Events
The turning points that shaped the city: the Norse who founded the port, the Normans who walled it, the sieges that broke it, the Famine and emigration that emptied it, and the night the centre burned.
The Vikings Arrive
Norse raiders burned the monastery, then stayed and built the port that became Cork.
The Walled City
Anglo-Norman Cork: a town you could lock, two gates and the tide for a moat, founded on the marsh.
The Battle of Kinsale
An hour's fighting down the coast ended Gaelic Ireland, and put a fort over Cork.
The Siege of Cork
One week broke the medieval walls and lodged a cannonball in the cathedral spire.
The Great Famine
An Gorta Mór. Cork was the funnel: the workhouse, the quays and the coffin ships.
The Cork Exhibition
Two summers of pavilions and water chutes on the Mardyke that left the city its finest park.
The Titanic at Queenstown
Cork was the last land the Titanic ever touched. 123 boarded from the harbour tenders.
The Burning of Cork
The Black and Tans set fire to the city centre. St Patrick's Street burned through the night.