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Kerry Road Trip
The Ring of Kerry
Kenmare - Ceann Mara “head of the sea”
Neidín “The little nest”
Nestled in the estuary of the Kenmare River and
looking to the Iveragh Peninsula, Kenmare bring
us from the tranquility of the Beara Peninsula to the
internationally famous Ring of Kerry. Kenmare offers
superb accommodation, gourmet food and some of the
most natural unspoiled environment in Europe. Check
out the local stone circle or delve into Ireland’s past at
the Kenmare Heritage centre. Here you will find one of
the largest stone circles in south-west Ireland . The circle
with 15 stones around the circumference has a boulder
dolmen in the centre. This is evidence that settlement in
the area goes back to the Bronze Age (2,200–500 B.C),
when it was constructed.
The traditional Irish name of the bay was Inbhear
Scéine and was recorded in the 11th Century Book of
Invasions Leabhar Gabála Éireann as the arrival point
of the Irish ancestor Partholón. A prime location by
the Macgillycuddy's Reeks, Mangerton Mountain and
Caha Mountains makes Kenmare a popular start point
for hillwalking. As part payment for completing the
mapping of Ireland, known as “the Down Survey” in
1656 the entire area was granted to the English scientist,
Sir William Petty by Oliver Cromwell.
www.kenmare.com
Famine Story232173_4C_SEAFARI_CMD_IAYL.indd 1 3/7/14 10:59:35
At the height of the Famine in February 1851, Timothy O’ Sullivan, his wife Mary and three children ages
from ten and five years old, - through their desperation entered the workhouse in Kenmare. Having seen
their neighbors starve or wither away from Famine fever, they finally decided to give up their few acres of
land and enter the squalor of the poorhouse. The biggest landlord in the area, Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, a man
most heavily taxed to pay for the poorhouse- decided instead to pay the bare minimum fare to assist inmates to
emigrate. By the end of March, therefore, the O’ Sullivan family found themselves on a long march from Kenmare
to the port of Queenstown along with 200 other victims of poverty. Put on a cattle ship bound for Liverpool they
were each given the £5 to pay for their passage from Liverpool to New York- the New World. As the cattle were
worth more than the passengers, they spent this first part of their journey on deck - most of them sea-sick to the
point of death. Liverpool had become an overcrowded slum - swelled by the mass Famine exodus - but there they
would wait for secure passage surrounded by filth and disease. At the start of May, their passage paid, they were
finally on the quayside waiting to embark when 5 year old John wandered away. Despite their desperate searches
he was not to be found. Faced with the choice of staying in slum ridden Liverpool with the loss of passage having
paid their only money - or leaving for America: they left. The desperate mother would then continue to write
letters for the rest of her life- in a effort to find her lost child. She never discovered what happened to him. For
generations of the O’ Sullivan family the agony of this woman’s loss became embedded in their story. Each new
generation was to continue the search and each one meeting again with loss. Such stories as this, countless
stories of hardship endured and enduring loss, are the heritage of Irish Americans.
70
The Ring of Kerry
Kenmare - Ceann Mara “head of the sea”
Neidín “The little nest”
Nestled in the estuary of the Kenmare River and
looking to the Iveragh Peninsula, Kenmare bring
us from the tranquility of the Beara Peninsula to the
internationally famous Ring of Kerry. Kenmare offers
superb accommodation, gourmet food and some of the
most natural unspoiled environment in Europe. Check
out the local stone circle or delve into Ireland’s past at
the Kenmare Heritage centre. Here you will find one of
the largest stone circles in south-west Ireland . The circle
with 15 stones around the circumference has a boulder
dolmen in the centre. This is evidence that settlement in
the area goes back to the Bronze Age (2,200–500 B.C),
when it was constructed.
The traditional Irish name of the bay was Inbhear
Scéine and was recorded in the 11th Century Book of
Invasions Leabhar Gabála Éireann as the arrival point
of the Irish ancestor Partholón. A prime location by
the Macgillycuddy's Reeks, Mangerton Mountain and
Caha Mountains makes Kenmare a popular start point
for hillwalking. As part payment for completing the
mapping of Ireland, known as “the Down Survey” in
1656 the entire area was granted to the English scientist,
Sir William Petty by Oliver Cromwell.
www.kenmare.com
Famine Story232173_4C_SEAFARI_CMD_IAYL.indd 1 3/7/14 10:59:35
At the height of the Famine in February 1851, Timothy O’ Sullivan, his wife Mary and three children ages
from ten and five years old, - through their desperation entered the workhouse in Kenmare. Having seen
their neighbors starve or wither away from Famine fever, they finally decided to give up their few acres of
land and enter the squalor of the poorhouse. The biggest landlord in the area, Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, a man
most heavily taxed to pay for the poorhouse- decided instead to pay the bare minimum fare to assist inmates to
emigrate. By the end of March, therefore, the O’ Sullivan family found themselves on a long march from Kenmare
to the port of Queenstown along with 200 other victims of poverty. Put on a cattle ship bound for Liverpool they
were each given the £5 to pay for their passage from Liverpool to New York- the New World. As the cattle were
worth more than the passengers, they spent this first part of their journey on deck - most of them sea-sick to the
point of death. Liverpool had become an overcrowded slum - swelled by the mass Famine exodus - but there they
would wait for secure passage surrounded by filth and disease. At the start of May, their passage paid, they were
finally on the quayside waiting to embark when 5 year old John wandered away. Despite their desperate searches
he was not to be found. Faced with the choice of staying in slum ridden Liverpool with the loss of passage having
paid their only money - or leaving for America: they left. The desperate mother would then continue to write
letters for the rest of her life- in a effort to find her lost child. She never discovered what happened to him. For
generations of the O’ Sullivan family the agony of this woman’s loss became embedded in their story. Each new
generation was to continue the search and each one meeting again with loss. Such stories as this, countless
stories of hardship endured and enduring loss, are the heritage of Irish Americans.
70
