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GLENBROOK

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Glenbrook
Gleann an Fheileastraim, Co. Cork

The Cork Harbour
Cork Harbour route

Gleann an Fheileastraim · Co. Cork

A sliver of waterfront between Passage West and Monkstown where a five-minute car ferry crosses to Carrigaloe, and where Victorian Cork came to take the waters.

Glenbrook is barely its own place. It sits in the townland of Lackaroe on the west bank of Cork Harbour, wedged between Passage West to the north and Monkstown to the south, and the three run into one another with no obvious seam. What Glenbrook has that the other two do not is the slipway - the western terminus of the Cross River Ferry, the short-cut that saves you the long haul around the head of the harbour to Cobh and East Cork.

It was not always this quiet. For a few Victorian decades Glenbrook was a seaside resort, the kind of harbour-mouth spot where Cork city came to bathe. The Royal Victoria Monkstown and Passage Baths opened in 1838 with a cold plunge pool and slipper baths; a Turkish bath was bolted on in 1858, burned in 1859, and the whole enterprise had faded by the 1870s along with Dr Curtin's hydropathic establishment up the road. There is no trace of the spa town now beyond the name on the pier.

Come for the crossing and the walk, not for a night out - Glenbrook itself has no pub. The bars and the harbourside dinner are a few minutes south in Monkstown. What you get here is the ferry, the Sirius memorial by the slipway, and the old railway line opening up as a greenway along the water. It is a place you pass through with intent rather than a place you stop in, and there is no shame in that.

Walk score

Slipway to the old railway tunnel in five minutes on the flat

Founded

Victorian seaside resort, baths from 1838

Coords

51.8617° N, 8.3333° W

01 / 06

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 ferry

The Cross River Ferry - five minutes across the Lee to Carrigaloe.

Since 1993 two ferries, the Glenbrook and the Carrigaloe, have shuttled cars and foot passengers across the narrows from the Glenbrook slipway to Carrigaloe near Cobh. Seven a.m. to ten p.m., daily, no booking. It cuts the long drive around the head of the harbour to a five-minute crossing.

Stories & lore → 02 The baths

Where Victorian Cork came to take the waters.

The Royal Victoria Monkstown and Passage Baths opened here in 1838 - plunge pools, then a Turkish bath added in 1858. A fire in 1859 and a temperamental heating system did for it; the baths and the hydro were gone by the 1870s. The resort that put Glenbrook on the map is now a memory.

Stories & lore → 03 The greenway

The old Passage railway is now a walking and cycling line.

Glenbrook had its own railway station from 1902 until the Cork, Blackrock and Passage line closed in 1932. The trackbed - tunnel and all - is being rebuilt as the Glenbrook to Raffeen leg of the Lee to Sea greenway. The harbourside walk to Passage West is the reason to linger.

Walks & outings →

02 / 06

Stories & lore.

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

Glenbrook to Carrigaloe, since 1993

The Cross River Ferry

The narrows here are the obvious place to cross Cork Harbour, and since 1993 the Cross River Ferry has done exactly that. Two vessels - named the Glenbrook and the Carrigaloe - run between the Glenbrook slipway on the Passage West side and Carrigaloe pier near Rushbrooke and Cobh on the far bank. Each carries about twenty-eight cars and two hundred passengers, the crossing takes roughly five minutes, and they run daily from seven in the morning to ten at night with no need to book. The boats themselves had a previous life on the Kyle of Lochalsh crossing in the Scottish Highlands before they came to the Lee. For anyone driving between West Cork and East Cork, or out to Fota and Cobh, the ferry turns a long loop around the city into a five-minute hop.

A Turkish bath on the harbour, 1838 to the 1870s

The Royal Victoria Baths

Glenbrook spent the middle of the nineteenth century as a bathing resort. The Royal Victoria Monkstown and Passage Baths opened in 1838 - cold plunge, slipper and shower baths, luxuriously fitted out for the Cork bathing trade. By the 1850s it had been renamed the Glenbrook Victoria Hotel and Baths, and in June 1858 a new Turkish bath was opened with a celebratory dinner chaired by the Mayor of Cork. It did not last. The north wing and the Turkish baths burned to the ground on 11 July 1859, and after years of trouble with the heating the Royal Victoria Baths closed around 1870. Dr Timothy Curtin's separate hydropathic establishment limped on until his death in 1876. The spa town vanished; only the pier name remains.

A steamship memorial and a lost line

The Sirius and the railway

Next to the ferry slipway is a memorial to the Sirius, the first ship to cross the Atlantic under continuous steam power, which set out from neighbouring Passage West in 1838 - a plaque and a piece of the vessel mark the spot. Glenbrook also had its own stop on the Cork, Blackrock and Passage Railway, which opened the line in 1850 and gave Glenbrook a station from 1902 until the railway closed on 12 September 1932. The trackbed, tunnel included, survived as a quiet harbourside path and is now being rebuilt as part of the Lee to Sea greenway running through Glenbrook between Passage West and Monkstown.

03 / 06

Things to do outside.

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

The harbour greenway The old Cork, Blackrock and Passage Railway trackbed runs along the water through Glenbrook, linking Passage West to the north with Monkstown and Raffeen to the south. Flat, traffic-free, and right on the harbour edge. The Glenbrook to Raffeen section, using the old railway tunnel, is being upgraded as part of the wider Lee to Sea greenway, so check what is open before you set out.

Several km, flatdistance

30-60 minutestime

Slipway and Sirius memorial A short potter around the ferry slipway and the Sirius memorial - a plaque and a piece of the first steamship to cross the Atlantic, which sailed from next-door Passage West in 1838. Time it for a ferry arrival and watch the cars roll off. Not a long visit, but the harbour traffic and the view across to the Cobh side earn the stop.

A few hundred metresdistance

15 minutestime

04 / 06

When to go.

There is no bad time. There are different times.

Spring

Mar-May

The harbour light is at its best and the greenway is dry underfoot. A good time to walk the old railway line before the summer ferry queues build.

◉ Go

Summer

Jun-Aug

Long evenings and the easiest crossings to Cobh and Fota. The ferry is busiest in summer; foot passengers never wait, but cars can queue at peak times.

◉ Go

Autumn

Sep-Oct

Quiet, soft light over the water, and the harbour walks at their most pleasant. Little reason not to come.

◉ Go

Winter

Nov-Feb

The ferry runs year-round, but Glenbrook itself is exposed and there is nowhere indoors to shelter here - the pubs are in Monkstown. A crossing and a brisk walk, then move on.

◐ Mind yourself

05 / 06

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 village centre

There is no Glenbrook square, no main street, no pub. It is a stretch of waterfront with a ferry slipway between two larger neighbours. Come for the crossing, the memorial and the harbour walk - then eat and drink in Monkstown or Passage West.

Looking for the Victorian spa

The Royal Victoria Baths and the Turkish bath are long gone - fire, failed heating and time saw to them in the 1800s. Only the name on the pier survives. Read the story, but do not go searching for a building that is not there.

Getting there.

By car

On the R610 between Passage West and Monkstown, on the west bank of Cork Harbour, about 15 km south-east of Cork city. Follow signs for the Cross River Ferry / Passage West.

By bus

Bus Eireann route 223 (Cork city - Passage West - Monkstown - Ringaskiddy) runs along the R610 past Glenbrook. About 30-40 minutes from Cork city centre depending on traffic.