e chapter seal at Ross, which is dated 1661, and seems to have been
a copy of a much earlier one, there is a good example of a round tower
and stone-roofed church, with St Fachnan, to whom the church is
dedicated, standing by, with a book in one hand and a cross in the
other. The present church dates from 1837, but is on the site of a
former cathedral united to Cork in 1583. Of Mourne Abbey, near Mallow,
once a preceptory of the Knights Templars, and Tracton Abbey, which once
sent a prior to parliament, the very ruins have perished. On an island
of Lough Gouganebarra are remains of an oratory of St Finbar.

Of the castles, Lohort, built in the reign of King John, is by far the
oldest, and in its architectural features the most interesting; it is
still quite perfect and kept in excellent repair by the owner, the Earl
of Egmont. Blarney Castle, built by Cormac M'Carthy about 1449, has a
wide reputation (see BLARNEY). Castles Mahon and Macroom have been
incorporated into the residences of the earls of Bandon and Bantry. The
walls of Mallow Castle attest its former strength and extent, as also
the castle of Kilbolane. The castles of Buttevant, Kilcrea and Dripsy
are still in good condition. At Kanturk is a huge Elizabethan castle
still known as "M'Donagh's Folly," left unfinished owing to objections
raised by a jealous government. At Kilcolman castle near Doneraile the
"Faerie Queene" was written by Spenser.

CORK, a city, county of a city, parliamentary and municipal borough and
seaport of Co. Cork, Ireland, at the head of the magnificent inlet of
Cork Harbour, on the river Lee, 165-1/2 m. S.W. of Dublin by the Great
Southern & Western railway. Pop. (1901) 76,122. Until the middle of the
19th century it ranked second only to Dublin, but is now surpassed by
Belfast in commercial importance. It is the centre of a considerable
railway system, including the Great Southern & Western, the Cork,
Bandon & South Coast, the Cork & Macroom Direct, the Cork, Blackrock &
Passage railways, and the Cork & Muskerry light railway; each of which
companies possesses a separate station in the city. The passenger
steamers to Great Britain, mainly under the control of the City of Cork
Steam Packet Company, serve Fishguard, Glasgow, Liverpool, Plymouth and
Southampton, London and other ports, starting from Penrose Quay on the
North Channel.

The nucleus of the city occupies an island formed by the North and South
Channels, two arms of th