Ballincollig Holiday Homes Cork

Ballincollig is a vibrant town, now a rapidly growing satellite town of Cork City. It is located beside the River Lee 8km west of the city.

Ballincollig has numerous heritage sites including the Ballincollig Royal Gunpowder Mills which was first established in 1794 by a prominent Cork citizen, Charles Leslie. The mills supplied vast quantities of explosives for the British military forces throughout the world from 1794 to 1903.

The site of the Mills has now become one of Ireland’s most impressive Regional Parks covering an area of 130 acres with many of the buildings formerly used in the manufacture of gunpowder to be seen as ruins, dotted throughout the park. Ballincollig’s Regional Park is open daily to the public and offers scenic walks by the River Lee, woodland and the canals which were once part of the Gunpowder Mills transport system.

In the early 1800s, a military barracks was built in Ballincollig to protect the supplies of gunpowder. These fortifications have a long history but they have now been developed into Ballincollig Shopping Centre with some of the original buildings still preserved within the complex. The high stone walls, associated with the barracks are still visible on the north side of the main street of the town.

Ballincollig Castle, set on a rocky limestone outcrop to the south west of the town, dates from at least the 15th century. Its curtain wall runs around the edge of the rock on which it stands, and inside is a slender central keep or tower. The castle, albeit a ruin, makes for a scenic view from the Ballincollig By-Pass.

The grave of Rory Gallagher is located at St Oliver’s Cemetery, on the Model Farm Road, just outside Ballincollig. His headstone is a replica of an award he received in 1972 for International Guitarist of The Year.