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Nad
Nead an Iolair, Co. Cork

The North Cork
STOP 07 / 07

Nead an Iolair · Co. Cork

An upland hamlet in the Boggeragh foothills. The name means the eagle's nest, and the village wears it openly - the one pub is The Eagle's Nest, with a stone eagle on a column outside.

Nad - the older spelling Nadd is still on the signs - is a scatter of houses in the Boggeragh foothills of north Cork, between Kanturk and the city on the R579. The Irish is Nead an Iolair, the eagle's nest, and that is not decoration: golden eagles bred in these hills until the gun and the poison cleared them out in the 1800s. The village has held onto the bird. The one pub is The Eagle's Nest, and there is a stone eagle perched on a column beside it.

There is very little here in the visitor sense, and the place does not pretend otherwise. A pub, a memorial, a parish, and a road that climbs out of the valley toward the mountains. The population of the village and the townlands around it is roughly 170. This is working upland farm country in the old Barony of Duhallow, the traditional ground of the O'Keeffe clan.

What brings anyone here on purpose is the high ground behind it. Musheramore, the top of the Boggeraghs at 644m, is a short drive south, and St John's Well on its northern slope is one of the more atmospheric holy wells in the county. If you are passing on the Kanturk-to-Cork road, the village is a five-minute stop. If you have boots, it is a trailhead.

Population

~170

Coords

52.0683° N, 8.8350° 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

Nead an Iolair - the nest of the eagle.

Golden eagles nested in these hills until they were hunted out in the nineteenth century. The village kept their memory in its name and in the pub sign. There is a memorial in the village from the War of Independence inscribed 'May God Free Ireland'.

Stories & lore → 02 The setting

A confluence in the Duhallow uplands, under Mushera.

Nad sits where the Nadd and Glen rivers meet, in the south-east corner of the Barony of Duhallow, on the R579 between Kanturk and Cork. Musheramore, the highest of the Boggeragh Mountains at 644m, rises to the south. Old O'Keeffe country.

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:

The Eagle's Nest

The one pub, and the heart of the village

Village pub, Monanveel

The Nadd Pub, properly The Eagle's Nest, on the R579 at Monanveel. It is the village - the social centre of a scattered upland parish, with the carved stone eagle on its column outside and the name picked out in old Irish lettering. This is a country local, not a gastropub. If you want a pint in Nad, this is where you have it, and it may well be the only thing open. Worth checking hours before you make a journey of it.

03 / 07

Stories & lore.

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

Nead an Iolair

The eagle's nest

The name says it plainly: the nest of the eagle. Golden eagles bred across the Boggeragh and Derrynasaggart uplands until the nineteenth century, when they were hunted and poisoned to extinction in Ireland - the last birds gone from these hills well before 1900. The village kept the memory. The pub is The Eagle's Nest, and a carved stone eagle stands on a column beside it, the bird sitting Nelson-like over the road. The name over the door is in old Irish script, which is why the lettering of Iolair can look at first like it has an extra character in it. Golden eagles were reintroduced to Donegal from 2001 onwards, but they have not come back to nest in Cork.

A holy well and a midsummer pattern

St John's Well on Mushera

On the northern slope of Musheramore, a short drive south of Nad, is St John's Well - Tobar na bhFaithni in Irish, the well of the warts. Mass was traditionally said here at midsummer, on St John's Eve, and the pattern still draws people up the mountain. There are in fact two wells on Mushera in the old accounts: one near the summit said to cure sick animals, and the human well lower on the north face. The site is open, exposed and worth the climb for the setting alone, with the Boggeraghs falling away on every side. It sits roughly four miles from Kilcorney and five from Macroom and Rylane.

04 / 07

Things to do outside.

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

Musheramore from St John's Well The standard route up the highest of the Boggeraghs (644m). Park at St John's Well car park, walk 200m toward Musherabeg, then take the forestry track left into the trees and climb. The track meets the Duhallow Way and you follow that round to the summit. Strenuous, exposed on top, and the views run from the Paps of Anu to the Cork lowlands. Boots and a forecast check, not a casual stroll.

About 8 km loopdistance

3 hourstime

The Duhallow Way The waymarked Duhallow Way crosses this upland country and runs over the shoulder of Mushera. You do not have to walk the whole thing - the Mushera section from the St John's Well side is the most rewarding, joining the summit route. Forest track and open mountain. Quiet; you will likely have it to yourself.

Long-distance route, sectionsdistance

Half day plustime

05 / 07

When to go.

There is no bad time. There are different times.

Spring

Mar-May

The uplands green up and the Mushera tracks dry out. Good light over the Boggeraghs and long enough days to get up the mountain and back without rushing.

◉ Go

Summer

Jun-Aug

The best window. St John's Eve at midsummer is the traditional time at the well on Mushera, and the high ground is at its most walkable. Long evenings for the drive up the R579.

◉ Go

Autumn

Sep-Oct

Clear, sharp days on the tops and the colour coming into the forestry. Fewer midges than summer. A good month for the Mushera loop.

◉ Go

Winter

Nov-Feb

Short days, cloud down on the mountain for weeks at a stretch, and the upland roads can be grim. The pub keeps going; the summits are for the well-equipped only.

◐ 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 village in the postcard sense

Nad is a hamlet of roughly 170 people - a pub, a memorial, a parish, and a road. There is no main street, no cluster of shops, no café. Come for the name, the eagle, and the mountain behind it, and you will not be disappointed. Come expecting Kinsale and you will wonder why you turned off the road.

Mushera in bad cloud

Musheramore is open, featureless on top in mist, and easy to misjudge. The St John's Well route is straightforward in clear weather and a navigation problem in cloud. If the top is in, walk the lower forest track and the well, and leave the summit for another day.

Getting there.

By car

On the R579 between Kanturk and Cork city, in the Boggeragh foothills of north Cork. Kanturk is about 15 km north-west, Cork city roughly 30 km south. Banteer, with the nearest train station, is about 12 km north. There is no through public transport to the village itself - this is a car trip.

By train

The nearest railway station is Banteer, about 12 km north, on the Mallow-to-Tralee line (Irish Rail). From there it is a taxi or a lift to Nad; there is no connecting bus.