Geology During the
Late Pleistocene and Early
Holocene periods, it is believed that the
River Lee valley was occupied by a
glacier which melted and the water which sought an outlet created a ravine or
glacial valley that now makes up what is known as 'Glen River Park', so named because the
Glen River flows through the valley on an east–west axis, and joins the
River Bride and the
Kilnap River in the Blackpool Valley to form the
Kiln River.
Gouldings In the 1850s
W. and H.M. Goulding built a large factory in The Glen that was used to make phosphate fertilizers and the area became known as 'Goulding's Glen'. The factory closed and was demolished in the mid-20th century and very little of it remains today. The land was donated to the people of Cork by
Sir Basil Goulding in the late 1960s and was subsequently developed as an amenity park.
19th century railway tunnel The Glen is also the location of a subterranean railway tunnel that was constructed from 1847 to 1855 to connect
Mallow to Cork city. The tunnel had four ventilation shafts, all of which are still standing and two of these are located in The Glen. One is located in Arderin Way and the other can be found in Glentrasna Drive.
Early 20th century events On Saturday, 11 December 1920, the day after
martial law was proclaimed during the
Irish War of Independence, a six-man
IRA squad ambushed a convoy from K Company of the
Auxiliary Division at 'Dillon's Cross', not far from Victoria Barracks (renamed Collins Barracks after
independence) in Cork City. British forces sustained casualties of one dead and twelve wounded, while the IRA squad escaped unharmed. The usual route taken by military convoys to or from the barracks took them past Dillon's Cross. There was an old stone wall roughly 50 yards long running between Balmoral Terrace and the houses at the corner of the Cross. It was here that the members of A Company decided to lay their ambush. Behind the wall was a field known as 'O'Callaghan's Field', leading down to 'Gouldings Glen', which would provide an excellent escape route for the ambush party. Due to the proximity of Victoria Barracks – just a few hundred yards, the action would have to be quick. It was planned to stop the convoy of Auxiliaries, hurl bombs into the lorries, fire a quick volley of revolver shots and get away as rapidly as possible. Sean Healy a member of the ambush party, described their escape through The Glen after the attack was carried out: It was now a case of every man for himself to try and make a safe getaway. Under cover of darkness, and hugging the walls, we ran towards 'Goulding’s Glen' and reached it in safety. A large stream ran through The Glen. This was swollen by the winter rains. We crossed the bridge over the stream and got away into the open country by Blackpool. I stayed at the house of Lt. D. Duggan’s father that eventful night.
Bloodhounds were used in the search but all their efforts to trace us failed. Retaliation by the Auxiliaries resulted in the
Burning of Cork. In his story "The Ugly Duckling", Irish playwright, novelist, and short-story writer
Frank O'Connor writes of the relationship between a man and his home town. Here he describes his return to Cork city from
Dublin: Then, long after, he found himself alone in Cork, tidying up things after the death of his father, his last relative there, and was suddenly plunged back into the world of his childhood and youth, wandering like a ghost from street to street, from pub to pub, from old friend to old friend, resurrecting other ghosts in a mood that was half anguish, half delight. He walked out to Blackpool and up 'Goulding's Glen' only to find that the big mill pond had all dried up, and sat on the pond remembering winter days when he was a child and the pond was full of skaters, and summer nights when it was full of stars. His absorption in the familiar made him peculiarly susceptible to the poetry of change.
Late 20th century housing developments Most of the present housing estates in The Glen were built in the 1970s in an area to the south of the valley and generally consisted of three bedroom terraced houses (generally six per block) and a number of free standing flat blocks (two bedroom flats with 18 per block). Most of the flats were demolished or refurbished during the Glen Regeneration Project. Like most housing estates and urban areas developed on the outskirts of
Irish cities in the 1960s and 1970s, the area was not equipped with adequate facilities for new families that had moved in, an issue that would later be rectified by a regeneration plan. Initial facilities developed with the housing estates include St Brendan's Church and two primary schools; St Mark's Boys National School and St Brendan's Girls School. The area is near Blackpool Shopping Centre and retail park which was developed during the 2000s. == Regeneration ==