Ballymore, An Baile Mór, Co. Cork

An Baile Mór · Co. Cork

A small village on the eastern end of Great Island, a few kilometres past Cobh. One pub, an ancient graveyard, and the running club that made Sonia O'Sullivan.

Ballymore is the wrong end of Great Island for tourists, which is exactly why it is worth a look. The cruise liners dock at Cobh four kilometres west; the day-trippers do the cathedral and the Titanic story and turn around. Out here it is a scatter of houses on the oldest road on the island, twinned with the smaller village of Walterstown, the two of them sharing a national school and not much else.

The Irish is An Baile Mór, the big townland - generous, given the size of the place. There is one pub, an old graveyard with the ruins of a medieval church in it, and a nature reserve down the road. The Barry family, the Normans who held this corner of the harbour, gave their name to half the townlands around here.

It is not a destination on its own. It is a quiet corner of the island to walk, with the harbour on one side and Cuskinny Marsh on the other, and a family-run bar at the end of it. Treat Cobh as the town and Ballymore as the breathing space.

Population

~200

Coords

51.8661° N, 8.2389° 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 place

East end of Great Island, four kilometres beyond Cobh.

An Baile Mór - the big townland - sits on the oldest road on the island, twinned with the smaller village of Walterstown next door, the two sharing a school. It is the quiet end of an island the cruise ships never reach. Cork city is about 23km west.

Walks & outings → 02 The graveyard

Templerobin - a church first recorded in 1302.

The old burial ground in the townland holds the ruins of Templerobin, listed as the chapel of Fitz-Robert in the Cloyne papal taxation of 1302 to 1306 and as a ruin by 1774. One of three churches thought to have stood on Great Island as early as the ninth century.

Stories & lore → 03 The running

Sonia O'Sullivan's first club is from here.

Ballymore Cobh Athletic Club is where the Cobh runner who took World 5,000m gold in 1995 and Olympic silver in 2000 started out as a juvenile. The club still runs the Sonia O'Sullivan Cobh 10, formerly the Great Island Road Race.

Stories & lore →

02 / 07

The pubs.

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

The High Chapperal Bar

Family-run local

Village pub, Ballymore

The one pub, and a proper family-run local. Live traditional music on Thursday nights from nine, dancing on Sunday nights, matches on the big screens the rest of the time. It sits on the walking route out to Battery Strand and Cuskinny, so it doubles as the natural finish line for a harbour-side stroll. Spelled various ways on various signs; everyone just calls it the Chapperal.

03 / 07

Stories & lore.

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

1302 to ruins by 1774

Templerobin and the chapel of Fitz-Robert

The old graveyard at Templerobin, in the townland of Ballymore, holds the ruins of one of the oldest churches on Great Island - possibly one of three on the island dating to the ninth century. It first appears in the written record as the chapel of Fitz-Robert in the papal taxation of the Diocese of Cloyne, 1302 to 1306, the name a nod to the Norman family who held the land. By 1540 to 1541 it was being recorded as Temple Robyn among the rectories of Bridgetown Priory, valued at thirty shillings as the monasteries were dissolved. By 1774 it was reported in ruins, and a ruin is what remains. The burial ground is still in use.

Ballymore Cobh AC

The club that made Sonia O'Sullivan

Sonia O'Sullivan - World 5,000m champion in 1995, Olympic 5,000m silver medallist in Sydney in 2000, the best Irish track athlete of her generation - made her first contact with athletics at one of Ballymore Cobh Athletic Club's parties for juveniles. The club is rooted in this end of the island and still bears the Ballymore name. Every spring it runs the Sonia O'Sullivan Cobh 10, a ten-mile road race that grew out of the old Great Island Road Race and now raises money for cancer research. For a village this small to have produced a world champion is the kind of fact the place is quietly proud of.

04 / 07

Things to do outside.

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

Cuskinny Marsh Nature Reserve A coastal wetland between Ballymore and Cobh, managed by BirdWatch Ireland. A freshwater marsh and a shingle beach divided by the road, good for wintering wildfowl and warblers in summer. There is a hide and a couple of short paths. Quiet, low-key, the kind of place birders know and nobody else does.

Short loop trailsdistance

45 minutes to 1 hourtime

Battery Strand A stretch of shore on the harbour side, signposted from the village past the High Chapperal. Not a beach you swim at so much as a place to walk and look across the water. The pub sits on the route, which is the point.

Foreshore strolldistance

30 minutestime

Great Island lanes The quiet east-island roads between Ballymore, Walterstown and the Cobh edge make decent walking on tarmac, with harbour views opening between the hedges. No waymarked trail - just minor roads with little traffic. Boots not required, but watch for the odd car on the bends.

Variabledistance

1 to 2 hourstime

05 / 07

When to go.

There is no bad time. There are different times.

Spring

Mar-May

The marsh at Cuskinny is at its best as the breeding birds arrive, and the Sonia O'Sullivan Cobh 10 fills the island roads one weekend. Mild and quiet.

◉ Go

Summer

Jun-Aug

Long evenings on the harbour side and the easiest walking. Cobh is busy with cruise traffic; Ballymore stays calm at the far end of the island.

◉ Go

Autumn

Sep-Oct

Good light on the water and the start of the wildfowl season at Cuskinny. The pub keeps its Thursday session going.

◉ Go

Winter

Nov-Feb

Short days and harbour weather, but the marsh is at its busiest for wintering ducks and waders. Bring a coat and time it with the tide.

◐ 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.

Expecting a second Cobh

Cobh has the cathedral, the harbour terraces, the Titanic and Lusitania story, the cruise berths. Ballymore has one pub and a graveyard. They are four kilometres and a world apart. Do Cobh for the sights and come here for the quiet, not the other way round.

Hunting for the Lusitania graves here

The mass graves of the 1915 Lusitania victims are at the Old Church Cemetery in Cobh, not at Templerobin in Ballymore. Two different burial grounds on the same island. If that is what you came for, head into Cobh.

A long stay

There is no shop strip, no hotel, no restaurant row - this is a residential village with a pub. An hour walking and a pint is the right dose. Sleep and eat in Cobh.

Getting there.

By car

Great Island is reached only by the Belvelly Bridge at its north-west corner. From the N25 take junction 3 (Tullagreen) onto the R624 south, over the bridge through Belvelly, past Fota, and on through Cobh; Ballymore is signposted at the far eastern end of the island, about 4km beyond the town.

By bus

Bus Éireann route 223 runs Cork city to Cobh; you would need a local hop or a lift for the last few kilometres out to Ballymore.

By train

The Cobh commuter line off the Cork-to-Cobh branch crosses onto Great Island, with stations at Carrigaloe and Rushbrooke and the terminus at Cobh. Frequent trains from Kent Station in Cork; Cobh is the nearest stop, then road out to Ballymore.

By air

Cork Airport (ORK) is about 30 minutes by road via the N25 and R624.

Next on the tour

Co. Cork

Cobh

The town at the heart of the island, 4km west. Cathedral, harbour terraces, the Titanic and emigration story, and the Old Church Cemetery with the Lusitania graves. The obvious base.

Co. Cork

Belvelly

At the island bridge, the narrow crossing onto Great Island, guarded by a well-preserved 15th-century tower house. You pass through it coming and going.

Co. Cork

Whitegate

Across the harbour on the eastern shore, reached by road round through Midleton or by the Carrigaloe to Glenbrook ferry. A small harbour village on the far side of the water.

Co. Cork

Ballinacurra

Across from Great Island, the old port for Midleton with a malting quay and a schooner's name on a pub.