Coachford
| Coachford Irish: Áth an Chóiste | |
| County Cork | |
|---|---|
| |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | W458733 |
| Location: | 51°54’34"N, 8°47’18"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 408 (2016) |
| Local Government | |
| Dáil constituency: |
Cork North-West |
Coachford is a village in County Cork, on the north side of the River Lee.
The village is located around a crossroads where the R618 and R619 roads intersect. Mallow is twenty miles north of the village, Macroom is nine miles west, Cork City is fifteen miles east and Bandon is twenty miles to the south.
The village received the name of Coachford as it was once being a crossing point over a stream for horse-drawn coaches. This stream continues to flow beneath the village to the present day. The Lee is to the south: much broader here than it was, as a way downstream it has been damned to create a huge lake as a head of water for a hydroelectric power plant. Farmland and houses of Coachford were lost to this new lake on the course of the Lee.
History
Coachford does not feature on the 1811 Grand Jury Map of Cork, but is mentioned in the Freeman's Journal, dated 10 January 1822, and the area and its environs were known as "Magourney". The Village developed rapidly during the Famine (when it was a centre of relief within the mid Cork area) and subsequently. By 1888, the Cork & Muskerry Light Railway had a terminus at Coachford, adding to local business, accessibility and vibrancy. By the end of the 19th-century, the village also had a creamery, complimenting its agricultural hinterland.[citation needed]
By the 1950s, a Vocational School was established, known today as Coachford College (sometimes referred to as Coachford Community College).
About the village
Close to Coachford is Mullinhassig Waterfall. It is about three miles west of Coachford just off the Macroom Road.
About a mile south of Coachford on the road to Bandon is Rooves Bridge, constructed over the River Lee in the 1950s to replace the old bridge which was submerged due to the building of the hydroelectric dam at Inniscarra, six miles down-river. Rooves Bridge is the longest bridge spanning the River Lee.
Sport and community
- Gaelic sports: Aghabullogue GAA
A local amateur drama group, the Coachford Players, was established in 1987 and performs a full-length play each year.