placenamesDublin Pike
Dublin Pike preserves a memory of Cork’s old toll roads, while the Blackman Bar acquired a later place in Irish advertising history.
The name
A reliable full-name meaning has not been established here. The recorded Irish and English forms are given without an unsupported translation.
Recorded forms
- Dublin Pike · English · main form
Place & story
A name from the turnpike roads
Dublin Pike recalls the privately financed toll roads that once linked Cork with its hinterland. Historian Ged Martin identifies the road north towards Kilworth, established in 1731, as an early stage of the overland route to Dublin. He connects the surviving names Dublin Pike and Kerry Pike with this eighteenth-century transport system. Such roads depended on toll income for their upkeep before county authorities gradually assumed a greater role in improving highways. [2]
The Blackman Bar on television
In 1982 the Blackman Bar at Dublin Pike became the setting for the Harp lager advertisement featuring Sally O’Brien, played by actress Vicki Michelle. Interviewed by Chris Dunne in 2024, publican Maureen Healy remembered the preparations for filming and the retention of glasses and ornaments from the occasion. Maureen and Bob Healy had taken over the premises in 1970. The location supplied an actual Cork pub interior for an advertisement built around an emigrant’s memories of home. [3]
A story behind the pub’s name
Dunne’s interview also records a local explanation for the Blackman name. It was said to refer to a forge across the road, where the blacksmith shaped wheels around a tree stump. Blackened through use, the stump supposedly resembled a large dark figure in the evening light. The article places the naming in the 1940s. This is an attributed local story about a familiar landmark, rather than documentary proof of how the name originated. [3]
Geographic information
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Dublin Pike. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- The Castlemartyr bypass: historical roots of a failure in government · Ged Martin
- We were so excited when iconic Sally O’Brien ad was filmed in our Cork pub, 3 August 2024 · Chris Dunne / The Echo
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2026-04-21. How this page was prepared.