County Kerry Guide (Ciarraí)
“The Kingdom” - in the province of Munster. County town: Tralee.
The Ring of Kerry, Dingle, Killarney’s lakes and Skellig Michael.
For many, Kerry is the Ireland of the imagination - the Ring of Kerry, the Dingle Peninsula, the lakes of Killarney and the monastic island of Skellig Michael rising sheer from the Atlantic. It’s a county of mountains, music and Irish-speaking corners, and one of the most spectacular landscapes in Europe.
They call it the Kingdom, and Kerry's subjects rarely argue. Ireland's most mountainous county contains the island's highest range, MacGillycuddy's Reeks, crowned by Carrauntoohil at 1,038 metres, and a coastline of peninsulas that reach far into the Atlantic. Off the Iveragh Peninsula rises Skellig Michael, where early Christian monks built beehive cells on a sea crag six centuries before the Normans came. The Dingle Peninsula shelters one of Ireland's strongest Gaeltacht communities, and the abandoned Blasket Islands produced an astonishing body of Irish-language literature from a tiny fishing population.
Tourism came early to Kerry: Victorian travellers flocked to Killarney's lakes, and the Muckross Estate later became the nucleus of Ireland's first national park in 1932. The county gave Ireland its greatest political figure of the 19th century in Daniel O'Connell of Derrynane, and its greatest Antarctic hero in Tom Crean of Annascaul. Listowel's literary tradition, led by John B. Keane, earned north Kerry a reputation as a writers' county, while in sport Kerry stands alone, having won more All-Ireland senior football titles than any other county. Emigration scattered Kerry people across the world, and the diaspora returns in great numbers every summer.
Cities, towns and villages in Kerry
- Tralee - The county town and commercial hub of Kerry, home of the Rose of Tralee festival held every August since 1959.
- Killarney - Ireland's original tourist town, set beside the lakes, waterfalls and ancient oakwoods of Killarney National Park beneath MacGillycuddy's Reeks.
- Dingle - A harbour town on its namesake peninsula famed for seafood, film links, its Gaeltacht hinterland and decades of association with Fungie the dolphin.
- Listowel - North Kerry's literary capital, home town of playwright John B. Keane and host of Writers' Week, Ireland's oldest literary festival.
- Kenmare - An elegant heritage town at the meeting point of the Ring of Kerry and the Beara Peninsula, noted for fine food and a Bronze Age stone circle.
- Cahersiveen - The main town of the Iveragh Peninsula, birthplace area of Daniel O'Connell, whose memorial church is a rare one dedicated to a layman.
- Killorglin - A town on the River Laune famous for Puck Fair, one of Ireland's oldest festivals, at which a wild mountain goat is crowned king each August.
- Waterville - A Ring of Kerry seaside village beloved by Charlie Chaplin, who holidayed here for years and is remembered with a statue and film festival.
- Ballybunion - A north Kerry resort renowned for its cliffs, beaches and a links golf course ranked among the finest in the world.
- Portmagee - A fishing village connected by bridge to Valentia Island and the main departure point for boat trips to Skellig Michael.
Famous people from Kerry
- Daniel O'Connell - The Liberator who won Catholic Emancipation in 1829, born near Cahersiveen and forever associated with his home at Derrynane.
- Tom Crean - Antarctic explorer from Annascaul who served on three expeditions with Scott and Shackleton and later ran the South Pole Inn in his home village.
- John B. Keane - Playwright and publican from Listowel whose works, including The Field and Sive, captured rural Irish life like few others.
- St Brendan the Navigator - Sixth-century monk born near Tralee whose legendary Atlantic voyage made him the patron of sailors and a candidate for pre-Columbian discovery of America.
- Peig Sayers - Storyteller of the Great Blasket Island whose autobiography became one of the most famous works of Irish-language literature.
- Mick O'Dwyer - Waterville footballer and the most successful manager in Gaelic football history, guiding Kerry to eight All-Ireland titles.
- Colm Cooper - Killarney's 'Gooch', regarded as one of the most skilful forwards ever to play Gaelic football.
- Michael Fassbender - Hollywood star of films such as Hunger and 12 Years a Slave, raised in Killarney where his family ran a restaurant.
- Brendan Kennelly - Much-loved poet and Trinity College professor from Ballylongford in north Kerry.
- Jessie Buckley - Oscar-nominated actress and singer from Killarney, star of Wild Rose and Women Talking.
Did you know?
- Carrauntoohil in MacGillycuddy's Reeks is Ireland's highest mountain at 1,038 metres.
- Skellig Michael, a UNESCO World Heritage Site with a 6th-century monastery, appeared as Luke Skywalker's refuge in the Star Wars films.
- Valentia Island was the eastern terminus of the first permanently successful transatlantic telegraph cable, completed in 1866.
- A fossilised tetrapod trackway on Valentia Island, roughly 385 million years old, records some of the earliest known footsteps of a four-legged creature on land.
- Kerry has won more All-Ireland senior football championships than any other county, earning it the nickname the Kingdom of football.
- Killarney National Park, created from the Muckross Estate in 1932, was Ireland's first national park.
- The Great Blasket Island was finally abandoned in 1953, but its tiny community produced classic books by Peig Sayers, Tomas O Criomhthain and Muiris O Suilleabhain.
- Charlie Chaplin holidayed in Waterville so often that the village now hosts an annual comedy film festival in his name.
Places to visit in Kerry
- Ring of Kerry - A 179km scenic drive around the Iveragh Peninsula.
- Skellig Michael - A remote island monastery (and a certain film set).
- Dingle Peninsula - Wild scenery, trad music and Fungie’s old harbour.
- Muckross & Killarney Lakes - A Victorian mansion among the lakes of Killarney National Park.
Surnames from Kerry: O'Sullivan · O'Connor · McCarthy · O'Connell · Fitzgerald · O'Shea · Griffin · Kelleher · Stack · Moriarty · Foley · Brosnan