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Killarney

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This article is about the town in Ireland. For other uses, see Killarney (disambiguation).
Killarney
Cill Airne
Town
St Mary's Cathedral
St Mary's Cathedral
Official seal of Killarney
Seal
CountryIreland
ProvinceMunster
CountyCounty Kerry
Elevation
50 m (160 ft)
Population
 (2011)[1]
 • Town14,219
 • Urban
12,740
 • Rural
1,479
Irish Grid ReferenceV969909
Websitewww.killarney.ie

Killarney (Irish: Cill Airne, meaning 'church of sloes')[7] is a town in County Kerry, southwestern Ireland. The town is on the northeastern shore of Lough Leane, which is part of Killarney National Park. The town and its hinterland is home to St Mary's Cathedral, Ross Castle, Muckross House and Abbey, the Lakes of Killarney, MacGillycuddy's Reeks, Purple Mountain, Mangerton Mountain, the Gap of Dunloe and Torc Waterfall. Owing to its natural heritage, history and its location on the Ring of Kerry, Killarney is a popular tourist destination.

Killarney was bestowed the prestigious "Best Kept Town" award in 2007 in a cross-border competition jointly organised by the Department of the Environment and the Northern Ireland Amenity Council. In 2011 it was named Ireland's tidiest town and the cleanest town in the country by Irish Business Against Litter.[8]

History

Killarney has featured prominently in early Irish history, with religious settlements playing an important part of its recorded history. Its first significantly historical settlement was the monastery on nearby Innisfallen Island founded in 640 by St. Finian the Leper,[9] which was occupied for approximately 850 years.

Aghadoe, the local townland which overlooks present day Killarney, may have began as a pagan religious site.[10] The site has also been associated with the fifth century missionary St. Abban, but seventh century ogham stones mark the first clear evidence of Aghadoe being used as a important site.[11] According to legend, St. Finian founded a monastery at Aghadoe in the sixth or seventh century. The first written record of a monastery dates from 939 AD in the Annals of Innisfallen where the Aghadoe monastery is referred to as the "Old Abbey."[11]

Following the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland in 1169, the Normans built Parkavonear Castle, also at Aghadoe. The castle was perhaps intended as an early warning outpost due to its views of the entire Killarney valley and lakes region.

Ross Castle was built on the lake shore in the late 15th century by local ruling clan the O'Donoghues Mor (Ross). Ownership of the castle changed hands during the Desmond Rebellions of the 1580s to the Mac Carty Mor.

Muckross Abbey was founded in 1448 as a Franciscan friary for the Observantine Franciscans by Donal McCarthy Mor.[12] The abbey was burned down by Cromwellian forces under General Ludlow in 1654, and today remains a ruin.

Killarney was heavily involved in the Irish War of Independence. The town, and indeed the entire county, had strong republican ties, and skirmishes with the British forces happened on a regular basis. The Great Southern Hotel, (now renamed as the Malton Hotel) was for a while taken over by the British,[13] both as an office and barracks, and to protect the neighbouring railway station. One notable event during the war was the Headford Ambush when the IRA attached a railway train a few miles from town.

However, divisions among former colleagues were quick to develop following the truce and treaty, and Killarney, like many other areas, suffered in the rash of increasing atrocities during the Civil War. A day after the Ballyseedy Massacre, five Republican prisoners were murdered in Killarney in retaliation.

History of Tourism in Killarney

Plaque commemorating the coming of the Railway to Killarney

Killarney's tourism history goes back at least to the mid 18th century, when Thomas, fourth Viscount Kenmare (Lord Kenmare), began to attract visitors and new residents to the town. The date of 1747 was used in recent 250-year celebrations to honour the history of Killarney tourism.[14] A visit by Queen Victoria in 1861 gave the town some international exposure.

Killarney benefited greatly from the coming of the railway in July 1853. British trade directory publisher Isaac Slater noted that there were three hotels in the town in 1846[15] but by 1854, one year after the coming of the railway, James Fraser named seven hotels and described their locations:

the Railway Hotel opposite the Railway Station; the Kenmare Arms and Hibernia which are on the main street and immediately opposite the church...the Victoria which is about a mile to the west of the town on the shores of the Lower Lake; the Lake View which is about the same distance to the east of the town and also on the shore of the Lower Lake; the Muckross about two and a half miles away and near the Muckross Lake and the Torc which occupies an elevated site about a mile and a half from the town on the hill which rises immediately over the Lake Hotel.[16]


In 1858, Irish born Victorian journalist, Samuel Carter Hall named O'Sullivan's Hotel and the Innisfallen rather than the Hibernia and Torc, but Isaac Slater also named the Hibernia in 1846. At the time he was writing, tours of the Ring of Kerry were already an industry and Killarney was considered the starting point of the hundred and ten mile circuitous route. He was fascinated by the horses' endurance on the two day trip, and leaves clear advice for other travellers;

It is a common and wise custom of those who make this tour, and are not pressed for time, to hire the carriage at the hotel in Killarney and continue with it 'all the way round.' It is absolutely marvellous what these mountain bred horses can get through "thinking nothing" of thirty miles for days together or even fifty miles in a single day.[17]

As part of the trip, he noted that there were hotels in Glenbeigh and Waterville along with a "comfortable inn", which is now The Butler Arms Hotel.

Transport

Road

Killarney is served by National Primary Route N22 (north to Tralee and Castleisland and east to Cork); the National Secondary Routes N72 (west to Killorglin) and the N71 (south to Bantry).

Rail

Killarney railway station (operated by Iarnród Éireann) has direct services to Tralee, Cork and Dublin, with connections to the rest of the rail network.

Bus

Bus Éireann provides bus services to Limerick (and onwards to Dublin), Tralee, Cork, Kenmare and Skibbereen.

Air

Kerry Airport (17 km), in Farranfore between Tralee and Killarney, provides an increasing number of air services. Cork Airport (89 km), easily accessible by bus or rail, also serves the Kerry region.

Sport

Soccer

Killarney has two soccer clubs—both of which compete in the Kerry District League.

Killarney Athletic was founded in 1965. Originally the club played in the centre of Killarney, but have since moved to a modern facility (with two pitches) in the Woodlawn area of the town.

Killarney Celtic was founded in 1976. The club purchased their own ground in 1993 and have invested in their facilities since then.[18] There is a grass pitch and a FIFA 1-star full-size synthetic all-weather pitch (both floodlit to match standard), a 50 x 80 meter grass training pitch and a 70 x 35 meter synthetic training pitch which is also fully floodlit.

Cycling

In 2011 Killarney was the host of the UCI Mountainbike European Championships for Masters.

Gaelic games

Killarney has three Gaelic football teams: Dr Crokes, Killarney Legion and Spa. The rural hinterland has a large number of football teams, such as Kilcummin, Fossa, Firies, Glenflesk and Gneeveguilla. All these teams compete in the Kerry County league and the East Kerry Senior Football Championship (O'Donoghue Cup) and league.

Dr. Crokes is the most successful of these teams, with the most notable triumphs being the capture of the All-Ireland Senior Club Football Championship in 1992 and the Munster Senior Club Football Championship in 1991 1990 and 2007 . The club has also won the County Championship on 7 separate occasions, the last being in 2010. Dr. Crokes is the only club in Killarney with a hurling team, which has had some important successes, most recently winning the Kerry Intermediate Hurling Championship in 1999 and 2001.

Rowing

There are six active rowing clubs in the town, who share a common history in Ireland's oldest surviving regatta, the Killarney Regatta, which is held annually on the first or second Sunday in July. The six clubs are Commercial RC (Killarney), Flesk Valley RC, Fossa RC, Muckross RC, St. Brendan's RC and Workmen RC. The style of rowing seen at the regatta is traditional, fixed seat rowing in wide, wooden six-person boats. Since the eighties, a number of the clubs have moved toward coastal type rowing and modern 'slide' or Olympic style rowing.

Muckross Rowing Club is the largest and most successful of the clubs, having developed into a full time 'sliding' club with 32 National Championships (since 1996) at various levels from Junior to Senior. A number of members of the club have also been selected to row for Ireland and have competed successfully at the Home International Regatta, Coupe de la Jeunesse, World Rowing Championships and Olympic Games. Paul Griffin, Sean Casey and Cathal Moynihan members of Muckross Rowing Club, are Olympic and Irish World Championship rowers. Paul Griffin, racing in Irish Mens Lightweight Four, finished sixth at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, won a silver medal at the 2005 World Championships and a bronze at the 2006 World Championships. As a member of the Lightweight Four, Paul was overall category winner of the 2006 World Cup Rowing series. Sean Casey represented Ireland in the Mens Heavyweight Four at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. In the same crew, Sean also won the 'B' final (seventh overall) at the 2006 World Championships and won bronze at the 2006 Munich World Cup Regatta. Cathal Moynihan joined Paul Griffin in the Irish Lightweight Four, which raced at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. Cathal made his international Senior début in the Mens Lightweight Four at the 2007 Linz World Cup Regatta in Austria and went on to row as part of the Irish Mens Lightweight Four at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing - the same boat as clubmate Paul Griffin.

Rugby

Killarney RFC play in the Munster Junior League. The club's 1st XV won promotion to Division 2 in 2009-10,.[19] while the same season the club fielded a 2nd XV for the first time. The club has also a large youth and underage set-up catering for all young enthuasists from the town and surrounding areas.

Golf

Killarney Golf & Fishing Club attracts various national competitions such as the Irish Open. The Ross Golf Course is a 9 hole golf course less than one mile from the centre of the town

Horse Racing

Killarney Racecourse is located just outside the town and holds flat and national hunt meetings.

Killarney in Song

At the beginning of the 20th century, when music-hall songs in England about "Good Old Ireland" were all the rage, a number of these songs included reference to Killarney, Notably "My Father Was Born In Killarney - Don’t Run Down The Irish" (1910), "Too Ra Loo Ra Loo Ral" (1914), "For Killarney and you" (1916), "My little cottage home in sweet Killarney"(1917), "Oh my Lily of Killarney" (1917).

"There's Only the One Killarney" is a song that was written by Irish songwriter Dick Farrelly and recorded by Irish tenor Patrich O'Hagan. Killarney also appears in "How Can You Buy Killarney," written by Kennedy, Steels, Grant and Morrison, and recorded by Joseph Locke, among others. Killarney is also mentioned in "Christmas in Killarney" (written by Redmond, Cavanaugh and Weldon) and "Did Your Mother Come From Ireland?" (written by Kennedy and Carr), both most notably recorded by Bing Crosby. "Some Say the Devil is Dead" by Derek Warfield contains the line 'Some say the devil is dead and buried in Killarney/ More say he rose again and joined the British Army.[20] The chorus of celtic rock band, Gaelic Storm's, song Raised on Black and Tans the singer declares his Irish heritage by saying "My mother’s brother’s sister’s cousin’s auntie’s Uncle Barney’s father’s brother had a cousin from Killarney."

Industry

Lord Kenmare founded linen mills in the 1740s as part of his efforts to increase the population and economy of Killarney.[14]

Hosiery manufacturing and shoe making were major industries in the town during the last century but have since seen decline. Liebherr Cranes have had a presence in Killarney since 1958, with a combined manufacturing/research and development facility in the town.

Dollinger-SPX, a filtration products firm and KMG Killarney Plastics have production facilities in the local IDA Industrial Estate. Indigenous firms such as Torc Engineering and National Organic Products have established small industries in Killarney.

Monex Financial Services operate a facility specialising in the processing of Credit Card Payments worldwide at Killarney Technology Park.

Muckross Pottery and Muckross Weavers based beside Muckross House have a small tableware and woolens business aimed at the tourist market, a neighbouring bookbinding facility carries out book and manuscript restoration and binds high quality books for universities, publishers and libraries.

Kerry Woolen Mills is a family firm that manufactures hats, gloves, sweaters, women's fashion, blankets, scarfs and stockings at their premises near Beaufort.

The Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism have also moved to Killarney, a key beneficiary of the decentalisation of Civil Service departments outside the capital, Dublin. Certain sections of the Department of Justice have been situated in Killarney for a number of years.

Tourism

Tourists near Ross Castle.
Ross Castle
Flower Garden at Muckross House

Tourism is by far the largest industry in Killarney. With the exception of Dublin, there are more hotel beds in Killarney than in any other Irish town or city. The tourist population is increasingly diverse, but most of the tourists come from the US, Ireland, the UK, Germany and other European countries.

In the summer months, Killarney is busy with tourists perusing the town's numerous shops and tourist attractions. Many shops are tourist-oriented, with many gift shops around the town. The town centre also offers a wide range of hotels, pubs and restaurants. Killarney is also famous for its jaunting cars (horse drawn carts) operated by local jarvies.

Killarney SummerFest[21] is a highlight of the year in the town, featuring outdoor and indoor concerts from major Irish and international acts. Previous acts include Bryan Adams, Snow Patrol, The Cranberries, The Corrs, Westlife, Tom Jones, Kris Kristofferson, David Gray, Pink, Shane Ward and KT Tunstall. In 2009, the SummerFest played host to the only Irish concert for 2009 of the Pussycat Dolls supported by Industry.[22] Other events during the SummerFest 2009 included outdoor theatre, art exhibitions, children's events, and the annual SummerFest Black Tie Ball. Sporting events during the festival included the Ring of Kerry Charity Cycle, the Killarney Regatta, the 5 km SummerFest Fun Run and the Killarney Races.

Attractions

Nightlife

Killarney is a popular destination for party goers. Killarney's nightspots are often busy seven days a week during the summer months, when the population of the town and the surrounding area increases significantly.

Car rallying

Until the early 1980s, Killarney was the destination of the Circuit of Ireland Rally, which was held every year over the Easter holiday weekend. Nowadays, on the first weekend of May each year, the town plays host to the International Rally of the Lakes. The rally brings spectators in their thousands to watch the top tarmac rally crews do battle over the classic stages of the southwest.

In recent years the event has attracted vast numbers of "boy racers" and an increase in public order offences. The 2008 event saw a large Gardaí presence in the town to tackle such problems but the event was still marred by 64 arrests in the town for various degrees of public order offences including burnt out cars, destruction of property and numerous reckless driving arrests[23]

People

International relations

Main article: List of twin towns and sister cities in the Republic of Ireland

Twin towns — Sister cities

Killarney is twinned with:

Country Place County / district / region / state Date
Italy Italy Castiglione di Sicilia Province of Catania 1986
United States U.S. Concord North Carolina 1993
United States U.S. File:Springfield, Illinois flag.svg Springfield Illinois 1997
United States U.S. Cooper City Florida 2003
United States U.S. Myrtle Beach South Carolina 2007
United Kingdom United Kingdom Kendal Cumbria
Germany Germany Pleinfeld Bavaria

See also

References

  1. ^ "Killarney Legal Town Results". Central Statistics Office. 2011.
  2. ^ "Census for post 1821 figures". Cso.ie. Retrieved 1 May 2012.
  3. ^ histpop.org
  4. ^ NISRA. "Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency - Census Home Page". Nisranew.nisra.gov.uk. Retrieved 1 May 2012.
  5. ^ Lee, JJ (1981). "On the accuracy of the Pre-famine Irish cProxy-Connection: keep-alive Cache-Control: max-age=0 suses". In Goldstrom, J. M.; Clarkson, L. A. (eds.). Irish Population, Economy, and Society: Essays in Honour of the Late K. H. Connell. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press. {{cite book}}: line feed character in |chapter= at position 97 (help)
  6. ^ Mokyr, Joel; O Grada, Cormac (1984). "New Developments in Irish Population History, 1700-1850". The Economic History Review. 37 (4): 473–488. doi:10.1111/j.1468-0289.1984.tb00344.x. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  7. ^ Official Killarney website outlining meaning of name
  8. ^ "Killarney named Ireland's tidiest town". RTÉ News. 5 September 2011. Retrieved 5 September 2011.
  9. ^ "Saint Finian, surnamed Lobhar, or the Leper. March 16. Rev. Alban Butler. 1866. Volume III: March. The Lives of the Saints". Bartleby.com. Retrieved 1 May 2012.
  10. ^ Long, Tom. "Tracing Our Faith." Fossa & Aghadoe: Our Heritage and History. ed. Jim Larner. Fossa Historical Society. 2007. ISBN 978-0-9557739-0-7. p 1.
  11. ^ a b Long, 1.
  12. ^ "Muckross House & Gardens Killarney Horse Tours Horse and Carriage Tours - Things to do in Killarney". Killarneyhorseandcarriagetours.com. Retrieved 1 May 2012.
  13. ^ "Notes of Joe Wilkie - Killarney memories- page 2". Rootsweb.ancestry.com. Retrieved 1 May 2012.
  14. ^ a b "Accommodation, Golf, Fishing, Walking, Cycling, Dining, Shopping, Events Guide, Business and more @". Killarney.ie. 31 December 1932. Retrieved 1 May 2012.
  15. ^ Slater, Isaac. Slater's Directory. 1846.
  16. ^ Fraser, James. Guide to Killarney. 1854
  17. ^ Hall, Carter. A Week in Killarney. 1858
  18. ^ "Killarney Celtic Football Club". Killarneyceltic.com. 19 January 2006. Retrieved 1 May 2012.
  19. ^ "Heroic Killarney win promotion". The Kingdom. 15 April 2010.
  20. ^ "Some Say The Devil Is Dead". Kinglaoghaire.com. 25 May 1944. Retrieved 24 May 2012.
  21. ^ Killarney Summerfest. "The official web-site of Killarney SummerFest". Killarneysummerfest.com. Retrieved 1 May 2012.
  22. ^ "Industry supports Pussycat Dolls - Plus - Roundup - Articles - Meath Chronicle". Meathchronicle.ie. Retrieved 1 May 2012.
  23. ^ "The Kingdom: 100 arrests as gardaí crackdown on thugs". The-kingdom.ie. Retrieved 1 May 2012.
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