Conna

This article is about the village in Ireland. For the town of ancient Phrygia, see Conna (Phrygia).

Not to be confused with Cona or Konna.

Conna (Irish: Conaithe)^[2] is a village in County Cork, Ireland. It is situated on the River Bride, southeast of the town of Fermoy, on the R628 regional road. The village contains several pubs, a shop, a post office, a Roman Catholic church (built c. 1820)^[3] and a nearby Church of Ireland chapel. The village is dominated by Conna Castle, a five-story tower house situated on a limestone outcrop near the river.

Conna Conaithe
Village
Conna Castle viewed from the east
Conna Location in Ireland
Coordinates: 52°05′34″N 08°06′36″W
Country	Ireland
Province	Munster
County	County Cork
Population  (2016)[1]	526
Time zone	UTC+0 (WET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-1 (IST (WEST))

History

Evidence of ancient settlement in the area includes a number of ringfort, standing stone and fulacht fiadh sites in the townlands of Conna, Clashaganniv, Curraheen and Kilclare.^[4]

During the mid-16th century, the Fitzgeralds, Earls of Desmond, built Conna Castle on a high limestone rock overlooking the River Bride.^[5] The castle and its estate was seized by the English and passed into the hands of Walter Raleigh, the English settler. The rightful heir to the castle, James FitzThomas (the Sugán Earl) staged an unsuccessful attempt to capture the castle. The castle then went through a series of different owners before ending up in the hands of the Earl of Cork. It is believed that Oliver Cromwell passed by the castle and fired cannons at it before moving on.^[5] In 1653, the castle suffered a fire in which three of the steward's daughters were killed.^[6][5] The castle continued to move from owner to owner until Hilary L'Estrange purchased the castle in 1851. He passed it on to his son, Rev A. G. K. L'Estrange, on whose death in 1915, the castle was willed into the care of the state.^[7]

Notable people

• Liam Kearney (b.1983), professional footballer and coach^[8]
• Angela Lansbury (1925–2022), actor and producer, moved to the area with her husband Peter Shaw and lived in a 19th-century farmhouse named Knockmourne Glebe.^[9]
• Bartholomew MacCarthy (1843–1904), Irish historian^[10]

See also

• List of towns and villages in Ireland

References

1. "Census 2016 - Small Area Population Statistics (SAPMAP Area) - Settlements - Conna". Census 2016. Central Statistics Office.
2. "Conaithe / Conna". logainm.ie. Placenames Database of Ireland. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
3. "Saint Catherine's Church, Conna, Cork". buildingsofireland.ie. National Inventory of Architectural Heritage. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
4. Archaeological Inventory of County Cork. Volume 2: East And South Cork. Dublin: Government Stationery Office. 1994.
5. "Conna Castle". The Illustrated Dublin Journal. Vol. 1, no. 24. 15 February 1862 – via libraryireland.com.
6. "Things to see or do - Conna Castle". discoverireland.com. Archived from the original on 8 April 2013.
7. Coleman, James (1915). "Conna Castle" (PDF). Journal of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society. 21 (107): 129–131.
8. "Liam Kearney back at Cork City as club's Head of Academy". irishexaminer.com. Irish Examiner. 7 January 2021. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
9. Gottfried, Martin (1999). Balancing Act: The Authorized Biography of Angela Lansbury. New York: Little, Brown & Company. pp. 205–208. ISBN 0-316-32225-3.
10. Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Bartholomew MacCarthy". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.