Rosscarbery

Rosscarbery Ros Ó gCairbre
Town
Rosscarbery Cathedral
Rosscarbery Location in Ireland
Coordinates: 51°34′40.80″N 09°01′54.12″W / 51.5780000°N 9.0317000°W / 51.5780000; -9.0317000
Country	Ireland
Province	Munster
County	County Cork
Population (2011)
• Urban	534
Time zone	WET (UTC+0)
• Summer (DST)	IST (WEST) (UTC-1)

Rosscarbery or Roscarbery (Irish: Ros Ó gCairbre, meaning "Cairbre's wood") is a town in County Cork, Ireland. The town is on a shallow estuary, which opens onto Rosscarbery Bay.

The area has been occupied from very early times, as is evidenced by the Neolithic remains (pred 2000 BC) such as portal dolmens. The area is very strong in Bronze Age remains - including a number of stone circles. There are also two inscribed stones in Burgatia. The number of ring forts and holy wells witnesses the Iron Age and transition from the Old to the New (Christian) God.

Rosscarbery was home to the School of Ross, a major centre of learning, at one time being a university town, and one of the major cities in Europe, around the 6th century. Due to its popularity as a centre of pilgrimage it was also known as Ros Ailithir ("Wood of the Pilgrims"). The hereditary chieftains of the area, or tuath, were the O'Learys, known as Uí Laoghaire Ruis Ó gCairbre, until it passed to Norman control in the early thirteenth century. The entire region had belonged to the ancient Corcu Loígde, of whom the O'Learys were one of the leading septs.

The town itself has witnessed unprecedented growth in recent times, despite the lack of any major industry in the area, and being just outside the commuter belt for the city of Cork. The majority of new housing is holiday accommodation, which results in an annual swell in population during summer months. According to the 2006 census, the population of the town is 936.

The Church of Ireland's dioceses of Cork, Cloyne and Ross were effectively merged during rationalisation in the 1860s. The bishop of this tridiocese, Paul Colton, spends almost all his time in Cork.

There is a cathedral in the town, an unusual feature for what now would be considered a sleepy country town. It is a Church of Ireland cathedral - St. Fachtna's Cathedral. St Fachtna's is the smallest cathedral in Ireland, and is the size of a typical parish church.