YOUGHAL, a seaport, borough, and market town in the county of Cork, Ireland, is situated on the west side of the estuary of the Blackwater, and on the Cork and Youghal branch of the Great Southern and Western Railway, 157 miles south-west of Dublin and 28 east of Cork. The fine collegiate church of St Mary, in the Later Decorated style, was originally erected in the 11th century, but rebuilt in the 13th, and since that time it has been frequently repaired. It contains a fine monument to the first earl of Cork. There are still a few fragments of the Dominican friary founded by Fitzgerald in 1269. Myrtle Grove, formerly the residence of Sir Water Raleigh, still remains. The harbour is safe and commodious, and there are several good quays. At the northern extremity of the harbour the river is crossed by a bridge resting on wooden piles. The principal exports are corn and other agricultural produce; the imports are coal, culm, timber, and slate. Coarse earthenware and bricks are manufactured. There is a salmon fishery in the Blackwater. Youghal is of some repute as a watering-place. The population of the town (area 345 acres) in 1871 was 6081, and in 1881 it was 5826.

Youghal is one of the most ancient towns in Ireland, and was incorporated by King John in 1209. The Franciscan monastery, founded at Youghal by Fitzgerald in 1224, was the earliest house of that order in Ireland. Sir Roger Mortimer landed at Youghal in 1317. The town was plundered by the earl of Desmond in 1579. In 1641 it was garrisoned and defended by the earl of Cork. In 1649 it declared for the Parliament. It sent two members to Parliament from 1374 till the union, after that only one down to 1885, when it was for parliamentary purposes merged in the East Division of the county.