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Coomkeen (Irish: Com Caoin) is a townland located near Durrus in West Cork, Province of Munster, Ireland. It is a small valley home to approximately 14 families, it is also the home of the world famous Durrus Cheese.
Contents
- Map of Coomkeen The Courtyard Co Cork Ireland
- History
- 1901 census
- Speakers of Irish and English 1901 Census
- 1911 Census
- Present population
- References
Map of Coomkeen, The Courtyard, Co. Cork, Ireland
History
Home to Reverend Timothy Crowley, Parish Priest, Coomkeen Upper, 1776.
Prior to purchase under the Land Acts of the early 1900s, the lands were owned by Lord Bandon and rented by tenant farmers. In the late 1920s a new road to Bantry was built from Coomkeen and was celebrated by local poet Charles Dennis:
Oh! Durrus, you were often fleeced,In the good old days gone byAnd only for Mr. MacManawayYou should lie down and dieHe's out to help industryGive every man fair play,His enterprising capitalistWill surely win the dayHis latest stunt is to build a roadThrough the fair valley of CoomkeenIt starts at CrocawadraAn ends in GearameenWe'll make of him a BishopAnd that without a doubt,And he'll remove the Border,Between North and South.1901 census
1901 Census of Coomkeen.
Speakers of Irish and English, 1901 Census
John, Mary, 26, Daniel Burke, Daniel, 64, Mary Burke, 60, Daniel, 63, Mary Ann, 50, Sullivan, Catherine Mahony, 68, John 50, Hanorah, 40, Cronin, Mary Wholly, 80, Daniel, 50, Julia, 48, Jeremiah, 14, Wholihan, Timothy Wholihan, 55
1911 Census
1911 Census of Coomkeen.
Name: Number in each family
Present population
By 2006 most of the original families who lived in the 19th and early 20th centuries were no longer resident. Around 10 of the current dwellings are pre-famine, according to the early OS maps. This townland has had most of its field names preserved by the Cork and Kerry Place Names Survey in 2008.
There is a burial ground; mass rock site and on the Crottees boundary, a stone circle overlooking Durrus village. There was reputedly some mining exploration carried out on the south side of Knockboolteeangh in the 1840s and ore was extracted but not dressed.