| Mitchelstown Baile Mhistéala
|
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|---|---|
| — Town — | |
| Kingston College | |
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Mitchelstown
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| Coordinates: | |
| Country | Ireland |
| Province | Munster |
| County | County Cork |
| Elevation | 103 m (338 ft) |
| Population (2006) | |
| • Total | 3,365 |
| Irish Grid Reference | R818127 |
| Website | www.mitchelstown.eu |
| Historical populations | ||
|---|---|---|
| Year | Pop. | ±% |
| 1821 | 3,773 | — |
| 1831 | 3,545 | −6.0% |
| 1841 | 4,181 | +17.9% |
| 1851 | 3,084 | −26.2% |
| 1861 | 2,922 | −5.3% |
| 1871 | 2,743 | −6.1% |
| 1881 | 2,467 | −10.1% |
| 1891 | 2,312 | −6.3% |
| 1901 | 2,146 | −7.2% |
| 1911 | 2,268 | +5.7% |
| 1926 | 2,146 | −5.4% |
| 1936 | 1,902 | −11.4% |
| 1946 | 2,054 | +8.0% |
| 1951 | 2,148 | +4.6% |
| 1956 | 2,674 | +24.5% |
| 1961 | 2,655 | −0.7% |
| 1966 | 2,617 | −1.4% |
| 1971 | 2,783 | +6.3% |
| 1981 | 3,106 | +11.6% |
| 1986 | 3,210 | +3.3% |
| 1991 | 3,090 | −3.7% |
| 1996 | 3,123 | +1.1% |
| 2002 | 3,300 | +5.7% |
| 2006 | 3,365 | +2.0% |
| [1][2][3][4][5] | ||
Mitchelstown (Irish: Baile Mhistéala) is a town in County Cork, Ireland with a population of approximately 3300. Mitchelstown is situated in the valley to the south of the Galtee Mountains close to the Mitchelstown Caves and is 28 km from Cahir, 50 km from Cork and 59 km from Limerick. The River Gradoge runs by the town into the River Funshion, which in turn is a tributary of the River Blackwater. The town is best known as a centre for cheese production.
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Mitchelstown's name originates from an Anglo-Norman family called "de St Michel" who founded a settlement there in the 13th century known as "Villa Michel".[6] The modern name comes from the anglicised version of the later Gaelic derived Ballyvisteala or Ballymistealy. An earlier settlement began in the nearby townland of Brigowan or Brigown (from Irish: Brí Ghabhann, meaning "hill of the smith")[7] , it was known by this name and had monastic origins being founded in the 7th century by Saint Fanahan (Fionn Cú = White Hound), a warrior monk famed for his hot temper.
The town evolved as a hotchpotch of cabins and laneways beside which stood Mitchelstown Castle. In the 1770s, the medieval town was replaced by the present town which is situated east and south of King Square. It was laid out in a grid pattern of two main streets intersected by a number of smaller streets. The medieval town was demolished and the then owners of Mitchelstown; Robert, Viscount Kingsborough (later 2nd Earl of Kingston) and his wife Caroline, built a new palladian styled mansion to replace the earlier castle which had stood on the site. Mitchelstown is today regarded as one of the best planned Georgian towns in Ireland. Some of its streets are named after members of the King family, namely Robert, George, Edward, James, Thomas and King (the family name). The other streets of the Georgian town are Church Street and Baldwin Street, Alley Lane, Chapel Hill, Convent Hill, King Square, New Square and Mulberry Lane.
The layout established by the second and third Earls of Kingston between 1776 and 1830 was utilised the natural features of the site to give panoramic views of the Galtee Mountains. Mitchelstown Castle as rebuilt in the 1820s by the third Earl of Kingston who created the biggest private house in Ireland. During the Irish Civil War in 1922 the castle was occupied by the Republican Army. After two weeks, its contents were looted and the building was burnt ostensibly to prevent it from being used by the Irish Free State Army. The shell of the house was later completely demolished and its stone used to build Mount Melleray Abbey.
In 1887, Irish Land League campaigners, led by John Mandeville, organised a rent strike at the estate of Lady Kingston at Mitchelstown. On September 9, three men - John Shinnick of Fermoy, John Casey of Kilbehenny and Michael Lonergan of Galbally were shot on the main street by police firing without orders, following an 8,000 person strong Land League Rally in the town. On that day Mandeville and MP William O'Brien had been brought for trial on charges of incitement under a new Coercion Act.; this event became known as the "Mitchelstown Massacre". In the years that followed the phrase "Remember Mitchelstown" (first coined by William E. Gladstone, was subsequently much bandied about in the British House of Commons when Irish affairs were under discussion). A memorial to Mandeville that stands in Market Square was unveiled in 1906 by O'Brien.
Up to 1989, Mitchelstown was the headquarters for Mitchelstown Co-Operative Agricultural Society Ltd, which for over fifty years had been Ireland's largest co-operative. This farmers "co-op" was founded in 1919 under the leadership of local farmer Con O'Brien of Killickane, who chaired the co-op for its first 40 years and then became Honorary Life President until his death in 1968. Between 1919 and 1989, Mitchelstown Co-op Creameries became the largest and most important Dairy Processing business in the island of Ireland. It became famous nationally for its processed cheese brands but was better known in overseas dairy industry circles for the high quality and large variety of its natural cheeses which were extensively exported around Europe and for which it earned many international prizes.
In the 1930s the Co-Op promoted the introduction of intensive pig production in the Mitchelstown area as another source of farm income. A noted agriculturalist, Alexander Aloysius ("Sandy") McGuckian from Cloughmills, near Ballymena, County Antrim was engaged by the Co-Op to help train local people in modern intensive animal production methods. As a result, several of Ireland's largest Industrial pig production units are based in the Mitchelstown area to this day. McGuckians' sons (Alastair and Paddy) subsequently established Masstock International. Masstock became one of the pioneers of the establishment of a modern dairy industry in Saudi Arabia as a result of its minority shareholding (largely disposed of in 1991) in the Almarai Group, a joint venture with majority shareholder HH Prince Sultan Bin Mohamed Bin Saud Al Kabeer.
In 1989 Mitchelstown Co-operative merged with Ballyclough Co-operative (based in Mallow, County Cork) to create an enlarged Dairygold Co-Operative. However the Dairygold Co-op entity failed to retain the leading competitive position held by Mitchelstown Co-op and is no longer a premier national dairy food enterprise. Restructuring in the early 2000s saw Dairygold Co-op move its headquarters out of Mitchelstown to Cork city , breaking an important historical link first established in 1919. A further restructuring of the co-op led to a hiving off of its major assets to Reox Holdings plc. Its brand names were later sold off to Kerry Foods in 2009. The Co-op has since returned its headquarters to Mitchelstown, but is considerably reduced in size and turnover.
The first manager of Mitchelstown Co-operative Creameries, was Eamon Roche; a Dairy Science Diploma graduate of the Albert College in Dublin (now called Dublin City University - DCU) who had been active in the Irish War of Independence from Britain between 1916–1921. Roche was also a close personal friend of Éamon de Valera who subsequently became leader of Fianna Fáil, Irish Prime Minister and later President of the Republic of Ireland. He was succeeded (following his sudden death) in 1952 by J.J. Lynch who, following his sudden death in 1964, was succeeded by John McCarthy.
Mitchelstown has a wide variety of retail outlets such as Tesco, Lidl, Aldi, Super Valu, Centra and Boots. Boots opened its Mitchelstown store in the LivingHealth Centre in early 2009. Doodys, Murphys and Fitzgibbons are other pharmacies in the town, which now has all its medical practitioners located in the LivingHealth Centre. Mitchelstown also has a variety of shops, cafes, boutiques and restaurants.
Road transport dominates in Mitchelstown. The town is situated close to the M8 Dublin to Cork motorway, which runs to the east and can be accessed from Junctions 12 and 13.
A relief road located to the west of the town serves to filter N73 traffic towards Mallow and R513 traffic towards Limerick. The construction of the relief road to the west and north, and its connection in 2009 to the M8 to the east of Mitchelstown means that the town has become the smallest in Ireland to have a full 360 degree ring road. Prior to the opening of the relief road in 2006, the N8 ran through Mitchelstown itself, seriously congesting the main street. The R665 road connects Mitchelstown to Clonmel, while the former N8 now redesignated as the R639 provides an alternative route from Mitchelstown to Cork, Fermoy and Cahir.
Bus Eireann runs frequent intercity services through the town providing a service to both Dublin and Cork. In addition Aircoach offers a service to Dublin Airport.
Mitchelstown railway station opened on 23 March 1891, closed to passenger and goods traffic on 27 January 1947 and closed on 1 December 1953.[8]
The Mitchelstown Caves are limestone caves located on the R639, between Mitchelstown and Cahir. One cave, Mitchelstown Cave itself, is privately owned and has been developed as a show cave, with a number of caverns open to the public through a guided tour. Some of the speleothems are noteworthy including the Tower of Babel formation. Various other stalactites, stalagmites and rock formations are also named and famous for their unique and impressive structure.
A music festival that is held in Mitchelstown every year on the August Bank Holiday Weekend is called the Indiependence festival. It originally started as a free festival but in 2009 moved to a new site and began to charge for entry.
Bill Power, 'Another Side of Mitchelstown,' PsyOps Books, 2008.
Bill Power, 'White Knights, Dark Earls,' the rise and fall of an Anglo-Irish Dynasty,' The Collins Press, 2000.
Bill Power, Mitchelstown Through Seven Centuries, Eigse Books, 1987.
Bill Power, 'The Mitchelstown Saints,' Mitchelstown, 1980.
Bill Power, 'Evensong, the story of a Church of Ireland country parish,' Mount Cashell Books, 1994.
Tom O'Donnell, 'The Turbulent life of Dean Morgan O'Brien,' Mitchelstown 2009.
Elizabeth Bowen, 'Bowen's Court,' London, 1940.