Killarney facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

This page is about the town in Ireland. For other uses, see Killarney (disambiguation).

Quick facts for kids

Killarney

Cill Airne

Town

From top, left to right: St Mary's Cathedral, High Street, Red Deer sculpture, Killarney House garden

Coat of arms

Killarney

Location in Ireland

Killarney

Location in Europe

Kerry County Council

Kerry

South

Elevation

50 m (160 ft)

Population

(2022)

• Total

14,412

Time zone

UTC±0 (WET)

• Summer (DST)

UTC+1 (IST)

Eircode routing key

V93

Telephone area code

+353(0)64

Irish Grid Reference

V969909

Killarney (/kɪˈlɑːrni/ kil-AR-nee; Irish: Cill Airne [ˌciːl̠ʲ ˈaːɾˠn̠ʲə], meaning 'church of sloes') is a town in County Kerry, southwestern Ireland. The town is on the northeastern shore of Lough Leane, part of Killarney National Park, and is home to St Mary's Cathedral, Ross Castle, Muckross House and Abbey, the Lakes of Killarney, MacGillycuddy's Reeks, Purple Mountain, Mangerton Mountain, Paps Mountain, the Gap of Dunloe and Torc Waterfall. Its natural heritage, history and location on the Ring of Kerry make Killarney a popular tourist destination.

The town's population was 14,412 as of the 2022 census, making it the second largest in the county. Killarney won the 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.

History

Early history and development

Killarney 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, which was occupied for approximately 850 years.

Innisfallen (from Irish: Inis Faithlinn, meaning "Faithlinn's island") is an island in Lough Leane, one of the three Lakes of Killarney. It is home to the ruins of Innisfallen Abbey which was founded in 640 by St. Finian, and was occupied until the monks were dispossessed in 1594, by Elizabeth I, Queen of England. According to tradition, the Irish High King Brian Boru received his education at Innisfallen.

Aghadoe, the local townland which overlooks present day Killarney, may have begun as a pagan religious site. The site has also been associated with the 5th century missionary St. Abban, but 7th century ogham stones mark the first clear evidence of Aghadoe being used as an important site. According to legend, St. Finian founded a monastery at Aghadoe in the 6th or 7th 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."

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.

Killarney Town Hall

Muckross Abbey was founded in 1448 as a Franciscan friary for the Observantine Franciscans by Donal McCarthy Mor. 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 was for a while taken over by the British, 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 attacked a railway train a few kilometres 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 killed in Killarney by Free State forces.

Killarney was granted town commissioners under the Towns Improvement (Ireland) Act 1854, which was converted to an urban district under the Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898, and a town council under the Local Government Act 2001. The Local Government Reform Act 2014 dissolved the town council with the creation of Killarney Municipal District under the authority of Kerry County Council. Killarney Town Hall was erected in Kenmare Place in around 1930.

Historical population
Year	Pop.	±%
1821	7,014	—
1831	7,910	+12.8%
1841	7,127	−9.9%
1851	5,901	−17.2%
1861	5,204	−11.8%
1871	5,195	−0.2%
1881	6,651	+28.0%
1891	5,510	−17.2%
1901	5,656	+2.6%
1911	5,796	+2.5%
1926	5,328	−8.1%
1936	5,609	+5.3%
1946	5,947	+6.0%
1951	6,298	+5.9%
1956	6,464	+2.6%
1961	6,825	+5.6%
1966	6,877	+0.8%
1971	7,541	+9.7%
1981	9,083	+20.4%
1986	10,189	+12.2%
1991	9,950	−2.3%
1996	12,011	+20.7%
2002	13,167	+9.6%
2006	14,603	+10.9%
2011	14,219	−2.6%
2016	14,504	+2.0%
2022	14,412	−0.6%

Tourism development

Two views of Killarney painted by a visiting artist in 1830

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. 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 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 [1.5 km] 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 [4 km] away and near the Muckross Lake and the Torc which occupies an elevated site about a mile and a half [2.5 km] from the town on the hill which rises immediately over the Lake Hotel.

Peasant home, Killarney, early 1910s

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 175-kilometre (110 mi) 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 [50 km] for days together or even fifty miles [80 km] in a single day.

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.

Economy

Industry

Thomas Browne, 4th Viscount Kenmare founded linen mills in the 1740s as part of his efforts to increase the population and economy of Killarney. In later years, hosiery and shoe making were major industries in the town. One such shoe factory was Hillards, which employed 250 people at its peak.

Modern employers include Liebherr Cranes, which has had a presence in Killarney since 1958, with a combined manufacturing/research and development facility in the town manufacturing container cranes. In honour of its founder, a street in Killarney was named Hans Liebherr Road. Other businesses include Tricel (also known as Killarney Plastics) which was founded in 1973.

In the public sector, both the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media and Department of Justice have offices in Killarney.

Tourism

Tourists near Ross Castle

Tourism is the largest industry in Killarney, generating around €410 million every year. Roughly 1.1 million tourists visit the town every year, with foreign tourists making up over 60% of all visitors.

Flower Garden at Muckross House

In 2023, in a scheme intended to reduce litter volumes during the tourist season, Killarney became the first town in Ireland to ban single-use coffee cups.

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 east to Mallow, Fermoy, and Dungarvan) and the N71 (south to Kenmare and Bantry).

Rail

Plaque commemorating the coming of the Railway to Killarney

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 a number of air services with connecting trains running from Farranfore railway station to Killarney railway station. Cork Airport (89 km), easily accessible by bus or rail, also serves the Kerry region.

Sport

Association football

The International Football Association Board (IFAB), the body that determines the Laws of the Game, met at the Lake Hotel in Killarney in 1905.

Killarney has three football clubs—all of which compete in the Kerry District League.

Killarney Athletic A.F.C. was founded in 1965, and played its first competitive game in the Desmond League as a youth team. It entered a junior team at the start of 1966. In the early 1970s, the club became a founding club of the Kerry District League (KDL). 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. 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 metre synthetic training pitch which is also fully floodlit.

Cedar Galaxy was formed in 2011 and play in the Kerry District League Division 2B. The team were promoted to Division 2A for the 2013/2014 campaign.

Gaelic games

Fitzgerald Stadium

The Kerry GAA branch of the Gaelic Athletic Association was founded in 1888. Kerry's county hurling and county football teams play at the Fitzgerald Stadium in Killarney, which opened in 1936 and has capacity for 43,180 spectators.

Killarney has three Gaelic football clubs: 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, winning 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, including in 2010. Dr. Crokes is the only club in Killarney with a hurling team; it won the Kerry Intermediate Hurling Championship in 1999 and 2001.

Rowing

There are six 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 1980s, a number of the clubs have moved toward coastal type rowing and modern 'slide' or Olympic style rowing.

Muckross Rowing Club is the largest 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 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.

Rugby

Killarney RFC play in the Munster Junior League. The club's 1st XV won promotion to Division 2 in 2009–10. 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.

Other sports

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

The Ring of Kerry Cycle, a charity cycle around the Ring (175 km) takes place every first Saturday in July. There is also a club in Killarney called Killarney Cycling Club.

St. Paul's Killarney Basketball Club, established in 1985, has youth teams and a senior national league team that plays in the Irish Basketball Division one league. Killarney is also the home of Irish floorball.

Notable people

Memorial to members of the 2nd Kerry Brigade of the IRA who died in the Irish War of Independence

Eóin Brosnan, Gaelic footballer and solicitor
Jessie Buckley, singer and actress
Paul Coghlan, former senator
Colm Cooper, Gaelic footballer
Fr. John J. Crowley, 20th century Catholic priest in California known as the Padre of the Desert
Edward Eagar, lawyer and convict
Michael Fassbender, actor
Thomas Fitton, cricketer and Royal Air Force officer
Dick Fitzgerald, Kerry Gaelic footballer
Hugh Kelly, writer
Seán Kelly, MEP, former President of the GAA and chairman of the Irish Institute of Sport
Mark Lanegan, American musician and author who immigrated to Killarney, where he died
Tadhg Lyne, three times All-Ireland Senior Football Championship winner with the Kerry GAA Gaelic football team
James McDonogh, first-class cricketer
Michael McElhatton, soccer player
Brendan Moloney, soccer player
Breeda Moynihan-Cronin, former TD
Michael Moynihan, former TD
Paul Nagle, rally co-driver
Peter O'Brien, Gaelic footballer
Diarmuid O'Carroll, soccer player
Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty, Roman Catholic priest who lived in Killarney as a child
John O'Leary, former TD
Gillian O'Sullivan, former Olympian racewalker, world record holder and silver medalist at the World Athletics Championships 2003
John M. O'Sullivan, TD
Eileen Sheehan, poet