Macroom is a market town in County Cork, Ireland which formed in the valley of the River Sullane, about halfway between Cork city and Killarney. Its Irish Gaelic may translate as "meeting place of followers of the god Crom" or "crooked oak", the latter a reference to a large oak tree that apparently grew in the town square during the reign of King John.[2] Its population has grown and receded over the centuries as it went through periods of war, famine and workhouses, forced emigration and intermittent prosperity. The 2016 census recorded an urban population of 3,765 people. Macroom is part of the Cork North-West.

Macroom began as a meeting place for the Druids of Munster. It is first mentioned is in 6th-century records, and the immediate area hosted a major battle c. 987 involving the Irish king Brian Boru. During the middle ages, the town was invaded by a succession of warring clans, including the Murcheatach Uí Briain and Richard de Cogan families. In the early modern period the MacCarthy's took control and later the area found prosperity via milling. The MacCarthys built a series of tower houses, many of which survive. The family lost influence during the Williamite wars of the 1690s, after which authority over the town castle waxed and waned between the MacCarthys and a number of ambitious English families. In the 17th century, Macroom became a central point of conflict in the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland.

The population fell in the 1840s during the Great Irish Famine. Evidence can be found in the former workhouse, now the district hospital at the north side of New Street, and the mass graveyard to the west, near Clondrohid. During the late 18th and early 19th century a number of Anglo-Irish families, and a branch of the Massey family, settled in the area; but many of their estate houses were burned by rebels during and after the Irish War of Independence as the town was caught the turmoil of IRA activity.

From 1976 to 1982 Macroom hosted the Mountain Dew Rock festival, with lineups that included Rory Gallagher, Thin Lizzy and Van Morrison, attended by Sex Pistol John Lydon.

Today the town is an economic hub for the mid west Cork region, and location a major Danone milk processing factory, which dries and cans Infant formula from milk supplied by local dairy farmers. Until the 1950s New Street was the town's economic hub, and contained many small retail outlets. In September 2019 Macroom was designated a rent pressure zone.