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TOWER

CO. CORK · IE

Tower
Teamhair, Co. Cork

The Mid Cork
STOP 07 / 07

Teamhair · Co. Cork

A 1990s commuter village grown onto a Victorian railway hamlet. Two pubs, a SuperValu, and the ruin of a once-famous Turkish-bath hydro on the hill above it.

Tower is two villages stacked on top of each other. Underneath is a small Victorian railway settlement - the model houses O'Mahony Builders laid out along Model Village Road around 1902, next to the Tower Bridge halt on the Cork and Muskerry Light Railway that ran tourists out to Blarney from 1887. On top of that is a large 1990s commuter village that more than doubled the population in a decade and bolted on a SuperValu, schools and estates. The Irish name is Teamhair; the Ordnance Survey still calls it Model Village.

The thing worth knowing about Tower sits on the hill above it. St Ann's Hill Hydro was opened in 1843 by Dr Richard Barter, and in 1856 Barter and David Urquhart built the first modern Victorian Turkish bath in Britain or Ireland here. At its height the place ran to around 80 bedrooms, its own farm, a fish hatchery, tennis, billiards and an early golf course, and people came by train from across these islands to take the waters. It served as a military hospital in the First World War and finally closed in 1952. The complex is a protected ruin now; the one surviving residence, built for Barter in 1880, is the Maranatha Country House B&B on St Ann's Hill.

The village itself is a place to live rather than a place to visit. Blarney - castle, stone, coach parks and the Woollen Mills - is 3km northwest and takes the tourist traffic. Cork city is around 10km southeast. Tower has the everyday amenities of a commuter belt and the character of somewhere mostly built in your lifetime. If you are staying near Blarney and want the back story, the hydro on the hill is the reason to slow down here. Otherwise it is a junction you pass through on the R617.

Population

~3,300 (2022)

Founded

Model village laid out by O'Mahony Builders from c.1902, around the Cork & Muskerry Light Railway

Coords

51.9250° N, 8.6081° 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

Teamhair, the Model Village, on the Blarney road.

Officially mapped as Model Village - the name comes from the planned houses O'Mahony Builders put up along Model Village Road around 1902, beside the light-railway halt at Tower Bridge. It straddles the townlands of Coolflugh, Kilnamucky and Cloghphilip in the civil parish of Matehy, 3km southeast of Blarney on the R617.

Stories & lore → 02 The growth

From 1,402 people to 3,300 in thirty years.

Tower more than doubled in the Celtic Tiger - 1,402 in 1991, 3,032 by 2002, a 216% jump - then held around 3,300 through 2011 and 2022. A SuperValu, two pubs, schools and estates followed. In 2019 it was moved from Cork County Council into Cork City Council under the boundary change.

Walks & outings → 03 The hydro

St Ann's Hill - the first modern Turkish baths in these islands.

On the hill above the village, Dr Richard Barter opened a hydropathic establishment in 1843 and built the first Victorian Turkish bath in Britain or Ireland here in 1856. At its peak it had around 80 bedrooms, its own farm and fish hatchery. It closed in 1952. The ruins survive; one house is now a B&B.

Stories & lore →

02 / 07

Where to sleep.

Place	Type	Local note
Maranatha Country House	B&B, St Ann's Hill	The one survivor of the old hydro - a Victorian manor built for Sir Richard Barter in 1880, on Hydro Hill above the village, run as a six-room guesthouse for decades. En-suite rooms, a garden, a buffet breakfast, and Blarney Castle about 2km away. The most characterful bed in the area and the only one that comes with the hydro story attached.

03 / 07

Stories & lore.

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

Dr Richard Barter, from 1843

St Ann's Hill Hydro

Dr Richard Barter opened his hydropathic establishment on the hill above Tower in 1843, and in 1856, with the Turkish diplomat and reformer David Urquhart, built what is reckoned the first modern Victorian Turkish bath in Britain or Ireland here. The hydro grew into one of the great health resorts of the south of Ireland - around 80 bedrooms at its peak, its own farm for fresh provisions, a fish hatchery, tennis, billiards, fishing and an early golf course. Guests came by rail from across these islands; the St Ann's Hill halt on the Muskerry line existed largely to set them down, and hotel staff carried them the last stretch by horse-drawn coach. It became a military hospital in the First World War and closed for good in 1952. The sprawl is a long-derelict protected structure now. The one residence that survives, a Victorian manor built for Barter in 1880 atop the hill, is the Maranatha Country House.

Cork & Muskerry Light Railway, 1887-1934

The Muskerry tram and the model village

The Cork and Muskerry Light Railway opened in 1887, a narrow-gauge line built largely to carry tourists out from the city to Blarney Castle. Between Tower and Blarney it had three stops - Tower Bridge, St Ann's Hill, and the Blarney terminus. The halt at Tower Bridge is what put the village on the map: from around 1902, O'Mahony Builders laid out a row of planned houses along what is now Model Village Road beside the line, which is where the official name Model Village comes from. Passenger services on the line were withdrawn at the end of 1934, and the tram is long gone, but the village it seeded kept growing.

04 / 07

Things to do outside.

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

St Ann's Hill The hill above the village, where the hydro stood. The grounds are private and the main complex is a protected ruin, so this is a look from the lanes and the road rather than a tour of the site - but it is the historic heart of the place, and the surviving Maranatha house gives a sense of what the Victorian manor looked like.

Shortdistance

30-45 minutestime

Inniscarra reservoir shore The ESB reservoir on the Lee, west of here past Cloghroe, is the nearest open-water amenity - flat lane and bank access, anglers after bream, pike and salmon (permit from Inland Fisheries Ireland). A multi-use path runs along a stretch of the bank further west toward Coachford. Not on Tower's doorstep, but the closest proper walk by water.

Variousdistance

1-2 hourstime

05 / 07

When to go.

There is no bad time. There are different times.

Spring

Mar-May

Mild and green, the Lee valley and reservoir at their best, and Blarney 3km away not yet at full summer crowd. A good time to base here and day-trip out.

◉ Go

Summer

Jun-Aug

Long evenings and the easiest access to everything around - Blarney, the city, the reservoir. Blarney itself will be thronged; Tower gives you a quieter bed nearby.

◉ Go

Autumn

Sep-Oct

Crowds thin at Blarney through September and the light over the Lee valley is good. A comfortable, uncrowded time to be in the area.

◉ Go

Winter

Nov-Feb

Short days and little to do in the village itself beyond the shop and the pubs. Fine as a base if you are passing, but not a winter destination in its own right.

◐ 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 to Tower for sightseeing

It is a commuter village - a SuperValu, two pubs, schools and estates around a 1990s expansion of a small railway hamlet. The one real piece of heritage, St Ann's Hill Hydro, is a private protected ruin you view from the road. Treat Tower as a base near Blarney, not a morning's tour.

Expecting to tour the hydro

St Ann's Hill is a long-derelict protected structure on private land, with redevelopment plans in train. There is no visitor access to the ruins. Stay at the Maranatha if you want to be on the hill; otherwise it is a story, not a site.

Confusing this Tower with the Tower Bar

The well-known Tower Bar is in Blackpool in Cork city, not in this village. Tower the village is on the R617 out toward Blarney. Don't follow the city pub's address out here.

Getting there.

By car

On the R617 between Cork city and Blarney - about 3km southeast of Blarney and roughly 10km northwest of Cork city centre. Easiest by car; parking is roadside and at the SuperValu.

By bus

Bus Éireann and Local Link services run the Tower and Blarney corridor from Cork city; rural frequencies are limited, so check current timetables. Blarney, 3km northwest, has the more regular city buses.

By train

No station - the Muskerry tram closed in 1934. Kent Station in Cork city, about 11km southeast, is the nearest rail, on the Dublin, Cobh and Mallow lines.

By air

Cork Airport (ORK) is about 18km south, roughly 30 minutes by car around the city.