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COVE

COVE, commonly called the COVE of CORK, a sea-port, market, and post-town, partly in the parish of CLONMELL, but chiefly in that of TEMPLEROBIN, in the Great Island, barony of BARRYMORE, county of CORK, and province of MUNSTER ; containing 6996 inhabitants. By way of Passage, crossing the ferry, it is only 9- miles (E. S. E.) from Cork ; but overland, by way of Foaty, it is 14- miles from that city, and 133 miles (S. W. by S.) from Dublin. It is situated on the north side of Cork harbour, in lat. 54- 51', and lon. 8- 18' 45". The progress of Cove has been very rapid. So recently as 1786 it was a small village, consisting of a few scattered houses inhabited by the tide-waiters and pilots of Cork, and some miserable cabins occupied by fishermen ; at present it is a large and handsome town, comprising nine large and several smaller streets. The great increase of its population principally arose from its convenient situation for the shipping in Cork harbour, in which, during the French war, 600 sail of merchant vessels have been at anchor at one time, and 400 sail have left the harbour under convoy in one day. These great fleets always lay immediately in front of the present town, and many of them within half a cable's length of the shore. It has also been greatly benefited by the erection of Carlisle and Camden forts ; martello towers on Great Island, Hawlbowling, and Ringskiddy ; and by the bomb-proof artillery barracks on Spike Island. In addition to this, Hawlbowling was fortified and made the ordnance depot, and the Lords of the Admiralty made it the only naval victualling depot in Ireland; and Rocky island was excavated and made the chief gunpowder magazine for the southern part of the kingdom. It was also the place of embarkation for troops ordered on foreign service, and the station of an admiral. The great expenditure of money for these works, and for the supply of provisions and other requisites for the shipping in the harbour, caused many persons to settle here, and the number was increased by the visits of invalids and persons of fortune, who were attracted by the salubrity of its climate and the beauty of its situation in the finest harbour in Europe. Cove is built on the side of a clay-slate hill, on the south shore of Great Island, which rises from the water's edge, and being very steep, the streets, which are parallel to the shore, rise tier above tier, and being backed by the high grounds of the island, present a very picturesque view from the entrance to the harbour. The principal streets are nearly level, and those that connect them wind so gradually as greatly to diminish the apparent steepness of their ascent. The houses in the main streets are mostly large and well built of stone, and many of them faced with slate ; the streets are all wide, clean, well paved, and abundantly supplied with water from springs in the clay-slate. The principal market is on Saturday, but there is one held daily, which is abundantly supplied with fish, vegetables, meat, &c. A large and handsome market-house, consisting of a centre and wings, was erected by the late J. Smith Barry, Esq., in 1806 : the centre is appropriated to the sale of fish and vegetables, the west wing to the storing and sale of potatoes, and the east wing is fitted up as shambles. The post is daily, and yielded a revenue of £977 when the last return was made to parliament. There is a constabulary police barrack ; and a chief coast-guard station, the head of the district, which includes Cove, Ballycroneen, Poor Head, the lighthouse, East Ferry, Cork, Crosshaven, and Robert's Cove. Petty sessions are held every week ; and there is a small prison of two cells for the temporary confinement of offenders. Near the western entrance to the town is a large and handsome pier, erected in 1805, at a cost of £20,000, and connected with it are very capacious quays. Here is a building called the Boarding Station, occupied by tide-waiters and other custom-house officers of Cork.

The views round Cove are extremely beautiful. Beyond the harbour, on the east, are Rostellan, Castle-Mary, and the vale of Cloyne, with its ancient cathedral and round tower ; to the south is the capacious bay, with its numerous ships, noble entrance, lighthouse, and forts ; on the west is Ringskiddy with its martello tower, Carrigaline with its noble estuary, and the broad entrance to the Lee ; and on the north are the high lands of Great Island, which shelter the town of Cove in that direction. Near the town are several elegant mansions; marine villas, &c., which are more particularly noticed in the article on Great Island, The celebrated regatta of Cove takes place in July or August : the prizes are numerous and valuable, and many of the best yachts in Ireland, with some from England and Scotland, attend its celebration. Near the custom-house quay is a splendid edifice in the Italian style, built by the Yacht Club and occupied by its members during the regatta season, The parish church of the union of Clonmell and Templerobin is on an elevated site in the centre of the town : it is a large and elegant edifice, in the early English style of architecture, with stained glass windows, aad was built in 1810, by aid of a loan of £2000 from the late Board of First Fruits. Near it is a R. C. chapel, which was enlarged in 1835. There is also a small place of worship for Wesleyan Methodists. The parochial schools are large neat buildings, erected by subscription on land given by Lord Midleton, who is an occasional donor ; they are under the Kildare place Society, but are supported by subscription. An infants' school has existed here about three years, and is supported by subscription : a schoolhouse is being built for it near the parochial schools ; and a very large building for a national school is also in progress of erection, partly at the expense of the National Board, and partly by a bequest of £25 per annum left by W. Lynch, Esq., in 1831. There are a fever hospital and a dispensary, and a military bathing hospital for the province of Munster, There is a parochial almshouse for twelve poor Protestants, each of whom receives 2s. 6d. weekly from the Sunday collections in the church, with coal and clothing during the winter, from a bequest of £100 by the late Miss Spratt. A Benevolent Society, and a loan fund for poor mechanics, have also been established.

HAWLBOWLING

HAWLBOWLING, an island, in the parish of TEMPLEROBIN, barony of BARRYMORE, county of CORK, and province of MUNSTER,? a mile (S.) from Cove, in the harbour of Cork; containing, with Rocky Island, 303 inhabitants. This island, called formerly Ennis Shenagh, or Fox Island, was originally fortified by Sir G. Carew, after the defeat of the Spaniards at Kinsale, in 1602; and stores were deposited here, which, on the death of Queen Elizabeth, the Mayor of Cork, with some forces, attempted to seize, refusing any supply to the King's troops. In this attempt many of the citizens were killed, and the remainder returned to Cork and submitted to the authority of Jas. I., whom they had previously refused to proclaim. In the war of 1641, the island was alternately in the possession of the royalists and parliamentarians, but ultimately submitted to Cromwell in 1649. After the Restoration, the fortress was much neglected, but in 1688 it was seized by the adherents of Jas. II., and remained in their possession till the arrival of an English fleet, in 1690, when it was deserted by the Irish troops and garrisoned by the Earl of Marlborough, on his route to Cork. From this time the island (which comprises about 36 acres, and previously afforded pasture to a few sheep) began to be regarded as a place of importance, and the garrison was carefully kept up till the building of the barracks on Spike Island, in 1806, when it was appropriated to the Boards of Admiralty and Ordnance, by which extensive stores and depots were erected, and it is now the great naval arsenal and ordnance depot of Cork. The eastern portion of it belongs to the Admiralty, and the western to the Ordnance department; in the former are ranges of buildings of very great extent, capable of receiving stores and provisions sufficient for supplying the whole navy of Great Britain for 12 months, and a capacious tank, containing 5000 tons of fresh water. In Rocky Island is the magazine, consisting of several spacious vaults hewn out of the solid rock, in which are deposited 25,000 barrels of gunpowder, from which the whole of the south of Ireland is supplied. The stairs and landing-places all round the quays are capacious and well constructed; the warehouses are four stories high, roofed with slate and built in a most substantial manner and in a handsome style, on a level hewn out of the rock, which rises abruptly in their rear; but since the breaking up of the victualling establishment they have been disused, and are now under the care of a storekeeper and two other officers belonging to the Admiralty. The buildings beloging to the Ordnance department are the artillery barracks for one officer and 30 men (a detachment from Spike Island), a martello tower, and some other works; they occupy the sides and summit of the rock, and are also disused and under the care of an Ordnance store-keeper and clerks. The entrance to the island is from the north, opposite to Cove. The Spike sands, which set in close to it, extend more than a mile (E. S. E.), and begin to dry on the north side at half ebb; on this bank are several perches, the chief of which are on the east and north sides; vessels going into Cork must pass on the north side between these sands and the main land. The island, in ecclesiastical arrangements, forms part of the parish of Templerobin, in the diocese of Cloyne; and in the R. C. divisions it belongs to the parish of Monkstown, in the diocese of Cork.

ROCKY ISLAND

ROCKY ISLAND, in the parish of TEMPLEROBIN, barony of BARRYMORE, county of CORK, and province of MUNSTER, 1 mile (S.) from Cove, in the harbour of Cork ; the population is returned with Hawlbowling island. This island, an immense mass of limestone rising abruptly from the bay to the height of 42 feet above high water mark, and terminating in a conical point, was selected by the Board of Ordnance as a magazine for the military depot of the south of Ireland. In 1815, the surface of the rock, with the exception of its summit, on which a watch-tower has been formed, approached by a winding staircase cut in the solid rock, was levelled ; and beneath it large vaults have been excavated, to each of which is a separate entrance from a deep roadway sunk in the rock, and continued round its entire circumference. The magazine contains 25,000 barrels of gunpowder, and is under the care of a detachment of the artillery from the establishment at Spike island, who are the only inhabitants of the place. The approach from the bay to the road surrounding the magazine is through a lofty archway hewn out of the rock. In the R. C. divisions it forms part of the union or district of Passage.

SPIKE ISLAND

SPIKE ISLAND, in the parish of TEMPLEROBIN, barony of BARRYMORE, county of CORK, and province of MUNSTER, l? mile (S.) from Cove, in the harbour of Cork ; containing 205 inhabitants. This island is situated in the middle of Cork harbour, and acts as a natural breakwater, preserving the bay within perfectly smooth, while that portion of it which is without is very much agitated. It comprises 180 acres of fertile land, which, previously to its occupation by Government, in 1811, as an Ordnance depot for the south of Ireland, afforded good pasturage, but was uninhabited. The substratum is, on one side, a compact dove-coloured limestone, and on the other a clay-slate, uniting with the former in a remarkable manner. On the high ground in the centre are extensive artillery barracks ; on the western side is a large and handsome military hospital ; forts, bomb-proof, have been constructed to defend the entrance of the harbour, and around the shores are several houses occupied by persons connected with the establishment. The principal entrance is on the north, where is a commodious pier, with a water-gate, near which are three small towers, with apartments for the gate-keeper, sentinel, and others ; the battery is very strong and well mounted, and is the only salute battery on the southern coast. The barracks are frequently used by regiments under orders for foreign service when waiting for the arrival of transports or detained by contrary winds ; and detachments are sent hence to Hawlbowling island, and Carlisle and Camden forts. The only place of worship is the chapel of the garrison. In the R. C. divisions it forms part of the district of Monkstown, in the diocese of Cork.