Film marks village’s historic status

A NEW film steps back in time to celebrate a West Cork village’s historic status as the sole gateway to the region.

Innishannon was once both bigger and busier than either Bandon or Kinsale — and all because, in the days before bridges, it provided the only way across the Bandon River and into West Cork.

A new DVD by local photographer Finbar Crean, to be launched on Friday, tells the story of the first river-crossing into West Cork — the historic Bothairin an Atha, the ford at Innishannon, believed to date from the sixth century and to which the only access was by a dirt track.