Why go

Nano Nagle Place is one of Cork’s quiet surprises: a 3.5-acre walled site of old convent buildings and gardens on Douglas Street, just south of the river, that is free to wander. It tells the story of Nano Nagle, a Cork woman who defied the Penal Laws to teach the city’s poorest children in secret schools and founded the order that became the Presentation Sisters, which went on to work in more than 20 countries. The museum, accredited under the national museum standards programme, has won several awards.

The story

Honora Nagle was born in 1718 into a wealthy Catholic family near Mallow, and was educated in France at a time when Catholic education was banned in Ireland. She returned to Cork to live on Cove Street, now Douglas Street, and in the early 1750s opened a school for girls next to this site, even though running a Catholic school could mean three months in prison. Within ten years she was running seven schools across the city for boys and girls. She visited her schools by day and the poor by night, carrying a lantern through unlit streets, and became known as the Lady of the Lantern. In 1771 she built a convent for Ursuline sisters from France, and in 1775 founded her own order. She died in 1784. The Presentation Sisters opened the site to the public in 2017.

What to see

  • The walled gardens. Free to visit and a calm escape from the city.
  • Nano Nagle’s tomb. Also free, in the grounds.
  • The museum. An interactive heritage experience on 18th-century Cork, Nano Nagle’s work and the lives of the Presentation Sisters.
  • The Goldie Chapel. Part of the self-guided tour.
  • The 1771 convent. The oldest building on the site, seen on the guided tour, including Miss Nagle’s Parlour and the Relics Room.

Plan your visit

Nano Nagle Place opens Tuesday to Friday from 10am to 5pm and at weekends from 9.30am to 5pm; it is closed on Mondays. Guided tours of the museum run from Tuesday to Sunday at 11am and 3pm and take about an hour. Allow an hour or so for the self-guided museum and the gardens.

It is on Douglas Street, two blocks south of the south channel of the Lee, about ten minutes’ walk from St Patrick Street. There is no parking on site. Visitors get a 25% discount at Q-Park Grand Parade if they pre-book using the code published on the Nano Nagle Place website, and there is on-street parking on Douglas Street, with parking discs sold in the shop. Driving is awkward because Douglas Street is one way; approach from Barrack Street.

The Good Day Deli runs a café in the gardens, and there is a gift shop.

Tickets and saving money

The site, gardens and tomb are free. The museum costs €8.50 for adults on a self-guided visit or €11 with a guided tour; students and OAPs pay €5 or €7. Children under 18 pay €5 for the self-guided visit (guided tours are not offered to children on individual tickets), and under-5s are free. Family tickets, for two adults and up to four children, cost €20 self-guided or €24 guided.

Christmas

Nano Nagle Place runs a Christmas initiative called Be The Light; see its website for details and holiday opening times. In November it hosts the Sisters and Society lunchtime talks, from 12 to 14 November 2026.

Nearby

Elizabeth Fort and St Fin Barre’s Cathedral are a short walk west, and the English Market is about ten minutes north across the river.