During a brief and rare respite in the Covid 19 lock-down restrictions last year, a painting from a house clearance in Killarney surfaced in Castleisland – quite by chance. In fact that painting had made its way home – in a manner of writing. It was thought by a couple of people in the…
A fine gathering, for the times we’re living in, as close to 40 people assembled at a beautiful, if lonesome spot on the side of a hill in Glountane in Cordal at around 8pm on Wednesday evening. The beauty of the location is immediately obvious to all, the loneliness dawns with the revelation that here,…
Journalist Liz Chandler’s journey from London to Kerry to Dublin to Manchester and to her native Norfolk has taken up most of the past quarter of a century. She worked for The Kingdom Newspaper in Killarney where she made an impact as a conscientious and diligent reporter and later started her own local newsletter, The…
There are still enough surviving elements of the grandeur that once enveloped the house and lands around Maglass to set the imagination wandering back – away back – to the early 18th century. There’s ample evidence of the walled orchard and of the spacious, stone built outhouses and the cobbled courtyard with solid hints of…
There are times when I wonder a lot about the Man above – He who pulls all our strings and I’m often highly impressed with his sense of humour. Danny O’Mahony invited me to drop into the Radio Kerry studios on Monday night as he was doing a Desmond ‘Dessie’ O’Halloran special on…
Castleisland District Macra Club PRO, Aoife O’Hanlon sent a photograph and good wishes to a quiz team of her club colleagues: Maurice Roche, Gearóid O’Shea, Christine Buckley and Deborah Nash. “They are off to the Macra National Finals of Club Question Time this Saturday 5th October in the Mounterrigal Hotel in Letterkenny, Donegal. “We would…
There’s a rapidly growing interest in the Scattery Island tour in West Clare and, having visited the ‘sacred ground’ on Wednesday, I can see why. At the prompting of my travel advisor, Eamon Fleming we headed off from our own Island here before 9am for the ferry in Tarbert. Criss-Crossed the Shannon We criss-crossed the…
There was a sublime mingling of Culture Night with more than a hint of the prevailing Handed Down mindset in Scartaglin on Friday evening. The simple, understated style of the presentation on the village square belied the months of preparation which went into the event there and in the kitchen of the nearby heritage centre…
Castleisland archaeologist, historian and Skellig Michael tour guide, Maggie Prendiville-Keane, will give a talk on the his/story of the Patrick O’Keeffe monument and on its creator, Mike Kenny in Scartaglin on Friday, September 22nd. at 7pm. If the weather obliges on Culture Night the talk will be delivered on the plinth. If not there are…
The recently formed Castle of the Island Society held a launch at the River Island Hotel in Castleisland on Friday, June 2nd. This launch was held in order to promote the society which aspires to make a documentary about the history of Castleisland Castle this coming summer. A number of short videos outlining the contents…
