Youghal

RESIDENTS RAISE CONCERNS OVER PROPOSED PORTERS LANE DEVELOPMENT

Residents from South Cross Lane, Porters Lane and Mary Street have formed a local group to raise concerns about a proposed Cork County Council housing development on Porters Lane.

Speaking on South Cross Lane, residents said they are not opposed to housing or development, but believe the proposed scheme is too large and unsuitable for this particular site.

“IT IS TOTALLY TOO BIG FOR THE AREA”

Darnell Kenefick, who lives on South Cross Lane, said her main concern is the scale of the development.

“There’s a development planned by Cork County Council across the road from my house, which I feel is totally too big for the area and not in keeping with the surrounding area. It’s just not practical, scale-wise.”

She said the development would be out of character not only for the immediate lane, but for this historic part of Youghal.

“I’m not against development whatsoever. I’m just against the scale and size of it.”

Darnell, who has lived in Youghal all her life, said she was shocked when she first saw the plans.

“My heart nearly stopped when I saw the height and the scale. It has had an effect on me for the last 12 months. It has caused a lot of stress and sleepless nights.”

CONCERNS OVER COBBLESTONES, ACCESS AND HERITAGE

Jean Gardner, who studied archaeology at UCC, highlighted the historic cobblestones near the proposed site.

“There are medieval cobblestones on the ground outside the potential site for the build. The developers and architects are aware of this. It was included in everything we put forward in our observations.”

She said access for construction vehicles would also be extremely difficult.

“We live on the lane down there and you can barely get a car up there. I’d also be concerned about the wall. If the foundation is interfered with, we don’t know what’s underneath.”
Jean said the proposed building is not suitable for such a quiet residential area.

“I know there is a big demand for housing. I’ve been through that myself. But this potential development is not suitable for this site because of accessibility and the nature of the area.”

PARKING AND TRAFFIC ALREADY UNDER PRESSURE

Residents also pointed to parking and traffic problems in the area.
They said South Cross Lane, Porters Lane and Mary Street are among the narrowest streets in Youghal, with South Cross Lane already used as a rat run from the Devonshire square and Hayman's Hill to Church street at the far end of town.

One resident said:

“We pay the council for yearly parking permits, and I could count on one hand the number of times I’ve got a space on Friar Street.”
Residents believe any additional housing on the site would add further pressure to an already congested area.

COST AND VIABILITY QUESTIONED

Pearse McLellan, another local resident, said the residents first became aware of the development when a planning notice was put up around June 2025.

He said residents had six weeks to make observations and that ten local residents submitted concerns around parking, privacy, lighting, disruption and the suitability of the site.

Pearse questioned the cost of developing such a difficult site.
He said he had spoken to builders who had looked at the site in the past and believed it would not be commercially viable for a private developer because of the access difficulties and construction costs.
He also raised concerns about the cost of lifting, mapping and relaying cobblestones, as well as underpinning work that may be needed if the site is dug into.

“The plan is to dig down into the site to make it viable for construction. According to the plans, that could destabilise this part of South Cross Lane.”

Piers said the estimate for the six one-bedroom units is already in the millions and argued that such money could be better spent tackling dereliction in the town centre.

“INVEST IN DERELICT BUILDINGS INSTEAD”

Residents stressed that they are not against housing.
Their argument is that public money would be better used to restore vacant and derelict properties on streets such as South Main Street, North Main Street and Friar Street.

Pearse said:

“If you put that money into derelict properties, you are within walking distance of schools, public transport, the harbour and all the facilities in the town.”

He pointed to successful examples of vacant buildings in the area being brought back into use as family homes.

“This is a model for what could be done with dereliction in the town.”

Residents also referenced local heritage and cultural projects, such as the Youghal Film and Photography Museum, Youghal Lace Museum, Kathleen and May, and the planned Pioneering Women of Youghal Museum, as examples of how old buildings can be revived and used positively.

CALL FOR GREEN SPACE, ALLOTMENTS OR BIODIVERSITY AREA

Several residents said the Porters Lane site is one of the few remaining green spaces in that part of town. They suggested it could be used instead as a community garden, allotments or biodiversity space.

Pearse said:

“At the last municipal district meeting, two things that came up were the need for allotments and community gardens. This site would be perfect.”

Jean also raised concerns about the loss of wildlife.

“There are pygmy shrews, birds, snails and butterflies there. Nature is a huge factor in my life. That will all be gone.” She said the site currently provides a view over the rooftops of Youghal and towards the harbour.

“It’s the only bit of greenery in this section of town. Not only will it be turned into concrete, but the height of the building will block that beautiful panorama of the skyline.”

“REVISIT THE PROPOSAL AND LISTEN TO THE RESIDENTS”

Riley Cully, who has lived in the area for 30 years, said she would like to see the space used for the town rather than built over.
“I would love to see a green area here. The laneway has the oldest cobbled area in Youghal. I would love to see it used for the town as a green space rather than concrete.”

She also raised concerns about parking.

“We pay for parking and we can go round and round and not find a space. They say people here won’t have cars, but who is going to make sure they never own cars?”

Asked what she would say to Cork County Council, Riley said:
“I would ask them to revisit what they have proposed. Come down in person and look at the area. You can’t get that from a piece of paper.”

COUNCILLORS AND CAMPAIGN

Residents said three councillors supported their concerns and voted against the proposal at municipal district level: Cllrs Mary Linehan Foley, Michael Hegarty and Ann-Marie Ahern.

The residents also said they contacted all 56 Cork County Councillors before the proposal was given the green light.
They now plan to continue their publicity campaign and encourage more people to visit the area and see the site for themselves.
Piers said the campaign has brought local residents together.

“We didn’t even know each other properly before this started. We became a group because of this.”

IMPACT ON RESIDENTS

Before the interview ended, residents said they wanted to make clear the emotional impact the proposal is having on them.

Jean said:
“We didn’t mention the effect on our mental health. The whole prospect of it has caused stress and sleepless nights.”
Darnell added that residents fear the development could permanently change the character of their quiet residential area.

“It is very serious for us. We are not happy, and we want Cork County Council to take another look.”

The residents say they are not opposing housing, but are asking Cork County Council to reconsider the scale, location and suitability of the proposed development, and to look instead at restoring derelict buildings in the town centre while preserving Porters Lane as a green community space.

🎙️ From an interview with Michael Hussey.
📸 Photo by Michael Hussey, Tuesday 5th May 2026.

PHOTO CAPTION:
Residents from South Cross Lane, Porters Lane and Mary Street pictured on South Cross Lane with the green area behind them where the proposed development is planned. Porters Lane can be seen to the right of the photograph beside the large blue-coloured house entrance from Friar Street.

ℹ️ Local tradition holds that Porters Lane got its name from the nearby Devonshire Arms Hotel, where porters employed by the hotel are believed to have once resided. ... See MoreSee Less

REMEMBERING PROFESSIONAL CHARACTERS OF YOUGHAL IN THE LAST CENTURY

STARTING WITH THE BUTCHERS : -

There was only one butcher shop in the Strand and it was operated by Dick Curran who had come downriver from Cappoquin. Dick was very busy - especially in the summer season when every bed was taken up. In those 1950 years - the population of the town in winter was 5,000 - but August week saw it swell to 15,000. The train from Cork made Youghal so near that it became the 'Brighton' of Ireland. And when the large numbers employed at Ford's and Dunlop's got their industrial holidays - they flocked to Youghal.
We think of Paddy Linehan who had a butcher's shop at the Market Square where he sold venison (from Ballynatray) as well as beef and lamb. That corner shop was later absorbed into the bar to become 'Moby Dick's' following the making of the film.
Ned Coyne was another popular butcher who started off at the top of Mall Lane before moving up to 161 North Main Street. He was a good business man who always gave a bonus of a piece of lamb's liver or a couple of kidneys free with the purchase. That meant a lot to poor people who could only afford a half-pound of steak once a week.
Dick Power had a shop at 10 South Main St.. Dick was a member of the Youghal Urban District Council .

Harry Jones and his son Bobby were at 74 North Main St. and after Harry's death - Bobby went on to run the butchers for many years. He was a great man to brew his own beer and his pals would visit him to partake of it cheaply.
Brodericks had a butchers shop at 49 North Main St. - later taken over by Paddy Kelleher. He employed young butchers from West Cork because he was too busy himself managing the local tannery factory at Green's Quay corner.
Now we come to Connery's butcher shop at the corner of DeValera Street. Toomey Connery was well known to everybody and he employed John Mulhaire - a chatty popular man who went on to start his own business in Cobh. Later John Cannon came to work for Twomey and stayed in digs with a Mrs. Murphy in DeValera Street. Seemingly John took part of his wages in meat and so all the lodgers in that house were well fed.
The next butchers was called 'Fitzgibbons' (owners) but it was run by Tommy Keniry - another well-known local man who lived in Brown Street and features in a lot of Billy Swayne's stories.
Jimmy Bush was the next in line at 24 North Main Street (near the Red House) with the meat hanging on hooks outside the door. Jimmy was a brother to Phyl and a son of Ernest Bush who ran the British Legion branch at Market Quay.

NOW TALKING ABOUT ALL THE BAKERS AND BAKERIES : -

Mikie Hannon's at the top of Water Lane was a big grocery shop baking it's own bread. It had two vans going on the road with groceries and bread - driven by brothers Tom and Jim Dalton.
Then we come to Jackie Forrest's bakery at 47 South Main Street. Jackie worked very hard - walking around the streets carrying a big basket of bread for delivery to his customers.
Tommy Murphy had a large bakery that ran the whole way through the block at Quay Lane. Tommy was also the driver of the fire brigade engine housed in the Market Square nearby.
Pasleys bakery came next as one of their three shops at 95-6-7 North Main Street. The other two were a grocery and sweet shop. They had a large staff with three van drivers : Paddy O'Brien, Paddy Power and Joe Moloney. Another member of the Forrest family had a bakery for awhile at 102 North Main St.. When it closed down - Paddy Forrest then bought a bus and was hired to bring teams to matches and pilgrims to Mellerary. Moving on uptown - Collins bakers was at 59 North Main Street and was run by John Quill who was married to the daughter of John Collins the owner.
A large stretch of the street - without any bakery - then brought us up to the corner of Cork Hill where the huge Fleming's bakers was located. We think of all the different types of loaf that they produced like the plain one, the basket, concertina, grinder, and 'S' pan. A very nice kind man named Jack Ryan worked there and when purchasing a pan for our tea - he would give us the bonus of a 'cold' pan (a yesterday's one returned from the country vans). Flemings had several big lorries on the road carrying grain to the local mills and they also had smaller vehicles for the bread deliveries. Drivers remembered are Jack McGrath, John Sexton, Frankie Kiely, Paddy Cooley and Tolly Bagge.

SMALL SWEET SHOPS: -

Permit me to list some of the smaller (corner) sweet shops that we had in town. These were little (family) shops that stayed open until 11 pm at night - after the bigger shops had closed at 6 pm. Some were open as well on Sundays.
Starting in the Strand - you had Pidge Aherne's across from the Showboat. This was the Strand Post Office as well and the letter wall-box is still in use at the site. Pidge was a sister to Mick Aherne - another member of Youghal Urban District Council and the man who drove the taxi several times every day to carry the cases of the bus passengers across the old metal bridge. The bridge was getting rusty and the heavy buses (with driver Bertie Doyle and conductor Mick Keogh) were not allowed to drive over it. Now we come to a very famous outlet - Tom Donovan's Lighthouse shop. Ice cream, buckets and spades, windblowers, postcards, beach balls and newspapers could all be had at Tom's. As we move into Friar Street we had Rohan's and Lombard's side by side. Both did great trade with fans of the two nearby cinemas - before the Regal started their own in-house shop and Connie Hurley opened his across the way. Bridgie Quirke's at Windmill Hill corner was our favourite stop when going to a matinee on a Wednesday or Sunday - if we could wangle the sixpence from somewhere - four for the cinema and two for Bridgie's slab toffee. Then you had Bill Quirke's sweet shop beside Mague Jeff's. Mague sold the Woodbine cigarettes singly to poor people who couldn't afford the five pack paper packet. Moving towards the Clock Gate we have Freddie Barrett's at the corner of Quay Lane and at the Clock Gate is the very small shop of the Fox family. Maison Fox was the well-known barber for the south side of town while his aunt ran the sweet shop at the corner.
Moss Kelly's at 60 North Main St. - at the bottom of Chapel Lane - was popular with the laners. This lane supplied most of the founder members of the local G.A.A. club in 1891. A great number were shoemakers and coblers like the Swaynes.
Madge Harney had a delightful sweet/grocery business at no. 47 N.M. St.. Madge lived overhead and her customers could knock her awake late at night for milk or Woodbines. Liam Noonan later ran that shop until 11 pm every night. The Hegarty family had a shop at the bottom of DeValera St. selling biscuits and sweets. One of their sons (Teddy) became a priest in Rome but died at a young age. Another son (Pat) played inter-county hurling for Cork and won several All-Ireland medals.

Crossing over the street brings us to Dan Long's sweet shop a No. 146. This was where the small sweets were counted out for ten a penny - and it took five minutes to buy sixpence worth. Dan was very patient with us and plenty chat was had about the Shamrocks G.A.A. club of Knockanore - Dan's home parish. Who worked there in my time was Johnny Swayne and he counted out the sweets generously for my kids. A few years later - Johnny was repaid when he secured a job with me in An Post as a postman. He went on to spend his life driving for An Post and is only recently retired. While in this area of town - we mention the Noonan sisters at No. 23 who sold us the rubber balls to play with down in Dunne's Park (Green's Quay).
Another bit up the street brings us to 'Balla' Roches shop that sold the famous pink lucky ball sweets where you could win a thrupetnny bit coin in the middle of it. And across from that was Tony Cashell's shop with all the different toffee bars on display inside the plate glass window - Sailor's Chew, Giftee Toffee, Plug Tobacco and Pixie Bar. We spent minutes trying to decide what to buy with our pennies - before going inside to bang on the timber counter to bring that quiet man out the ten yards from the kitchen to sell us a few penny bars.
Moving on to Tallow Street - Tommy Flavin (of Kenilworth) had a shop beside Paddy Maher's pub before he sold it on to Audrey Jackson's dad (Mr. Woods) who ran it for another few years.
Crossing the street - we enter Mary Murphy's - not just a shop - more like a clubhouse. Where old folk played cards in a room there at night and another room at the rear was a bicycle park. On Sunday nights the boys and men from Ardsallagh, Park, Glendine, Piltown and as far as Ardmore - cycled to town to go to the 'pictures' and they deposited their bikes in Mary Murphy's. Then removing the bicycle clips from their trouser legs - they marched down town as if they had come by taxi. After cinema time they came back to Mary Murphy's to collect the bikes - and drank bottles of milk with cakes before cycling off home in great glee. The guys who had no light on their bike had to stay in the middle of the group to avoid the Garda waiting out the road. Just to mention that at least two very happy marriages resulted from the visits of those West Waterford cyclists. Bridget Murphy (daughter of Mary and Paddy) married Donal Lenane of Sand Road, Ardmore - while Noelle Cashman of Tallow Street married John-Joe Carlton of Ardmore Village.

A few little shops away from the main streets tend to be forgotten like: - Jack and Anna Daly's in Cork Hill; Willie Broderick's at the top of the Jail Steps (later run by Sylvie Rohan and then Angela Twomey)); Annie Loughlin's at the bottom of Water Lane - handy to spend a few pennies (if we had it) when going back to school after lunch.
And the last mention is of a small shop across the river - where the Ferrypoint meets the hill. It was owned by Dan Lehane and run by his wife and daughters. That was where we headed for - after our trip over the river on the ferry boat to get our lemonade and Taytos crisps.
Agus sin e anois - (That's it for now) hope it brought back pleasant memories

MIKE HACKETT - MAY 2026.

Pictures:
A Young Paddy Lawlor

Angela Piggott, Eileen Hackett, Lee Dower and Bridget Murphy

Bobby Jones with Mossy Fitzgerald

Butcher Johnny Power

Light House Shop

Long's 16 N.M. St.

Paddy Lawlor and Family

Pasley's showing some saff

Tom Donovan

Tommy Flavin with Madge Ryan ... See MoreSee Less

🍻 Memories of The Blackwater Inn on South Main Street, Youghal

South Main Street in Youghal has seen many changes over the years, and one of them came in the 1960s when Kevin Power transformed the old Blackwater Inn into a modern style lounge bar.

It was a new kind of pub experience for a changing Ireland: comfortable seating, a plush interior, smartly dressed barmen in white jackets with red trim, and every pint served properly on a beer mat.

The lounge was designed by local architect Raymond Morris and quickly became popular with locals and visitors. It was also a time when public houses were changing socially, with women becoming more accepted in lounge bars and pub settings.

Among the staff remembered from those days were Charlie O’Neill, the late Jim Hogan, Martin Hennessy, and the Cooney brothers.

There’s a great story too about British journalist Claud Cockburn, who was a regular there. He would send his copy to Fleet Street in London from the public phone inside the bar.

As the years went on, music and entertainment became part of the Blackwater Inn’s charm, with the husband and wife duo Pat and Eleanor among the regular performers.

Kevin Power sadly passed away in 2025, but his part in Youghal’s social history lives on through the memories of the Blackwater Inn and the people who gathered there.

The premises remains a familiar part of South Main Street today as Hennessy’s Bar.

The Blackwater Inn, a piece of Youghal's social history, and a reminder that even the local pub can tell the story of a town changing with the times.

Were you ever in The Blackwater Inn, or do you remember South Main Street around that time? We’d love to hear your memories in the comments.

Article by Kieran McCarthy, 2026 | Original article by Michael Hussey, 2022 ... See MoreSee Less