placenamesKenmare
Ceann Mara
School provision and the remains of early industry appear in the nineteenth-century record of Kenmare parish.
The name
These Irish name elements are associated with this record in the Logainm glossary.
An element’s translation is a clue, rather than a complete explanation of the name. Its form and meaning depend on local history and the full Irish name.
Recorded forms
- Ceann Mara · Irish · main form
- Neidín · Irish · main form
- Kenmare · English · main form
Place & story
Schools beside the new road
Samuel Lewis's 1837 account records a large public school in Kenmare supported by an annual £10 contribution from the Marquess of Lansdowne, who had provided its building. About 220 children attended this school and two private schools together. A further schoolhouse had recently been built beside the new Glengarriff road, jointly funded by the marquess and the National Board. The account places educational investment alongside the district's expanding road connections. [2]
Ironworking on the Sheen
Lewis also described surviving traces of the iron-smelting works established by Sir William Petty on the east bank of the River Sheen. By 1837 these consisted of a walled enclosure. His account linked the works' former fuel supply with woodland whose remains survived in the surrounding bogs. At Cahir he recorded traces of a lead mine, while treating its earlier working as a supposition. [2]
A Catholic union extending beyond the civil parish
The Catholic parish's own heritage account records a union of Templenoe, Kenmare and Douros by 1819. It appears under the name Kenmare and Templenoe by 1839 and was enlarged slightly in 1876. These changing church arrangements extended beyond the civil parish. Holy Cross Church was consecrated in 1864. The parish's surviving baptism and marriage registers begin on 1 January 1819, although both series have nineteenth-century gaps. [3]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Civil parish
- County
- Kerry
- Barony
- Glanarought
- Coordinates
- 51.88585, -9.54457
- Mapped area
- 91.17 km²
- Logainm ID
- 1076 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Kenmare. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Kenmare, A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland (1837), reproduced 9 June 2020 · Samuel Lewis; transcription hosted by Kay Caball
- Heritage · Kenmare Parish
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2025-05-28. How this page was prepared.