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BALLINTEMPLE

CO. CORK · IE

Ballintemple
Baile an Teampaill, Co. Cork

The Cork
STOP 07 / 07

Baile an Teampaill · Co. Cork

A leafy south-side suburb on the Marina. A graveyard wrongly blamed on the Knights Templar, George Boole's old walk to college, and Cork's GAA fortress next door.

Ballintemple is an affluent residential suburb on Cork's south side, between Blackrock and the Lough. It is the kind of address that carries a bit of weight in Cork conversations - detached houses, tree-lined roads, within walking distance of the Marina. Originally its own riverside village, it was enclosed by the city as the suburbs spread in the 20th century, and you can still feel the old village core around the Blackrock Road and Beaumont.

The name is the oldest thing here. Baile an Teampaill, the town of the church, after a burial ground on Temple Hill. The Knights Templar story attached itself to the place at some point and refuses to leave, but historians are clear it is not true. What is true is stranger: the entrails of Henry FitzRoy, Duke of Grafton, killed at the Siege of Cork in 1690, were buried in the Temple Hill graveyard so his body could be preserved for the journey home to England. The antiquary Crofton Croker came to survey the stones in the early 1800s and was chased off by locals who took him for a grave-robber.

George Boole, the mathematician who gave the world Boolean algebra, lived in Ballintemple while professor at what is now UCC. He walked the few miles to the college and back to lecture; caught in a rainstorm on one of those walks, he took a chill, developed pneumonia, and died here in December 1864. The suburb has kept producing names since - Cillian Murphy and the rugby player Simon Zebo both come from this corner of the city.

As a destination Ballintemple is not one, and it is honest about that. You are staying here or visiting someone who lives here. But the Marina on its doorstep is one of the best city walks in Cork, Páirc Uí Chaoimh is the spiritual home of Cork hurling and football, and Blackrock with its castle observatory and better cafés is a twenty-minute stroll east along the river.

Population

Part of Cork city

Pubs

2and counting

Founded

Old riverside village, swallowed by the city in the 20th century

Coords

51.8890° N, 8.4560° W

01 / 07

At a glance.

Three things every local will eventually mention. Read these and you've already understood more than most day-trippers do.

01 The name

Baile an Teampaill - the town of the church, and the graveyard that gave it the name.

Temple Hill, Churchyard Lane and the village all take their name from an old ecclesiastical and burial site at the top of the hill. Local lore tied it to the Knights Templar; modern historians say plainly that the association is wrong. The name means land of the church, not a Templar church.

Stories & lore → 02 The Marina

Cork's GAA fortress and a riverside promenade rebuilt for millions.

Páirc Uí Chaoimh and Páirc Uí Rinn sit on the river edge here, alongside Cork Constitution's rugby ground at Temple Hill. The Marina Promenade was rebuilt as part of Marina Park - a 2km walk along the Lee to Blackrock, with the Atlantic Pond at its heart.

Walks & outings →

02 / 07

The pubs.

None of these are themed Irish pubs, because they don't need to be. A few that earn the trip:

Longboats at the Temple Inn

The village local, food at weekends

Lounge bar & restaurant, Blackrock Road

On the corner where the Blackrock Road meets Beaumont Drive, in the heart of the old village. In the Murphy family for over eighty years and the O'Driscolls for twenty-five after that. The nickname Longboats came from a Murphy who ran distances, after the runner Tom Longboat. Rebuilt in 2001, which uncovered the original slob brick that had once been boat ballast at Ardfoyle. Food served Friday and Saturday evenings.

The Venue

Sports bar, pizza, big beer garden

Pub with beer garden, Ballintemple

The other Ballintemple pub. Pints and pizza, a large beer garden, and most matches on the screens. A neighbourhood local rather than a destination, but the second of the two pubs that actually sit in the suburb itself.

03 / 07

Stories & lore.

The reason to come back. The things every local will eventually tell you about, usually after the second pint.

Temple Hill burial ground

The graveyard that never belonged to the Templars

The whole place is named for the burial ground on Temple Hill - Baile an Teampaill, the town of the church. For generations the story ran that this was a graveyard of the Knights Templar, and you will still hear it told. Modern historians reject it outright: the name denotes land belonging to the church, not a Templar foundation, and there is no evidence the order was ever here. The oldest legible headstones date to the early 18th century. The most famous burial is grim and partial - the entrails of Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Grafton, were interred here in 1690 after he was mortally wounded at the Siege of Cork, his body emptied and preserved for shipping back to England. When Crofton Croker came to record the stones in the early 1800s, locals mistook his surveying for grave-robbery and ran him off the hill.

Boolean algebra, 1864

George Boole's last walk

George Boole, the self-taught mathematician whose algebra of logic became the foundation of the computer age, lived in Ballintemple while he was the first professor of mathematics at Queen's College Cork, now UCC. He walked the few miles between his house here and the college to lecture. In late 1864 he was caught in a rainstorm on that walk, soaked through, and lectured in wet clothes. He developed pneumonia and died in December 1864, aged forty-nine. A century and a half later the world runs on the true-and-false logic he worked out, much of it within a short walk of where he caught his death.

Páirc Uí Chaoimh and the Marina

The GAA fortress on the river

The river edge of Ballintemple is given over to sport. Páirc Uí Chaoimh, the home of Cork GAA, was rebuilt and reopened in 2017 as part of the wider Marina Park scheme; Páirc Uí Rinn sits nearby, and Cork Constitution, one of the oldest rugby clubs in the country, has its ground at Temple Hill. Limestone from the old Beaumont Quarry here went into buildings across the city. Before the suburbs swallowed it, Ballintemple was market-garden and nursery country, growing food and flowers for Cork - the horticulturist William Baylor Hartland worked from this side of the city.

04 / 07

Things to do outside.

Wear waterproofs. Bring a sandwich. Tell someone where you're going if it's the mountain.

The Marina Promenade The reason to come on foot. The riverside promenade was rebuilt as part of Marina Park - a wide pedestrian and cycle corridor running along the Lee from Centre Park Road past Páirc Uí Chaoimh all the way to Blackrock village. New plazas, riverside balconies and seating. One of the best flat city walks in Cork, and busy with runners and walkers at all hours.

2 km one way to Blackrockdistance

30-40 minutestime

The Atlantic Pond loop A small freshwater pond beside the Marina, recently revamped with a sunken garden as part of the Marina Park works. A short, easy loop popular with families and birdwatchers. Tack it onto the promenade walk - it sits right beside Páirc Uí Chaoimh.

750 m loopdistance

15 minutestime

The old railway walk to Blackrock Castle Follows the line of the old Cork, Blackrock and Passage Railway, which ran here from 1850 until 1932. The walk runs from the Atlantic Pond out to Blackrock Castle Observatory and beyond - flat, riverside, and a genuine piece of Cork transport history under your feet.

Just under 6 kmdistance

1.5 hourstime

05 / 07

When to go.

There is no bad time. There are different times.

Spring

Mar-May

The Marina trees come into leaf and the promenade is at its best. Light off the Lee in the morning is the picture. GAA league season fills Páirc Uí Chaoimh.

◉ Go

Summer

Jun-Aug

Long evenings on the Marina, the beer garden at The Venue, championship hurling and football at the Páirc. The suburb is quiet but the riverside is lively.

◉ Go

Autumn

Sep-Oct

Cork Constitution rugby at Temple Hill, the last of the GAA championship, and the Marina at its gold-and-grey best. A good time for the walk to Blackrock.

◉ Go

Winter

Nov-Feb

Short days and weather off the river. The promenade still walks well on a bright cold day, but there is little to do indoors here. A pint in Longboats and a match is the version that works.

◐ Mind yourself

06 / 07

What to skip.

Honestly? Don't bother.

If a local was sitting beside you, this is the bit where they'd lean in.

Coming for a tourist day out

Ballintemple is a residential suburb, not a sight. There is no town centre to wander, no visitor attraction, no shops to speak of beyond the local. Come for the Marina walk and the GAA, or because you are staying nearby - not expecting a destination.

The Knights Templar story

You will hear that the graveyard on Temple Hill was a Templar foundation. It was not. Historians are clear the name simply means church land. Enjoy the story, but do not repeat it as fact.

Driving the Marina

The promenade was rebuilt for people on foot and bikes, not cars. Park near the Atlantic Pond or in Blackrock and walk it. Trying to drive the riverside misses the entire point of what the city spent millions making.