- Castlepark
The Castlepark peninsula in
Kinsale harbour on the coast ofCounty Cork , on the south coast ofIreland is really more apresque-isle than a peninsula, being joined to the mainland only by an extremely narrow neck at its north-western corner. Thus, the Castlepark peninsula is almost completely surrounded by water: theRiver Bandon , flowing from the north-west, bounds the peninsula on the north; the entrance to Kinsale harbour bounds the peninsula on the east; the Atlantic ocean bounds it to the south; and the tidal inlet known as Sandycove Creek bounds the peninsula on the west.Most traffic into Castlepark now arrives via theDuggan Bridge , built 1976, which crosses the River Bandon from the northern, Kinsale, bank just east of the neck which joins the peninsula to the mainland [cite book |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=OKDE6knNUSQC|title=Ireland|date=2006|isbn=1740599683|author=Fionn Davenport ,Charlotte Beech ,Tom Downs ,Des Hannigan ] .Among the old buildings on the peninsula are
James's Fort (early 17th century),Ringrone Castle (12th or 13th century) and the ruins ofRingrone church , the latter surrounded by an ancient graveyard that is still in use [cite book |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=RmANAAAAYAAJ|title=The Ancient and Present State of the County and City of Cork|date=1893|author=Charles Smith ,Thomas Crofton Croker ,Richard Caulfield ] .Located within the
parish ofCourceys , the peninsula, which has an area of a little under convert|500|acre|km2, contains threetownland s: "James's Fort", "Castlepark" and "Castlelands".The "James's Fort"
townland , which containsJames's Fort , is, itself, a peninsula, protruding out of the north-eastern corner of the Castlepark peninsula.On the western side of the neck which joins the James's Fort peninsula to the main Castlepark peninsula there is a
marina ; on the eastern side of the neck, there is a sandybeach ; a smallvillage , most of whose houses were built in the 1970s although some date back to at least the early 19th century, straddles the neck.The rest of the peninsula consists of farmland with scattered housing.Most of the land is used for
tillage (cereal s andsugar beet ), although there is some grazing ofcattle andsheep . By the late 1990s, only one of thefarm s was still involved indairying .Sandycove Island , at the mouth ofSandycove Creek , is uninhabited; a herd ofgoat s grazes the island so, presumably,fresh water is available.References
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