be proud of, he has represented Ireland in running at lots of different distances. He was the 1991 European junior champion over 5,000m; 2000 European Indoor champion over 3,000m and won a bronze medal in the 1998 European Championship over 5,000m. Carroll missed the 1996 Olympics due to injury and missed qualifying for the 5,000m final at the 2000 Olympics by one place. He finished 6th in the 2002 New York Marathon but decided not to look to compete over that distance in the 2004 Olympics due to the heat and humidity in Athens. He is still competing today, though his best years are now behind him, he has also been coaching other Irish athletes such as Gareth Turnbull since 2005.
Roadbowling is a popular pastime in the Knocknaheeny Area.
ANTI-SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR IN KNOCKNAHEENY
Over the years Knocknaheeny has been subject to large amount of bad press which has painted the area and its inhabitants in a negative light. Years of overcrowding and government neglect coupled with a downturn in the economy in the late 70s / mid 80s fueled acts of vandalism in the area and surroundings. Poverty and unemployment was rampant in the city and nowhere was that more obvious than in the Knocknaheeny area. The area quickly deteriorated and optimism soon turned to pessimism.
School leavers were faced with life on the dole, some lucky people got work locally but these were few and far between, others headed to Britain for work. Boredom set in and cars were stolen by so-called joyriders that would drive at excessive speeds along the Kilmore Road (aka The Back Road or The Opel Road). Gas and glue sniffing were acts that were common and many young people died during this awful time. In fact, nearly every family living in Knocknaheeny and its surroundings were affected by tragedy. Youths and adults alike turned to burglary to make ends meet, anti-social behavior was everywhere and no end seemed in sight.
Credit is due to the real people of Knocknaheeny, they pulled themselves out of the black and looked forward with optimism. Neighbours helped each other through pain and loss, supported each other when all seemed impossible and got through the other side. Although Knocknaheeny (as an area) didn't see much of the so-called Celtic Tiger economy with no sign of building there until after the boom, it is a community of strength. In Cork City, Northside/Southside issues are still the norm and Knocknaheeny continues to be the butt of jokes.
LONE PARENTS HAVE HIGH HOPES FOR THEIR KIDS
Almost 50% of young, single mothers hope that their children will get a good education and a good job, despite the fact that the vast majority of these mothers had already left school before becoming pregnant, according to a new study. The study looked at young, single mothers in two communities, Knocknaheeny in Cork and Darndale in Dublin. It focused on women who became mothers when they were under the age of 18 and who are still only young adults. The study found that over 80% had already left school before becoming pregnant. It also found that the majority of lone parents were dependent on the state for their main source of income. According to the Minister for Children "Young, single mothers and lone parents in general are seen as a group particularly vulnerable to poverty and social exclusion. Lone parent families have a higher than average risk of poverty".
The study was commissioned by the Vincentian Partnership for Justice and was carried out by Dr Valerie Richardson from the Social Science Research Centre in UCD.
Apple Computer Europe base, Located in Knocknaheeny / Hollyhill is beneficial to the local economy, it has helped the area through the rough times since the 1980s
Joy in the Hood is an Irish comedy series featuring Des Bishop. Aired in 2005 on Ireland's channel RTÉ Two as a part of its Monday-night comedy slot, it showed Bishop's antics as he traveled to impoverished areas of Ireland, such as Knocknaheeny in Cork, Ballymun in Dublin and Southill in Limerick to run comedy workshops and integrate into society in these places.
Popular saying: "You can take the boy out of Knocknaheeny, but you can't take Knocknaheeny out of the boy"
Popular saying: "So Roy, where the f**k is Knockmahenny" ("Knockmahenny", the only spelling error in Roy Keane's autobiography)
