Cork Trivia Quiz

Answer: From the Irish word "corcach," meaning marsh

Cork comes the Irish word for "marsh" or "marshy". The modern Irish spelling is Corcaigh. It has nothing to do with the kind of cork you will find in a wine or liquor bottle! The city of Cork was built on low-lying marshy ground that was originally a group of islands in a river.

Answer: 6th century AD

St. Finbarr is said to have founded a monastery at the site of Cork in the 6th century AD. When the Vikings invaded Ireland in the 10th century, they established a trading center where the modern city now stands. Eventually the Viking invaders intermarried with the native Irish and adopted Irish ways and the Irish language. St. Finbarr is still regarded as the patron saint of Cork.

Answer: Lee

Although the Lee is not a large river, it has played an important part in the history of Cork. It has been dammed to provide hydro-electric power. In 2009, there was serious flooding that resulted in large parts of the city being underwater for days.

The channels that separated the islands upon which Cork was built have been largely paved over, but the river still flows beneath the city.

Answer: South

Cork is located in Munster, the southernmost of the four provinces of Ireland. It is the largest city in County Cork, which is the largest of the 32 counties of Ireland in area. Cork is sometimes called "the rebel county", because it was a stronghold of Republican forces during both the War of Independence and the Irish Civil War.

Answer: Murphy's Stout

Murphy's Brewery was established in Cork in 1856. Although the company was bought by Heineken in 1993, Murphy's the brewing has continued in Cork, and is second only to Guinness in popularity in Ireland. Murphy's is lighter and less bitter than Guinness. Another popular stout, Beamish, also has its roots in Cork.

Answer: Cobh

Cobh (pronounced "cove") is small in size but rich in history. Cork Harbor is one of the largest and deepest natural harbors in the world. Almost half of the six million emigrants who left Ireland during the 19th century passed through Cobh. When the passenger liner Lusitania was torpedoed by the German submarine U-20 off the Irish coast on May 7, 1915, many of the victims were buried in Cobh.

There are memorials to both the Titanic and the Lusitania in Cobh.

Answer: Blarney Castle

There are literally hundreds of castles in Ireland, but Blarney Castle, located just a few miles from Cork, may be the most famous of them all. Each year countless people bend over backwards on its battlements to "kiss the Blarney Stone", a slab of rock that is supposed to bestow upon all who kiss it the gift of eloquence.

The existing castle dates to the year 1446, when it was built by a local Irish chieftain, Cormac Laidir MacCarthy. There are all sorts of legends surrounding the Blarney Stone; they are all nonsense. The earliest mention of the Blarney Stone dates to 1785, which strongly suggests that the legend may have been invented to bolster the local tourist trade. Geological analysis shows that it is made from local limestone, just like the other stones used to build the castle. It is a good story, though, and one that will probably continue to attract visitors for many years to come.

Answer: Terence McSwiney

Cork was one of the major centers of resistance to British rule during the War of Independence. In January, 1920 Tomás Mac Curtain, an officer in the Irish Republican Army, was elected Lord Mayor of Cork. On March 20, 1920, several members of the Royal Irish Constabulary broke into Mac Curtain's house and shot him dead in front of his wife and family. Terence McSwiney, one of Mac Curtain's closet friends, was elected to succeed him as Lord Mayor.

On August 12, 1920, McSwiney was arrested and charged with giving a "seditious speech" and possession of a cipher used to decode police messages. Instead of a civil trial, McSwiney was tried by a military court-martial, whose authority he refused to recognize. He was sentenced to serve two years in Brixton Prison in London. McSwiney immediately went on hunger strike to protest his conviction, and died 74 days later on October 25, 1920.

McSwiney's hunger strike attracted worldwide attention. He became an inspiration for many future freedom fighters around the world. He is remembered for his pamphlet, "Principle of Freedom", which states in part: "A fight that is not clean-handed will make victory more disgraceful than any defeat . . . no physical victory can compensate for spiritual surrender".

Answer: It was burned by British troops

The burning of Cork City was carried out by members of the Auxiliaries, a British paramilitary organization recruited from former British officers who had served in WWI. The Auxies, as they were called, had a reputation for cruelty and brutality that exceeded even the infamous "Black and Tans". Around 8 PM on December 11, an Auxie patrol had been ambushed in Dillon's Cross, a northern suburb of Cork; one soldier was killed and a dozen wounded. The British responded by burning several houses in the Dillon's Cross area and beating their inhabitants. Around 10 PM, large numbers of Auxiliaries, along with some members of the Black and Tans and the Oxfordshire Regiment, appeared in Cork City, and began a night of burning, murder, and pillage. After looting businesses, they deliberately set them on fire and prevented the Fire Brigade from fighting the fires. They later burned down the City Hall and the Carnegie Library. Two suspected members of the IRA were shot dead in their father's house, and at least five civilians were killed. Five acres of the business district was totally destroyed, and property damage was estimated to exceed three million pounds.

The reaction of the British government was predictable. They denied that the military had any part in the devastation, and suggested that the IRA or the citizens of Cork had started the fires. A year later, however, a report by General Sir E.P. Strickland established that the attack had been carried out primarily by members of K Company of the Auxiliaries. The unit was later disbanded. The burning of Cork city is remembered as one of the worst atrocities of the War of Independence.

Answer: Adak, Alaska

Surprised? Many people do not realize just how far north Ireland is until they see it on a globe; Cork is actually slightly farther north than Adak. Ireland and Great Britain owe their mild climates to the warm ocean currents that wash their shores.