Located in the heart of Ireland’s Ancient East, Castlemartyr Resort is just a short drive away from the historic Irish city of Cork. While historical records about its founding are sparse, oral tradition has suggested the first known iteration of Cork appeared as a monastic community during the 7th century. The village specifically serviced a cathedral created by Saint Finbarre (or Fin Barr) that attracted many secular academics and religious figures from across Europe. It also sat on an island within the meandering Lee River, granting it protection against groups of marauding bandits. The safety the natural geography afforded was imperfect, as Viking raiders managed to periodically sack Cork throughout the 9th century. A few of those Vikings settled the area not long thereafter and formed their own prosperous trading center within the town’s surviving neighborhoods. Their maritime commerce introduced great wealth into Cork, causing it to expand to the size of a city over several decades. But the peace still proved to be short-lived though, with English settlers eventually conquering the region amid King Henry II’s invasion of Ireland. (Historians today refer to those colonists as the “Anglo-Norman”—the descendants of French knights that had supported the Plantagenet dynasty in its own conquest of Great Britain a century prior.) Now under English suzerainty, the municipality received an official municipal charter from Prince John, Lord of Ireland, in 1185. To avoid suffering the same fate as their predecessors, the city’s new social elite gradually erected a series of imposing defenses that were centered on a huge wall. Commerce remained strong in Cork, with the city becoming a major exporter of wool and hides, as well as an importer of salt, iron, and wine. Cork thus emerged as a bastion for local English authority throughout the rest of the Middle Ages, even though its ruling lords began to culturally integrate with the local Irish population.

Indeed, the city was soon embroiled at the center of several important historical events in both English and Irish history. During the Wars of the Roses, for instance, a pretender to the throne of England, Perkin Warbeck, arrived in Cork and received significant support from its residents. They went so far as to start an uprising for the imposter, who falsely claimed to be one of the missing “Princes in the Tower.” The city later became a stronghold for King Charles I during the English Civil War, although it eventually sided with the Parliamentarians following his execution in 1649. Then, in 1690, forces loyal to King William III captured Cork during the Williamite War that broke out following his ascension to the English throne after the Glorious Revolution. But the greater cultural atmosphere in Cork had also become firmly Irish, as epitomized by its residents’ participation in the Second Desmon Rebellion and the Irish Rebellion of 1641. This patriotism endured for generations, ultimately forming part of the larger Irish Home Rule movement of the 1800s. It was even a battleground in the subsequent Irish War of Independence, which established the first Irish Republic during the early 20th century. In the present, Cork continues to be one of Ireland’s most influential cities in terms of politics, economics, and culture. The community is home to many outstanding cultural attractions, including the Crawford Art Gallery, the Cork Public Museum, and the Cork Opera House. This fantastic destination is also celebrated for its countless historical landmarks, including Fort Elizabeth, the Cork City Gaol, the English Market, and Blarney Castle. Additional cultural heritage sites are located just outside of the city, too, of which many are accessible via Ireland’s famed Wild Atlantic Way. In fact, one end of the trail actually begins just south of Cork in the little town of Kinsale, before winding its way around the coast toward County Kerry and beyond!

While Castlemartyr Resort contains a wealth of stunning architectural styles, most can best be described as being “Victorian” in nature. Due to the growth of the middle classes in the mid-19th century, an increasing number of individuals had access to unprecedented amounts of wealth for the first time. The onset of the Second Industrial Revolution also made unique, expensive building materials more affordable due to the technological innovation of mass production. As such, architects could create intricate designs for a much wider audience, giving them far greater creative freedom than they had ever enjoyed in the past. More affluent people in the Victorian Era typically wanted to flaunt their newfound affluence. They developed a deep appreciation for lavish aesthetics that embraced ostentatious details. In some cases, those individuals revived historic architectural styles that were then modified to suit their contemporary tastes. Many different architectural styles were subsequently created, including Italianate, Second Empire, and Gothic Revival. But while the design aesthetics of the Castlemartyr Resort are quite varied, the Boyle family mainly relied upon Victorian design principles like Queen Anne to influence the structures that would eventually constitute Castlemartyr Resort.

Named in honor of the 18th-century British monarch, Queen Anne, the architectural form itself started in Great Britain before migrating to Ireland and elsewhere. Its name was misleading though, as it had borrowed its design principles from buildings constructed during the European Renaissance. While the appearance of Queen Anne-style buildings may differ considerably, they are all united by several common features. For instance, they are typically asymmetrical in nature and are built with some combination of stone, brick, and wood. Those buildings also featured a large wrap-around porch, as well as a couple polygonal towers. Those towers may also be accompanied by turrets along the corners of a building’s exterior façade. Structures designed with Queen Anne-style design principles may also have pitched, gabled roofs that feature irregular shapes and patterns. Intricate wood carvings are a common sight throughout their layout, which are often designed in such a way to resemble different objects. As such, guests viewing the architectural features of Queen Anne architecture may feel as if they had been staring at an illusion! (Clapboard paneling and half-timbering are a few other forms of woodworking that are regularly found somewhere within a Queen Anne-style structure.)