CORK, a maritime co. in Munster, the southmost and largest of the Irish counties. It is bounded on the n. by Limerick, e. by Tipperary and Waterford, s. by the Atlantic, w. by Kerry. Greatest length from e. to w., 110 in.; greatest breadth, 70; average, 34. Area, 1,849,683 acres, of which 430,541 were under tillage in 1876. C. is hilly, with great variety of surface. The w. part is rocky, mountainous, wild and boggy; the e. and s., rich, fertile, and picturesque. The ranges run e. and w., except the Boghra mountains, between the Lee and Blackwater. The coast is bold and rocky, and from its indentations, 250 m. long; the bays, which run 3 to 25 m. inland, admitting large vessels. The chief bays are Bantry, Dunmanus, Clonakilty, Kinsale, Cork harbor, and Youghal. There are many isles off the coast, the chief being Whiddy (in Bantry bay), Bear, Innissherkin, Great island, and Cape Clear, which lies in Int. 51" 25' n. and long. 9° 30' w., and, with the exception of a rock 4 m. to the s.s.w., is the southmost point in Ireland. In the w., C. is divided from Kerry by a range of Silurian clay-slate, running n.e. and n., the chief points being 1200 to 2,200 ft. high. This range sends offshoots to the e., which divide the county into the parallel basins of the three chief rivers of C., the Blackwater, Lee and Bandon; the lower parts of these basins are well cultivated and productive. The basins of the Lee and Bandon consist of red and yellow Devonian sandstone, with some beds of lower carboniferous limestone. This limestone, as in other parts of Ireland, forms the largest lowland tracts and valleys of the county. The Blackwater basin also consists of Devonian strata, but with more limestone. Part of the Munster coal-field occupies 400 sq.m. in the n.w. of the county, with a cold, stiff, moory soil over it. The river-beds generally mark the limestone tracts. C. has
many small lakes in the west. One of these lies at the source of the Lee, amid wild, picturesque scenery, with the ruins of a chapel on an islet frequented by pilgrims. The chief mineral productions are coal and iron, copper (the mines of which are the richest in Ireland), limestone, fine dark-gray and also red marble rich in fossil shells, fullers' earth, -brick-clay, marl. There is a thermal magnesian spring at Mallow. The climate is moist, but genial. The soils are calcareous, loamy, and moory. The dairies are extensive, and C. butter stands in high estimation. The cattle are small in size, but yield large quantities of milk. Of the-land under crops in 1876, 18,043 acres were under wheat, 117,332 acres under oats, 21,030 acres under barley, here, and rye, 71,058 acres under potatoes, 39,528 acres under turnips, 15.720 acres under other green crops, and 145,370 acres under meadow and clover. The live-stock in the same year consisted of 53,425 horses and mules, 9,312 asses, 365,729 cattle, 322,349 sheep, 170,048 pigs, 25,102 goats, and 1,135,937 head of poultry. The chief manufactures are linen, whisky, porter; and the chief exports provisions. Pop. '41, 854,118; '51, 653,180; '71, 517,076. C. co. returns eight members in all to parliament—two for the county, two for C. city. and one each for Bandon, Mallow, Kinsale, and Youghal. At the end of 1875 there were 100,705 pupils attending the national schools in C., of whom 05,769 were Roman Catholic, 4,194 Protestant Episcopal, and 329 Presbyterian. The antiquities of C. are stone circles and altars, two round towers, circular earthworks or milts; many ruins of abbeys and churches, chiefly built by descendants of the English invaders under Henry II., and many ancient castles or square towers of great historical interest.