Castlemartyr

Castlemartyr Baile na Martra
Village
Main Street Castlemartyr, Co Cork.
Castlemartyr Location in Ireland
Coordinates: 51°55′N 8°03′W / 51.917°N 8.050°W / 51.917; -8.050
Country	Ireland
Province	Munster
County	County Cork
Elevation	49 ft (15 m)
Population
• Total	1,277
Time zone	WET (UTC+0)
• Summer (DST)	IST (WEST) (UTC-1)
Irish Grid Reference	W963732

Castlemartyr (Irish: Baile na Martra, formerly anglicised as Ballymarter or Ballymartyr) is a village in east County Cork, Ireland. It is located 25 minutes east of Cork city, 10 km (6 mi) east of Midleton, 16 km (10 mi) west of Youghal and 6 km (4 mi) from the coast. About 500 people live in the village with a further 2,000 in its immediate hinterland.

It is situated on the busy N25 national primary road and has an expanding network of community and sporting organisations. Castlemartyr is a historical village with a range of sites of archaeological and socio-cultural interest, reflecting virtually every era in the country's history and pre-history.

Traces of an ancient civilisation, almost certainly Bronze Age, are to be found in the immediate vicinity of Castlemartyr. A group of six tumuli or mounds can still be seen across the areas of Ballindinis, Ballyvorisheen and Knockane. In addition to this is what tradition refers to as a “Tribal village”, and this is still discernible in the form of what are thought to be burial mounds in the townland of Clasharinka.

We can still see evidence of the early local tribes attempts to defend themselves and their livestock against marauders and the very real threat posed by wild animals. These defences were in the form of ring-forts or “raths” – which were circular earthworks used as dwellings and farmyards and located on raised ground so as to maximise their defences. Perhaps the best remaining examples of these early fortification/dwellings are to be found in the vicinity of the village at Mogeely, Kilrush, Couragh, Ballygibbon, Parknahyla, Rathaha, Kilbree, Ballybutler and Dromada More.

The Normans can be credited with the development of inland towns in Ireland, the Vikings having previously established towns in ports such as Dublin, Wexford, Waterford and Limerick. The early evidence for the existence of a town or “vill” in the vicinity of Castlemartyr is to be found in the Pipe Roll of Cloyne, a list of all lands held by the feudal Bishop of Cloyne and the valuations put on those lands. Ballyoughtera, now a ruin and graveyard, had likely originally been a monastic settlement which under Norman influence and through their settlement became the focal point for a “ville” or feudal village.