Sights in County Kerry
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Stone Circle
Signposted southwest of the Square is an early Bronze Age stone circle, one of the biggest in southwest Ireland. Fifteen stones ring a boulder dolmen, a burial monument rarely found outside this part of the country.
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Holy Cross Church
Built in 1862, this church has a splendid wooden roof with 14 angel carvings. Intricate mosaics adorn the aisle arches and edges of the stained-glass window over the altar. The architect was Charles Hansom, collaborator and brother-in-law of Augustus Pugin (the architect behind London's Houses of Parliament).
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Blasket Centre
The Blasket Centre is a wonderful interpretive centre in a long, white hall ending in a wall-to-ceiling window overlooking the islands. Great Blasket’s rich community of storytellers and musicians is profiled along with its literary visitors like John Millington Synge, writer of Playboy of the Western World. The more prosaic practicalities of island life are covered by exhibits on shipbuilding and fishing. There’s a cafe with Blasket views, and a useful bookshop.
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Carrigafoyle Castle
A lonely location on the Shannon Estuary adds to the romantic drama of this late-medieval castle. Its name comes from Carragain Phoill (Rock of the Hole); it’s built in a channel between the mainland and Carrig Island. Built by the O’Connors, who ruled most of northern Kerry, the castle was besieged by the English in 1580, retaken by O’Connor, and finally destroyed by Cromwell’s forces in 1649. You can climb the spiral staircase to the top for a good view of the estuary.
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Writers’ Exhibition
Kerry Literary & Cultural Centre, with its audiovisual Writers’ Exhibition, is an absolute gem that gives due prominence to Listowel’s heritage of literary observers of Irish life. Rooms are devoted to local greats such as John B Keane and Bryan MacMahon, with simple, haunting tableaux narrating their lives and recordings of them reading their work. There is a cafe and a performance space where events are sometimes staged.
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Skellig Experience
Immediately across the bridge from Portmagee, this distinctive building with turf- covered barrel roofs contains exhibitions on the life and times of the Skellig Michael monks, the history of the island's lighthouses and the wildlife. From April to September, it also runs two-hour cruises around the islands. If the weather's bad, there's often the option of a 90-minute minicruise in the harbour and channel.
In March, April, October and November the centre is open from 10am to 5pm five days a week, but the exact days change each year – check ahead.
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Kerry County Museum
An absolute treat, Kerry's county museum has excellent interpretive displays on Irish historical events and trends, with an emphasis on County Kerry. The Medieval Experience re-creates life (smells and all) in Tralee in 1450. Check out the deranged nights, a vision of horror right out of Monty Python. Children will love strolling the medieval streets and there's a commentary in various languages. The Tom Crean Room celebrates the local hero, an early-20th-century explorer who accompanied both Scott and Shackleton on epic Antarctic expeditions. It's housed in the neoclassical Ashe Memorial Hall.
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Kenmare Heritage Centre
Reached through the tourist office, Kenmare's heritage centre tells the history of the town from its founding as Neidín by the swashbuckling Sir William Petty in 1670. The centre also relates the story of the Poor Clare Convent, founded in 1861, which is still standing behind Holy Cross Church.
Local women were taught needlepoint lace-making at the convent and their lacework catapulted Kenmare to international fame. Upstairs from the Heritage Centre, the Kenmare Lace and Design Centre has displays including designs for 'the most important piece of lace ever made in Ireland' (in a 19th-century critic's opinion).
It's generally open Monday to Wednesday and Friday to Saturday…
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Kenmare Lace and Design Centre
The Kenmare Lace and Design Centre has displays including designs for ‘the most important piece of lace ever made in Ireland’ (in a 19th-century critic’s opinion). It’s run by lace-maker Nora Finnegan, who was taught by the Poor Clare nuns. Also interesting is the story of Margaret Anna Cusack (1829–99), the Nun of Kenmare and an early advocate of women’s rights.
reviewed
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Kerry Bog Village Museum
On the N70 between Killorglin and Glenbeigh, the Kerry Bog Village Museum recreates a 19th-century bog village, typical of the small communities that carved out a precarious living in the harsh environment of Ireland's ubiquitous peat bogs. You'll see the thatched homes of the turfcutter, blacksmith, thatcher and labourer, as well as a dairy, and meet rare Kerry Bog ponies.
reviewed
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Dingle Oceanworld
Dingle's aquarium is a lot of fun. Psychedelic fish glide through tanks that recreate such environments as Lake Malawi, the River Congo and the piranha-filled Amazon. Reef sharks and stingrays cruise the shark tank; water is pumped from the harbour for the spectacularly ugly wreck fish. There's a walk-through tunnel and a touch pool.
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Visitor Centre
The modern visitor centre at Blennerville houses an exhibition on grain-milling, and on the thousands of emigrants who boarded ‘coffin ships’ from what was then Kerry’s largest embarkation point. There’s also a database of the Irish émigrés who flocked to America. Admission includes a 30-minute guided tour of the windmill.
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Listowel Castle
Behind the Kerry Literary & Cultural Centre, this 12th-century castle was once the stronghold of the Fitzmaurices, the Anglo-Norman lords of Kerry. It was the last castle in Ireland to succumb to the Elizabethan attacks during the Desmond revolt. What remains of the castle has been thoroughly restored.
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Crag Cave
This cave was discovered in 1983, when problems with water pollution led to a search for the source of the local river. In 1989, 300m of the 4km-long cave were opened to the public; admission is by 30-minute guided tour. The remarkable rock formations include a stalagmite shaped like a statue of the Madonna, at least to some.
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Ross Castle
Restored by Dúchas, Ross Castle dates back to the 15th century, when it was a residence of the O'Donoghues. It was the last place in Munster to succumb to Cromwell's forces, thanks partly to its cunning spiral staircase, every step of which is a different height in order to break an attacker's stride.
The castle is a lovely 3km walk from the St Mary's Cathedral pedestrian park entrance; you may well see deer. If you're driving from Killarney, turn right opposite the petrol station at the start of Muckross Rd. Access is by guided tour only.
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Garden of Europe
In Childers Park is the Garden of Europe, opened in 1995. Its 12 sections represent the 12 members of the EU of the day. There is a fine bust of the poet Schiller and, strikingly, Ireland’s only public monument to those who died in the Holocaust, and to all victims of injustice.
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Muckross House
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St Mary's Cathedral
Built between 1842 and 1855, St Mary's Cathedral is a superb example of neo-Gothic revival architecture. Designed by Augustus Pugin, the cruciform building was inspired by Ardfert Cathedral, near Tralee.
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Dingle Peninsula Museum
In Ballyferriter itself (a tiny village with a couple of shops and a pub – all the essentials really), the Dingle Peninsula Museum is housed in the 19th-century schoolhouse. It has displays on the archaeology and ecology of the peninsula.
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Muckross Traditional Farms
Immediately east of Muckross House are the Muckross Traditional Farms. These reproductions of 1930s Kerry farms, complete with chickens, pigs, cattle and horses, show farming and living conditions when people had to live off the land.
reviewed
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Trinity Tree
Close to St Mary's Church, the Trinity Tree sculpture, representing the Holy Trinity, is made from an unusual three-trunked sycamore. Its carved faces make it look like something out of a fairytale.
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Medieval Experience
The Medieval Experience, is an enjoyable multimedia presentation re-creating life (smells and all) in Tralee in 1450. Children love strolling the medieval streets and there's a commentary in various languages.
reviewed
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Díseart
In the former convent, next to St Mary's Church, is the Celtic culture centre Díseart, which has stained-glass windows by Harry Clarke depicting 12 scenes from the life of Christ.
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windmill
Blennerville used to be the chief port of Tralee, though it has long since silted up. A 19th-century flour windmill has been restored and is the largest working mill in Ireland and Britain.
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St Mary's Church
Built in 1829 in the neo-Gothic style, this church has some lovely mosaic work over the altar and a vaulted roof with timber beams.
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