Castletownbere GFC

Castletownbere GAA is a Gaelic Athletic Association club based in Castletownbere in Cork, Ireland. Its Gaelic Football team participates in competitions organized by Cork GAA, and is a member of Beara division. The club, like the other Beara clubs, does nor field a hurling team.

History

Castletownbere

Castletownbere (Irish: Baile Chaisleáin Bhéarra) is a small town in County Cork in Ireland. It is located on the Beara Peninsula by Berehaven Harbour. It is also known as Castletown Berehaven. The name of the town comes from the no longer extant MacCarty Castle, and not Dunboy Castle which was home to the O'Sullivan clan. The area is the setting for Daphne du Maurier's 1943 novel Hungry Hill named for the mountain of the same name which is the highest peak in the Caha Mountains.

Demographics

The town has a population of around 950 in the 2002 census with a further 4,000 in the catchment area. Tourists swell this number during the summer season to a small degree. Since the 1960s a small number of immigrants to the area from the Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany and England has increased the mix, and more recently some economic migrants from eastern Europe have arrived. As in any fishing port there is a mix of incoming and outgoing transients and a local Spanish influence is well established. Overall the exodus from local families to North America and the UK is marked and until recently the population has declined.