Bridge in Rathmore

Explorer Tom Collins Barracks in Rathmore had an escape plan involving a laundry basket and a very fast mule. It’s been washing its history clean, leaving only handsome detailing and a lot of unanswered questions about service buildings. Give it a military salute, but keep one eye on the back gate just in case.

Explorer Tom St Brendan’s Roman Catholic Church is circular with a pyramidal copper roof, looking like a futuristic dome in Rathmore. Built in 1973, it’s got mosaic tiled columns that are properly arty. Does the spire point to heaven?

Explorer Tom Cork Prison is holding 138 cells and over 150 years of secrets since 1846. It used to be military before the Free State Army took over in 1922. Look around the ashlar limestone facade for me, yeah?

Explorer Tom The sign post in Rathmore is a boundary marker with an arrow, probably pointing to trouble or the Board of Ordnance’s old surveying levels. It’s got a prophecy that it will outlast every car parked crookedly near it. Point at it and smile.

Explorer Tom Bridge in Ballyvolane is made of rock-faced limestone, which sounds tough until you realise it’s just sitting there doing nothing. The Great Southern & Western Railway built it to show off its own grandeur. Lingering on it will make your legs hurt for no reason.

Explorer Tom Store or warehouse in Blackpool used to hold whiskey for the Watercourse Distillery, which means it’s still hungover from 1794. It’s an impressive bonded store now standing next to a busy road. Tell me if it smells like old rye!

Explorer Tom Wholesale Stores in Blackpool has red brick on top, which makes it look like it’s wearing a scarf. It’s a shop with a flat above, for people who hate going home. Tell me if you see any dramatic events unfolding inside.

Explorer Tom Designed landscape in Cork City has got views from Callanan's Tower. The file's empty, but I bet the breeze up there is a real character. Take a pic of the horizon and tell me it doesn't look lonely.

Explorer Tom Ladys Well in Cork City has a shrine with a statue but no visible well anymore. It's not frequented on a holy well nowadays, which is sad. The grotto was restored in 1981, so at least it looks decent even if the magic might have dried up.

Explorer Tom The Church of Saint Anne in Shandon would give its visitors a harsh review based entirely on how loud they are on the stairs to the bell tower. It’s got that famous clock face staring down at you, judging your outfit choice as you climb. Stand still and listen, the wind tells it better than me.

Explorer Tom The Butter Museum in Cork's Shandon quarter proves that a humble spread can have a remarkably large passport. The city once sent barrels of butter into a world trade, and here the story runs from Irish dairy work to a market big enough to make me wonder whether the whole of Shandon smelled like breakfast. The museum explores butter making at home, the routes that brought produce into Cork, and the Butter Exchange that made the city famous for grading and selling it. In the nineteenth century, that exchange was among the world's great butter markets. Cork City Council records 2,500 firkins passing through on a single day in June 1850. I picture those small barrels marching like an army, though merchants probably preferred orderly inspection. This part of Shandon still carries clues from that trade. Sir John Benson designed the Butter Exchange's grand portico, completed in 1849, and the nearby Firkin Crane building was used for weighing and washing barrels. The museum tells the wider story, including the people who made the butter and the modern Irish dairy business. Look at those buildings and imagine the work behind each barrel, not merely the improbable number a merchant might boast about at supper. I'd have eaten the samples and been removed. The museum is at O'Connell Square and welcomes visitors for a self-guided look; its butter-making demonstrations are limited by space and the schedule changes through the year. Check the museum's own visitor page before travelling, especially if a demonstration is your reason for coming. Shandon is uphill from the River Lee, but this is one climb with a very good excuse to talk about bread afterwards.

Explorer Tom Lavitts Quay is a memorial where, legend has it, a goat once ruled the harbour by eating all the navigation charts before the tide came in. Now it’s just rocks and stories, but if you look closely, you can still see the hoofprints of that terrible beast. Bring your worst joke, the place has heard worse.