YOUGHAL (pronounced

See also:

• YAWL

Yawl)  , a seaport, market town and watering-place of county Cork, Ireland, on the W. side of the Blackwater estuary, and on the Cork & Youghal branch of the Great Southern & Western railway, 264 m . E. of Cork . Pop . (1901) 5393• The collegiate church of St Mary, in the later Decorated style, was erected in the 1th century, but rebuilt in the 13th, and since that time frequently restored . It contains a beautiful monument to the 1st earl of Cork . The college was founded by an earl of Desmond in 1464 . There are still a few fragments of the Dominican friary founded in 1269 . The Clock Gate (1771) is noticeable, and portions of the old walls are to be seen . Myrtle Grove was formerly the residence of Sir Walter Raleigh . He was mayor of Youghal in 1588-8g, and is said to have first cultivated the potato here . The harbour is safe and commodious, but has a bar at the mouth . At the N. extremity of the harbour the river is crossed by a bridge on wooden piles .

The

principal exports are corn and other agricultural produce; the imports are coal, culm, timber and slate . Coarse earthenware and bricks are manufactured . Fine point-lace commanding high prices is made by the Presentation Sisters . The Blackwater is famous for salmon, and sea-fishing is important . The Strand, the modern portion of the town, has all the attributes of a seaside resort . Youghal (Eschaill, " the Yew wood ") was made a settlement of the Northmen in the 9th century, and was incorporated by King John in 1209 . The Franciscan monastery, founded at Youghal by FitzGerald in 1224, was the earliest house of that order in Ireland . Sir Roger Mortimer landed at Youghal in 1317 . The town was plundered by the earl of Desmond in 1579 . In 1641 it was garrisoned and defended by the earl of Cork . In 1649 it declared for the parliament, and was occupied as his headquarters by Cromwell . It sent two members to parliament from 1374 till the Union, .after that only one down to 1885 .