FERMOY, Cork was founded in 1170 by Donal Mor O’Brien, king of Limerick, and was colonized with monks from Inishlounaght. Fermoy abbey was situated in the valley of the Blackwater River. The Mother house of Fermoy is Inishlouhnaght.

Its Latin name was a reference to the location combined with a dedicatory formula: ‘Castrum Dei’, the camp of God. The abbey was opposed to English influence in the neighbourhood and was one of the principle instigators in the ‘conspiracy of Mellifont’ (1216-1228). As a result the affiliation of the abbey was changed from Inishlounaght to Furness. In 1227, the Irish abbot was deposed and an abbot of Anglo-Norman origin was imposed upon the abbey in his place. He was murdered three years later, reputedly by his own monks.

During the fourteenth century the abbey fell heavily into debt and in 1467 the abbot appealed to the pope, claiming that that his monks could not be maintained properly and that the abbey buildings were threatened with ruin on account of war and other misfortunes. At the time of the Dissolution the annual income of the abbey was valued at just £2, with a peace time potential of £24. In 1541 the royal commissioners found that the abbey church had been in use as a parish church for some time and that all the other monastic buildings were being used by the local farmer. Following the Dissolution the abbey and its lands passed through various dynasties, including those of Viscount Rote of Fermoy, Sir Richard Grenville and Robert Boyle. The last traces of the abbey perished after the foundation of the town by the Scottish merchant John Anderson in 1791. The monastery was positioned on the south side of the Blackwater River and is marked by a road named ‘Abbey Street’.

CASTLETOWN-ROCHE, CO. CORK. -The vicissitudes of once distinguished and powerful families in Ireland have rarely been better illustrated than by the change of fortune which overtook the Anglo-Norman house of the Roches of Fermoy, generally called after their ancient manor of Castletown-Roche, situated near the famous town. In Desmond, Glen Avon, now called Glanworth, a place in the Barony of Fermoy, county Cork, were the chiefs in Fearmuighe Feiné, O'Keeffe, O'Dugan, and O'Cosgrave families had afterwards a large territory in the Barony of Duhallow possessed by the family of Roche, viscounts of Fermoy, and called "Roche's Country." The O'Keeffes at one time were marshals and military leaders in Desmond, and were styled princes of Fermoy.

In the days of the English Commonwealth, Maurice, Viscunt Roche and Fermoy, who had gallantly fought for the cause of Charles I on nearly enery battlefield in the Three Kingdoms, attainted and outlawed by the decree of the firece usurper, Oliver Cromwell, to whom he refused to make submission.

After the Restoration, having meanwhile tasted the bitter fruit of a long exile in foreign service, the exiled Viscount hoped for recompense-the restoration of his rightful heritage-from Charles II. That "Merry Monarch," and flippant rascal, turned him off with a heartless pleasantry, and actually left the Cromwellian "carpet bagger" in possession of the estates of his father's friend! From that day, the fourteen of the elder line of the Roches were blighted, and the lands and castle of their sires were lost to them forever. The last Roche who bore the title of his fathers served as a volunteer stable-boy in a Tipperary inn! He was too "proud" to accept wages, in which he showed weakness of intellect.

GLANWORTH, CO. CORK. -The name of the above town is derived from the Gaelic Gleann-amhnach, which means, in English, the Marshy Glen. It is a small place, situated on the Funcheon river, in the county Cork, and possesses little of historic interest, except the remnants of an old castle, and an ancient and picturesque bridge, which spans the rapid river immediately below the ruins of the dismantled fortress. Like Fermoy in Cork, the princes and ancient chief of Glanworth (Glen Avon) moved west near Dulhallow. The area was held by the O' Keefes.

Glanworth experienced some stormy events during the wars of the period of Charles I, when Lord Castlehaven, fighting for the Stuart King, campaigned along the course of the Funcheon, proving himself an able captain when opposed to some of the most renowned of the Parliamentary generals.

In former times, the banks of the Funcheon were thickly wooded, particularly with the ash tree, the timber of which made the best of lance and pike handles-articles greatly in demand in the Ireland of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries particularly. The English translation of the word Funcheon is "the ash producing river." In spite of the devastation of many wars, and the neglect of landowners, "the Funcheon woods" are still celebrated for the high class lumber they produce, and the town of Glanworth is situated in one of the most charming spots along the course of the historic stream.