ByRoute 6.3 Co. Limerick // Co. Kerry
Hospital (Co. Limerick / East)
Hospital (An tOspidéal) (pop. 1800), a rather confusingly named town, was founded in 1215 as a Commandery of the Knights Hospitallers of Jerusalem. (An alternative but less widely accepted theory connects the town with the Knights Templar). The walls of a large medieval church still stand, and inside can be seen crude effigies of three knights, one in full armour.
Kenmare Castle
Castle Farm, now home to an Equine and Small Animal Veterinary Practice, was the site of a Tower House built c.1588 by Sir Valentine Browne of Lincolnshire, which later came to be called Kenmare Castle. He acquired extensive property locally and around Killarney (Co. Kerry), and his successors were almost all named Valentine.
Although their support for the dethroned King James II, who granted them the legally dubious title of Viscount Kenmare, cost them their estates under King William III, they recovered the land in 1720 and, unusually for Roman Catholics, retained their property throughout the Penal Laws era. The family came to be identified with the old Gaelic aristocracy.
Their seat moved to Killarney, and by the mid-C19th the castle ruins were already vestigial.
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Knockainy Hill (Cnoc Aine) was long venerated as the dwelling place of Aine, the Celtic goddess of the harvest.
For centuries on every midsummer eve the locals made tall reed torches called cliars and made a procession around her hill. They then spread out to wave the torches over crops and cattle to entreaty Aine for good fortune and abundance in the coming year. There are folk tales of Aine revealing herself to the locals on occasion on these eves. In one such tale, collected by D. Fitzgerald, a number of girls had stayed late on the hill while watching the cliars. Aine appeared among them and asked them to go home as she and her people wanted the hill to themselves now. She called a few girls over to look through a ring where they saw a multitude of people on the hill who otherwise could not be seen.
Ancient structures on the hill include a damaged cairn marking the burial site of a long forgotten chieftain, three conjoined burial mounds, and a strange enclosure containing a small cairn.
Knockainy (Co. Limerick / East)
Knockainy / Knockainey / Knockaney / Aney is a small village on the River Camoge, with several attractive houses and a couple of good pubs.
According to Lewis (1837), this was the location of an early Christian monastic centre of learning, allegedly founded in the C5th by Saint Patrick, which became an Augustinian convent in 941 AD, was destroyed by Norsemen, and after reëstablishment in 1246 by the FitzGibbon family, survived until King Henry VIII’s 1540 Dissolution of the Monasteries.
Knockainy Castle is a ruined and overgrown C16th Tower House containing a spiral staircase. It is said to have been a FitzGerald stronghold destroyed during the Desmond Rebellions.
St John’s church (1861) is a handsome Victorian edifice with beautiful stained glass windows and excellent acoustics. It has an unusual bell tower and steeple, erected c.1600, and underground vaults dating from the C17th, while the old churchyard contains several interesting mausolea. As the local Church of Ireland population is now too small to sustain it, the building is used as a cultural centre.
Knockainy is south of Lough Gur on ByRoute 7.
Bruff (Co. Limerick / East)
Bruff (An Brú – “the Abode”) (pop. 4000), a sizeable town with two bridges spanning the Morning Star River, has several good pubs and a couple of decentrestaurantsu.
The town suffered heavy fighting in the Battle of Killmallock during the Irish Civil War. Near the Roman Catholic church there is a large statue of Sean Wall, a hero of the War of Independence.
The surrounding territory is quite scenic, and features several archaeological sites. It was formerly known as an Déis Bheag – “the small Decies”, and the full old name of the village was Brúgh na nDéise - “the Palace / Residence of the Déisí“, referring to an ancient sept later associated with the larger Decies territory in Co. Waterford.
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Ballingarry (Co Limerick)
Ballingarry (Baile an Gharraí – “Town of the Gardens”) (pop 500), formerly aka Garth, is a pretty village that is quietly becoming something of a tourist attraction.
Ballingarry Castle, the remains of which can be seen on Knight St, was the seat of the classically “Hibernicised” Norman de Lacy family, who ruled the district from the early C13th until the lost their lands and titles in the Cromwellian and Williamite wars, joined the Wild Geese and went on to serve in the armies of various European continental powers.
Ballingarry was a booming weaving and linen centre in the early part of the C19th. However, the British legislative destruction of the Irish linen industry, followed by the Great Famine, had a serious impact on the town’s prosperity.
The village has strong hurling and hunting traditions.
Echo Lodge, a C19th country house long used as a convent, has been converted into a lovely hotel with beautiful mature gardens. It is highly recommended both for its accommodation facilities and Dan Mullane’s excellent restaurant, The Mustard Seed.
Ballyneale House is an extremely impressive modernised Georgian mansion, overlooking landscaped grounds with an ornamental lake and a private golfcourse. Unfortunately, the premises are not currently open to the public.
Ballingarry is not far from Adare on Byroute 7.
Knockfierna
Knockfierna (Cnoc Fírinne – ‘the hill of truth’) (288m / 948ft) dominates the surrounding countryside. Locals say that it is possible to get an accurate weather prediction by observing the hill.
According to legend, a being called Donn Fírinne lived there, and it was he who gave the hill its name. Some stories say he was the king of the fairies, while others say he was the Celtic god of Death. His castle is still occasionally visible to lonely travellers on moonless nights, with shining lights and music indicating revelry within, but all are agreed that it is most unwise to approach.
The summit, crowned by the remains of a cairn, commands beautiful views of the surrounding countryside, but is marred by a 36ft cross erected in 1950.
A megalithic tomb on the northern slopes is locally known as “Giant Fawha’s grave“, and Lios na bhFiann is a large ring fort on the Strickeen. The Ballingarry Ogham Stone was discovered at the side of the hill in 1837.
A Mass Rock (Carraig an Airfrinn) dating from the early 1700s has had walkways constructed around it, and Mass is celebrated on occasions.
Knockfierna was densely populated during the C18th and early C19th, and the foundations of about 200 dwellings remain on the slopes. These houses were had stone walls, clay floors and roofs made of peat sods; a single bed of straw often sufficed for the entire family. During the first years of the Great Famine, people evicted from their homes sought refuge on the hillside commonage, constructing primitive hacks with stones taken from walls.
The hill is crisscrossed with boreens, and old lazy beds are still visible. Several interesting plants grow wild, notably yellow foxglove and St John’s Wort.
A Legend of Knockfierna can be read here.
