Cobh

Cobh lies on Great Island in Cork Harbour, which is widely claimed to be the second-largest natural harbour in the world. After Queen Victoria’s visit in 1849 the town was called Queenstown; after Irish independence it regained its Irish name, Cobh (pronounced “Cove”). By some estimates, around 2.5 million of the roughly six million Irish emigrants left the country through this port between 1848 and 1950. Annie Moore, the first immigrant to pass through Ellis Island on 1 January 1892, set out from here.

The Titanic also called at Cobh on 11 April 1912, her last stop before the Atlantic crossing, and took on 123 passengers; a Titanic Memorial Garden commemorates this. After the sinking of the Lusitania in 1915, 169 victims were buried in the Old Church Cemetery. St Colman’s Cathedral, begun in 1868 and completed in 1919, towers over the town with a spire about 91 metres high and has Ireland’s only carillon, with 49 bells. Cruise ships call regularly in summer, and on those days it is noticeably busier. Allow two to three hours for a walk around the town.