Brewsterfield House, Glenflesk, Co Kerry was built by Sir Francis Brewster in the second half of the seventeenth century. The proximity of the property to Sir William Petty’s iron works at Kenmare suggests that it was at about this time that Sir Francis Brewster, author of Essays on Trade (1702), set up a substantial iron…… Continue Reading
Profile of Castleisland Entrepreneur, W H O’Connor
There is such a thing as inability to relax … His active life was his whole life. To the end, he was working. There was no let up. – Rev Brother Francis writing of his brother, W H O’Connor In 1955, Brother Francis of the Presentation Brothers, Cork, wrote an account of his older sibling,…… Continue Reading
Mass on the Mountain: Plight of the Kerry Clergy in Penal Times
It is difficult today to imagine how life must have been for the religious in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries during Penal oppression. Glimpses are given in notices from the times, this one from 1650: All the Papists are to be turned out of the city; and from the Jesuits, priests, friars, monks, and…… Continue Reading
‘Father Arthur – the True and Tried Champion of the People’[1]
In 1885, the inhabitants of Listowel presented an Illuminated Address to their parish priest, Rev Arthur William Murphy, on his transfer to the parish of Prior. Rev Murphy, later Canon Murphy, had formerly served the parish of Castleisland and later, as Parish Priest of Brosna, assumed – together with Rev William Casey of Abbeyfeale –…… Continue Reading
Crown on Shepherds’ Pie: A bit of lightheartedness from the King’s Cousin
Mope is an anagram of Poem, and often is moping found in poetry as writers drench their verse with troubles and tears. Not so with Peter Howarth, the Castleisland poet who claims to be an untitled cousin-of-sorts to King Charles III of England. His verse is laced with subtle humour, as this seasonal stanza from…… Continue Reading
Bricks and Breeding: A Sketch of Ballymacadam House, Castleisland
Ballymacadam House belongs to the eighteenth century, described as the mansion house of the Marshall Estate ‘built and inhabited by the celebrated Ralf Marshal.’ In 1799, Ralph Marshall of Ballymacadam, known also as Don Radolph Marshall, married into the Markham family of Callinafercy, Milltown, Co Kerry where he took up residence soon after his marriage.…… Continue Reading
Calling California: Castleisland Reaches Out to Donovan Descendants
Castleisland historian T M Donovan had much to say about his home town, and his Popular History of East Kerry remains a valuable resource for researchers of Castleisland in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. His name appeared frequently in the columns of the local press on all matters of history but he was also…… Continue Reading
Topographical Survey of Castleisland in 1942
In 1942, John J Quinlan carried out a number of topographical surveys in Kerry for the Irish Tourist Association.[1] It included topography, geology, historic houses, churches, holy wells, mass rocks and burial places, spas and mineral springs, customs and patterns.[2] The survey, a very useful source for the social historian, included pastimes like angling…… Continue Reading
Buried in Oblivion: ‘Unknown Scholars’ from Castleisland
In 1935, a youthful John Francis (‘Jack’) MacMahon (1908-1963), son of Patrick MacMahon and Kilkenny-born school teacher Joanna (née Caughlin) MacMahon, and brother of playwright Bryan MacMahon (1909-1998), sought information from the public about old Gaelic poets from Kerry.[1] He explained that he had been studying and annotating poetry of 18th and 19th century…… Continue Reading
Scartaglin, December 1923: A Month of Tragedy
‘If you shall take me into your service I shall do all in my power to do my duty faithfully and well’ – James Woods to the Irish Civic Guards, 25 October 1922 From the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty at 2.30am on the morning of Tuesday December 6th 1921, up until the official end…… Continue Reading