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Cork Harbour

EngvarB from October 2013Geography of Cork (city)Important Bird Areas of the Republic of IrelandPorts and harbours of the Irish SeaPorts and harbours of the Republic of Ireland
Ramsar sites in the Republic of IrelandRiver LeeTourist attractions in Cork (city)Tourist attractions in County CorkTransport in County CorkUntranslated Irish place names
Aerial photograph, Cork Harbour
Aerial photograph, Cork Harbour

Cork Harbour (Irish: Cuan Chorcaí) is a natural harbour and river estuary at the mouth of the River Lee in County Cork, Ireland. It is one of several which lay claim to the title of "second largest natural harbour in the world by navigational area" (after Port Jackson, Sydney). Other contenders include Halifax Harbour in Canada, Trincomalee Harbour in Sri Lanka and Poole Harbour in England. The harbour has been a working port and a strategic defensive hub for centuries, and it has been one of Ireland's major employment hubs since the early 1900s. Traditional heavy industries have waned since the late 20th century, with the likes of the closure of Irish Steel in Haulbowline and shipbuilding at Verolme. It still has strategic significance in energy generation, shipping, refining and pharmaceuticals development.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Cork Harbour (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 51.85 ° E -8.2666666666667 °
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Address

Velvethouse Cross Roads


P24 P762 (Cobh Urban ED)
Ireland
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Aerial photograph, Cork Harbour
Aerial photograph, Cork Harbour
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Nearby Places

Cove Fort, County Cork
Cove Fort, County Cork

Cove Fort is a small bastioned land battery to the east of Cobh in County Cork, Ireland. Built as a coastal defence fortification in 1743, on instruction of the then Vice-Admiral of the Coast, it replaced a number of temporary coastal artillery batteries which defended Cork Harbour.The seaward fortifications included a demi-bastioned frontage with three tiers of gun emplacements commanding the harbour's main shipping channel and defending the naval yards at Haulbowline. While the landward walls included musketry flanking-galleries, later 18th century reports criticised the fact that the fort was overlooked by higher ground to the rear and that planned landward bastion defences had not been built. A 1763 report recorded the fort as having a number of 24-pounder long guns, and a later survey by Charles Vallancey records a small detachment of Royal Irish Artillery at the site. By 1811 there were 20 or more 24-pounder guns in place.In the 19th century the harbour's other defences were expanded at Fort Westmoreland (Spike Island), Fort Carlisle (Whitegate), and Fort Camden (Crosshaven), and by the end of the Napoleonic Wars Cove Fort came to house a naval and military hospital. By the 1830s the site was largely given-over to this use, and though used as a barracks, was no longer used primarily for battery defence. The "Queenstown Military Hospital" remained in operation until after World War I. The area of the fort now houses a Port of Cork operations building and harbour pilot station, and is the site of a park (Bishop Roche Park), and the Cobh Titanic Memorial Garden. The latter includes a glass structure which has been engraved with the names of the 123 passengers who boarded at Cobh – RMS Titanic's last port of call. The memorial garden has a line-of-sight to the last anchorage point of the Titanic, close to Roche's Point at the mouth of the harbour.