page_title: Great Island
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Great Island / History
caption_attribution_description: For our Cork supporters today we have an old and very clear shot of the castle at the bridge from Fota. This shot generated a number of good stories today - leaving us with a tough job to select the most interesting ones. With thanks to all of today's contributors, without your help and support we would be at nothing: [/photos/129555378@N07/ sharon.corbet], [/photos/gnmcauley/ Niall McAuley], [/photos/beachcomberaustralia/ beachcomberaustralia], [/photos/47297387@N03/ Carol Maddock] + [/photos/20727502@N00/ guliolopez]. Ultimately perhaps Carol's "Blarney Castle" story wins by a whisker&#160;:) Even though Carol's find refers to events during WWI, Beachcomber references a similar story from 1904 - you would have to be up early in the morning to best the jarvies! Found this headed A Counterfeit Castle in Quidnunc’s An Irishman’s Diary... During the war [WWI] Queenstown, with its magnificent harbour, was the naval base for the American Fleet “operating in European waters”. Consequently, the town was constantly crowded with sailors on “shore leave”. Cork City was out of bounds, and the people of Queenstown were hard put to it to provide entertainment for these warriors of the sea. Now Blarney Castle proper stands about 21 miles from Queenstown, too long a journey for a horse to do in an afternoon, so the enterprising jarveys of the district evolved a scheme which brought much diversion to the Yankees and a golden harvest to themselves. Fortunately for that scheme, the American sailor is not of so inquiring a mind as his countrymen of the tourist class. About two miles from Queenstown there stands an old ruin, Belvelly Castle. Structurally, it is somewhat similar to Blarney Castle, sufficiently so, at any rate, to deceive the sailor from overseas. And here he was brought in dozens to see the Castle and kiss the Stone! I once inquired from a jarvey which stone they represented to be the famous one. “Yerra, anyone at all, sir, as long as ’twas a bit hard to git at”, he replied. “Most of them stones round the top have had their share. Shure, there’s bits of chewing-gum stuck all over them”. Thus was this complete, but harmless, deception successfully carried out. Irish Times, 27 November 1928 Photographer: Robert French Collection: The Lawrence Photograph Collection Date:between ca. 1865-1914 NLI Ref: L_ROY_0269 You can also view this image, and many thousands of others, on the NLI’s catalogue at catalogue.nli.ie
context_page_description: Great Island is an island in Cork Harbour, at the mouth of the River Lee in Ireland. The largest town on the island is Cobh, and the island's economic and social history has historically been linked to the naval, ship-building, and shipping activities in the town's environs. Located close to Cork city, as of the 21st century, a key economic driver is tourism – including the cruise tourism attracted by the Port of Cork berthing facilities on the island.
context_section_description: The ancient name of the island was Oilean Ard na Neimheadh, the "High (or important) island of Neimheadh". Neimheadh was, according to the 11th century Lebor Gabála Érenn, the leader of a group who invaded the area in prehistoric times. Archaeological evidence of prehistoric and early medieval settlement on Great Island is recorded on the Record of Monuments and Places of the National Monuments Service. This includes records of ringfort, fulacht fiadh, holy well and bee bole structures.
  By the early 13th century, the island was under the control of the Anglo-Norman Hodnett family. The Hodnetts built several structures, including Belvelly Castle, to defend the island and its approaches. The island and its defenses were taken by the de Barra (Barry) family in the 14th century. The Barry family (later Earls of Barrymore) retained power in the area for several centuries, and the island became known as Oileán Mór an Barraigh, meaning "Great island of the Barrys".
  In the 18th and 19th centuries, due to the strategic importance of the island within Cork Harbour (overlooking the naval berths and military bases at Haulbowline and Spike Island), several coastal defence fortifications were built on Great Island. These included the construction of Cove Fort (between Cobh and Cuskinny) in the 18th century and several Martello towers (at Belvelly, Monning and Rossleague) in the 19th century.
  The largest settlement on Great Island, Cobh, saw significant development during the 19th century and early 20th century, coinciding with additional expansion in shipping and naval activity in the area.
caption: Belvelly Castle overlooks the narrowest crossing and only road bridge to the mainland
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