Fernweh, An Ache for Distant Places

COUNTY CORK & BLARNEY
County Cork is the largest county in Ireland and also the furthest south. Its major claim to fame is that Cork Harbour, one of the largest natural harbours in the world, was the final port of call for the Titanic.

The Royal Cork Yacht Club was founded in 1720 and is the oldest in the world. Also, the first Ford Motor Company factory built outside of the US was in in 1919 in Cork, where Henry Ford’s ancestors were from. 

Cillian Murphy (whew!), Graham Norton, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, and historic legend Michael Collins are all from Cork.

Cork is considered the foodie capital of Ireland and some of its most famous local products include rich butter, Toonsbridge Mozzarella, and Clonakilty Black puddings. 

The 1788 English Market, Ballymalloe Cookery School, the West Cork Producers cheese magnates, and the Kinsale Gourmet Festival are a few more of Cork’s widely celebrated culinary highlights. 

Cork is credited as the origin of the aptly named Buttered Eggs tradition, celebrated by the nearby Cork Butter Museum. 

Blarney is a small village, just a few miles from Cork City, that was fully incorporated into County Cork in 2019. It was named after the Irish term “An Bhlarna” which means “little field.”

Blarney village was initially developed by an 18th century landlord for castle servants and minders to live, and remains one of the last estate villages in Ireland. It is most famous for its Blarney Castle and the Blarney Stone, which has held the attention of tourists for centuries. 

Allegedly, Queen Elizabeth I had set her sights on claiming this land but the McCarthy Dynasty inhabitants, especially the Lord of Blarney Castle, were continuously successful in yeeting her demands until she eventually wrote off the whole conquest.

Queen Liz then used “Blarney” as a slang term for flattery or deceptive talk to say it was basically all a bunch of Blarney, the way Americans might say something is a bunch of “baloney” or BS. Around these parts, one could easily be accused of “tipping the Blarney” when telling an unbelievable tale.

Aside from the Blarney Castle, Blarney’s most notable attractions are the Blarney Woolen Mills and a modest public greenspace (above) called The Square.

BLARNEY CASTLE
Blarney Castle is an uncommonly large 90-feet tall tower house built by the McCarthy Dynasty, particularly the Chieftan (not American author) Cormac McCarthy.

While a few earlier structures stood in that spot starting around the year 1210 CE, what you see today was built in 1446.

It is mostly ruins now, but is surrounded by rolling green hills, gardens, a lake, and the family mansion.

Various spellings of the McCarthy name can be found, and many sources interchange Cormac Láidir McCarthy with Cormac McDermot McCarthy.

They are two different people, and I am sticking with the spelling used on Blarney Castle’s official website. 

This castle has many interesting features like 18-feet thick walls, dungeons, a secret escape cave, underground passages, stone spiral staircases, watch tower(s), murder holes, battlements, and most famously, the Blarney Stone. 

Just a breezy 125 steps will take you to the top of the castle. 

Some of them required holding onto ropes and they were so small that I had to walk on tip toes.

THE BLARNEY STONE
At the top of the castle, the Blarney Stone is situated 85 feet high on the eastern wall of the battlement. In most cases, during and after climbing the stairs, you should plan on waiting in a long queue. 

A large chunk of carboniferous limestone sits embedded into the wall and they call it “Cloch na Blarnan,” the Stone of Eloquence. This stone is known worldwide as the Blarney Stone.

Tradition here is to lie upside down and put your head/upper body into a gaping hole in the castle floor where it should meet the wall. This hole is large enough to slide through to your death, protected only by thin metal bars.

Then, you put your MOUTH on a bit of rock that bazillions of other people have put their mouths on before. Many of them have done that just minutes before you step up to bat. 

Nope. Not my big ass. 

I waited in line and took photos but when my turn came, I was not having it. 

My forfeiture of this opportunity allegedly means I will never acquire “the Gift of Gab” like all the other visitors.

It has long been believed the by kissing the Blarney Stone, the kisser will suddenly be blessed with the ability to gab, flatter, or persuade others like never before. 

The “Gift of the Gab” legend is also based off the bravery and courage one needs to physically get down and kiss the stone without sliding out of the castle and off one’s mortal coil, so talking to people afterward should be a piece of cake. 

Whether the Gift of the Gab is real or not, locals and tourists alike have been more than happy to go along with it and keep the tradition alive. 

GARDENS AT BLARNEY CASTLE
Looking out from the top of the castle, the lush greenery was surreal. 

There are over 60 acres of arboretums, gardens, statues, sculptures, and stone circles surrounding the castle.

Among these you may find henbane, cannabis, mandrake, wormwood, hemlock, digitalis, Cuckoo-pint, rue, Arum lilies, opium poppies, yew, birthwort, Jimson weed, Indian tobacco, castor oil plants, black cohosh, and dozens more. 

Digitalis, aka Foxglove, that grows wild all over Ireland:

Castor Oil Plants and Indian Tobacco:

Italian Arum clusters:

Black Cohosh is actually one of my favourite medicinal and energetic herbs.

A rare white opium poppy:

If I recall correctly, this one is the Angel Wings senecio:

The Poison Garden opened in 2010 and serves to showcase the natural beauty of plants we rarely get to see in the wild, to educate about their many beneficial and dangerous uses, and to illustrate how the plants are not “bad” but can be used in a bad way.

As an herbalist, I work with several of these plants in a way that helps heal, so I know this to be true. 

THE CARNIVOROUS COURTYARD 
This much smaller garden contains delightful threatening varieties of Pitcher plants, sundews, butterworts, Venus fly traps, and more.

Some workers had part of it blocked off during our visit, so I did not get too many photos.

Purple Pitcher Plants:

RELATIVELY SAFE GARDENS
Rest assured, there are loads of plants here that will NOT harm you.

Among these are the arboretums, a “Jurassic” Fern Garden, a Walled Kitchen herb garden, raised Boardwalk gardens over the water, tropical gardens, and woodland gardens.

Enjoy these harmless dog roses and Indian Summer lilies:

Here are a few of my favourite shots from around the gardens:

A megalithic dolmen tomb, with no available info about who might be interred within:

 

BÉAL NA BLÁTH, the site where Michael Collins was assassinated in 1922, is about 30 km from Blarney Castle.

“The Big Fellow” was a soldier and politician who fervently pushed for Irish Independence, eventually working up the ranks to becoming commander-in-chief of the (Irish) National Army. There is a film about it all starring Liam Neeson.

Also, just a few miles from Béal na Bláth, check out the Kinneigh Round Tower and graveyard.

Less than 60 original round towers still survive in Ireland and this one is from around the year 1,000 CE. It stands 72 feet tall despite a lightning bolt trying to take it out in the late 1800s.

The townspeople put in a new bell and, more recently, a copper top to keep any more trouble at bay.

In the area for a while? Follow me to some of my other favourite places in Ireland like the Wicklow Mountains National Park, Dingle & Conor Pass Marine National Park, the Ring of Kerry & Killarney National Park, Connemara National Park, County Tipperary & The Rock of Cashel, the Burren National Park & Cliffs of Moher, County Galway & Renvyle, Powerscourt Gardens, Dublin, Belfast, and Northern Ireland. 

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