Ballydesmond
Ballydesmond, formerly Kingwilliamstown, is a rural village in County Cork, Ireland. It lies on the Blackwater River on the Cork–Kerry border. The Ballydesmond quarry is an area of geological interest, containing the best example of tundra forest polygons found in Ireland. It is located at the junction of the R577 and R578 regional roads.
History
Ballydesmond was established in the 1830s as a model village, and named Kingwilliamstown after King William IV of the United Kingdom. It had formerly been known as Tooreenkeogh. In 1951, it was officially renamed Ballydesmond, an anglicisation of the Irish name Baile Deasumhan. This is thought to refer to legendary rebel, the 15th Earl of Desmond, who is believed to have taken refuge in the nearby hills. However, Kingwilliamstown remained the official name of the townland.Daniel Buckley, Hannah Riordan and Bridget Delia Bradley from Ballydesmond survived the sinking of the RMS Titanic.
The Tureengarriffe ambush occurred near Ballydesmond, where a number of British army officers were killed during the Irish War of Independence by untrained members of the local flying column of the Irish Republican Army. Nora Herlihy, a founder member of the Irish League of Credit Unions, is from Ballydesmond.
Near Ballydesmond lies the 600-acre Barna Bog, once a major peat-cutting site employing around 200 people. The bog was operated by Bord na Móna from 1941 to 1984. During peak production in 1957, it produced 10,000 tonnes of turf. In 2024, a local campaign group began seeking to conserve the bog, aiming to transform it into a nature reserve with walking trails, wildlife habitats and an education centre.