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The Walk
Home
Things to Do in Cork
Cork History
Contact
Shop
(0)
Cart (0)
Book now
The Walk
Home
Things to Do in Cork
Cork History
Contact
Shop
Book now
Cork History · Events

Events

The turning points that shaped the city: the Norse who founded the port, the Normans who walled it, the siege that broke it, the Famine and emigration that emptied it, and the night the centre burned.

Event · 820–1170

The Vikings Arrive

Norse raiders burned the monastery, then stayed and built the port that became Cork.

Event · 1185

The Walled City

Anglo-Norman Cork: a town you could lock, two gates and the tide for a moat, founded on the marsh.

Event · 1690

The Siege of Cork

One week broke the medieval walls and lodged a cannonball in the cathedral spire.

Event · 1845–1852

The Great Famine

An Gorta Mór. Cork was the funnel: the workhouse, the quays and the coffin ships.

Event · 1902

The Cork Exhibition

Two summers of pavilions and water chutes on the Mardyke that left the city its finest park.

Event · 1920

The Burning of Cork

The Black and Tans set fire to the city centre. St Patrick's Street burned through the night.

← All Cork stories

Walk this history

We walk the ground where each of these events happened, from the siege to the night the city burned.

Book a tour

Each of these events gets its own chapter in The Cork Stories Collection, ten illustrated books for €24.99.

TouringCork
Guided walking tours of the real capital.
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Photography by TouringCork. Some historical images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons under CC BY / CC BY-SA; image credits.
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