Cloyne, or Cluain Uamha, is a small village situated in a broad valley in east Cork. The name comes from the Irish words "cluain" (meadow) and "uamha" (caves) - Meadow of the Caves. The village sits on a low hill about 100 feet above sea level. For the visitor, Cloyne's rich history appears to be best expressed by its simple but beautiful cathedral, still a working church and surrounded by its atmospheric churchyard of ancient headstones. Across the narrow street, stands a round tower, its original conical top replaced by battlements.
It was this tower that, having already endured many centuries, survived a furious lightning storm of the night of January 10th, 1749. According to one famous witness, the great philosopher, George Berkeley (1685-1753), Bishop of Cloyne for 18 years, the storm produced the loudest thunderclap he had ever heard, in Ireland. More than 250 years on, the tower, one of only two in Co Cork, remains impressively intact.
Cloyne's long history of settlement is complex. Much has been spoken in both fact and lore of the series of caves, or underground passages, believed to exist - hence its name. A pair of early Bronze Age gold sun discs, now in the National Museum, were discovered here. There are about 30 ring forts in the immediate area. St Colman founded an early Christian monastery sometime before 600 AD. He is known to have died in 604. The monastery flourished in the memory of the saint of whom it was written: "He was for learning and a life chief among the saints". But all the buildings were burned down in 1137.
In 1250, work began on what would become the cathedral, sited on the foundations of an earlier building. About this time, the village was granted a charter designating it as a market town. The famous Cross of Cloyne, made in gilt bronze, and dated to the 11th or 12th centuries, was unearthed in the grounds of the cathedral about in 1885 and was given to the National Museum. A century later, in 1985, the 300th anniversary of Berkeley's birth, a copy was presented to the cathedral by the Cloyne Literary and Historical society. A silver chalice and paten dated 1640 are still in use.
St Colman's has undergone many changes through the centuries and little of its medieval self remains. It underwent extensive renovations in the 18th century. The chancel was modernised, its arch was blocked up in 1705 and removed completely about 70 years later. The East Window dates from 1856. The pitch pine ceiling is Victorian.
WORSHIP now takes place only in the choir, while the nave is a dramatic space dominated by large stone flags. It is also quite cold and this helps create the sensation of entering another world. Two of Berkeley's children, William and Sarah, are buried in the north transept, their burial places marked by the letter "B". There is also a marble monument to Berkeley, a recumbent Italian-style statue by an Irish sculptor, Bruce Joy. On the wall beside it is the tribute by poet Alexander Pope to his friend: "To Berkeley every virtue under heaven". The philosopher died in Oxford where he had settled to be near his surviving son, George. But he was not the only distinguished intellectual to be bishop of Cloyne. The astronomer, John Brinkley (1763-1835), also served the village. Having succeeded Henry Ussher as the Astronomer Royal of Dublin on his death in 1790, Brinkley became director of the observatory at Dunsink. He took Holy Orders in 1808 and became Archdeacon of Cloyne. In 1826, he was awarded the bishopric.
On June 8th, 1781, the antiquarian and career civil servant, Austin Cooper, sketched the round tower, the events and damage of the famous storm, by then some 32 years in the past. While there, as Peter Harbison records in his book, Cooper's Ireland (Dublin, 2000), he also, fortunately for us, drew Cloyne Castle. It is a fine, three-storey, urban tower house. It may originally have been built for defence.
Through Cooper's eyes, it appears gracefully part of a street scene and adjoined domestic buildings, one of which was thatched. Although Cloyne retains many old buildings and walls, nothing remains of the castle. Possibly, some parts survive, perhaps incorporated, unsuspectingly hidden, in the old walls of some of the houses.
