Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
houses on your right. Beyond the row of houses, veer right through an unmarked modern
gate mounted in stone columns, and continue 50 yards down the paved road. You'll pass
the entry hut on your right. The stone circle is behind the adjacent hedge.
Kenmare's History: Axes, Xs, Nuns, and Lace
Bronze Age people (2000
B.C
.), attracted to this valley for its abundant game and
fishing, stashed their prized ax heads and daggers in hidden hoards. Almost 4,000
years later (in 1930), a local farmer from the O'Sullivan clan pried a bothersome
boulder from one of his fields and discovered it to be a lid for a collection of rare
artifacts that are now on display in the National Museum in Dublin (the “Killaha
hoard”). The O'Sullivans (Gaelic for “descendants of the one-eyed”) were for gen-
erations the dominant local clan, and you'll still see their name on many Kenmare
shop fronts.
Oliver Cromwell's bloody Irish campaign (1649), which subdued most of Ire-
land, never reached Kenmare. However, Cromwell's chief surveyor, William Petty,
knew good land when he saw it and took a quarter of what is now County Kerry as
paymentforhisvaluable services,markingthe“landsdown”onmaps.Hisheirs,the
Lansdownes, created Kenmare as a model 18th-century estate town and developed
its distinctive “X” street plan. William Petty-Fitzmaurice, the first Marquis of Lans-
downe and landlord of Kenmare, became the British prime minister who negotiated
the peace that ended the American War of Independence in 1783.
Sister Margaret Cusack, a.k.a. Sister Mary Francis Clare, lived in the town from
1862 to 1881, becoming the famous Nun of Kenmare. Her controversial religious
life began when she decided to become an Anglican nun after her fiancé's sudden
death. Five years later, she converted to Catholicism, joined the Poor Clare order
as Sister Mary Francis Clare, and moved with the order to Kenmare. She became
an outspoken writer who favored women's rights and lambasted the tyranny of the
landlords during the Great Potato Famine (1845-1849). She eventually took church
funds and attempted to set herself up as abbess of a convent in Knock. Her reneg-
ade behavior led to her leaving the Catholic faith, converting back to Protestantism,
writing an autobiography, and lecturing about the “sinister influence of the Roman
Church.”
Afterthedevastationofthefamine,anindustrialschoolwasfoundedinKenmare
to teach trades to destitute youngsters. The school, run by the Poor Clare sisters, ex-
celled in teaching young girls the art of lacemaking. Inspired by lace created earlier
in Italy, Kenmare lace caught the eye of Queen Victoria and became much coveted
by Victorian society. Examples of it are now on display in the Victoria and Al-
bert Museum (London), the Irish National Museum (Dublin), and the US National
Gallery (Washington, DC).
