CORK, a city and pad, borough of Ireland, capital of the county of the same name, and a county in itself, on the Lee, 11 tn. above its discharge into the sea, stands in the center of a picturesque valley. It is built in part on an island, formerly a swamp, which the word Cork, Corcoelt, or Corcagit implies; in part, on the n. and s. slopes of the river banks. The houses are generally of old red sandstone. Nine bridges cross the river to the central islands. There is a spacious public park, and a walk above a mile long, lined by noble elms, on the w. of the city. There is also a handsome public cemetery. C. has a pleasant picturesqueness from its uneven ground, irregular streets, intersecting river, and overhanging heights. The chief buildings are St. Anne Shandon's church, with a tower 110 ft. high; several Catholic churches; 4 monasteries; 2 nunneries; the bishop's palace; and queen's college, a fine Tudor-Gothic quadrangular building, opened in 1849. The banks of the Lee above and below C. are richly planted, and studded with villas. The Lee is navigable to about a mile above the city, and on the improve ment of the navigation the harbor commissioners have expended above £300,000 within the last 25 years. The extent of the quays is now above 4 m., and ships of 600 tons reach them. C. harbor, noted for its size and safety, is a basin of 10 sq.m., formed by the estuary of the Lee. It could contain the whole British navy, and has been the main source of the rise and progress of the city. The estuary contains several large
isles, rising abruptly and high above the water, with narrow channels between them. The entrance is by a channel 2 m. by 1, defended by batteries, on Spike, Hawlboline, and Rocky islands, which are occupied by convict and ordnance depots, artillery bar racks, and a powder-magazine. On the shores of the estuary are the towns of Passage and Queenstown, formerly Cove of Cork. C. harbor is much frequented by wind-bound ships and ships waiting orders. In 1875, 2,509 vessels, witll a total tonnage of 681,670 tons, entered the port; and 1537, of 443,057 tons, cleared. The harbor revenue in 1875 was £64,918. The chief manufactures are leather, iron, gloves, ginghams, friezes, flour, malt liquors, and whisky; iron ship-building has been largely carried on since 1873. The chief exports are grain, provisions, butter, live-stock, and linen, valued at several millions sterling yearly. Pop. '71. 78,642; pail. bor., 100,518; of whom about Iths are Roman Catholics. C. returns 2 members to parliament. C. grew up around an abbey founded in 600 by St. Finbar. The Danes in the 9th c. built the city walls. Dermod Maccarthy, king of Cork or Desmond, surrendered it to Henry II. in 1172. Cromwell besieged and took it in 1649, and Marlborough in 1690. James II. landed at C. in 1688. In C., William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania, became a quaker, with several of the soldiers of the republican garrison.