‘People are half afraid of the bishop’

IF COBH is a town that was built around the majesty of Cork harbour, this town itself pivots around the majesty of its 19th century cathedral.

The neo-Gothic cathedral dominates the skyline from land and sea. Set into one of the town’s many steep hills, it is a wonderfully ambitious building of gargoyles, spirelets and flying buttresses, a building that makes you stop and stare.

To its right stands the palace where Bishop John Magee resides. The positioning of these buildings underlines the elevated importance of the Church in the history of the town.