Sneem's public art recalls sporting achievement, presidential connections and local craft. Its stone pyramids, although inspired by folklore and the surrounding landscape, are a modern work of sculpture.
Illustration, St Michael’s Church, Sneem
⊕Recorded locationSneem51.83719° N · 9.89969° WInteractive map supplied by OpenStreetMap.
A reliable full-name meaning has not been established here. The recorded Irish and English forms are given without an unsupported translation.
Recorded forms
An tSnaidhm· Irish · main form · validated name
Sneem· English · main form
Place & story
People & connections
Steve Casey of Loughane
Steve 'Crusher' Casey was born at Loughane near Sneem in 1908, into a family celebrated for rowing and other sports. He and three brothers won the Salter Challenge Cup at the Killarney regatta three times, in 1930,1932 and 1933. After moving to London he took up professional wrestling, later travelling to Boston. In 1938 he defeated Lou Thesz for the American Wrestling Association title. He subsequently combined wrestling with rowing and coaching, making a career in America while retaining the sporting identity of the Casey family from Sneem.[2]
A memorial to Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh
A triangular steel sculpture by Vivienne Roche stands in South Square Fair Green as a memorial to former president Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh. President Patrick Hillery unveiled it in 1983. RTÉ's contemporary report records the ceremony, attended by politicians, diplomats and representatives of the churches. Chinese poet Lin Lin wrote a poem for the occasion, read in translation by Siobhán McKenna. The event connected a small Kerry village with international cultural and diplomatic life.[3]
Charles de Gaulle takes a quiet holiday
Charles de Gaulle came to Sneem after resigning the French presidency in 1969. He stayed at Heron Cove outside the village for about two weeks. On the twenty-fifth anniversary of the visit, the community commissioned a memorial with support from the Ireland Fund for France and Bord Fáilte. Sculptor Alan Hall made a bronze portrait plaque mounted on a large local boulder. Its position in North Square gives the village a permanent reminder of that unexpected presidential visitor.[4]
The modern pyramids beside the church
The Way the Fairies Went is James Scanlon's arrangement of stone structures beside Saint Michael's Church. Commissioned after Sneem won the 1987 National Tidy Towns competition, it was constructed with local workers rather than delivered as a finished object from the artist's studio. Scanlon used local stone, wood and glass. Visits to Staigue Fort and conversations about the surrounding landscape helped shape the work. The structures belong to the late 1980s, combining contemporary sculpture with the materials and building skills of the district.[5]
Both counts use the 2016 settlement boundary, allowing like-for-like comparison. CSO supplies the 2022 count on this older boundary for comparison only. The official 2022 Built Up Area has different boundaries.
View population figures
Sneem — Census 2016 settlement footprint — census population
These are the historical areas published in the 2006 census report. Boundaries may differ between censuses and from modern settlements. Legal towns, environs and suburbs are shown separately; none has been combined into a modern settlement total.
View population figures
Sneem, Kerry — Census town, CSO 2006 report — census population
These are the historical areas published in the 1996 census report. Boundaries may differ between censuses and from modern settlements. Legal towns, environs and suburbs are shown separately; none has been combined into a modern settlement total.
View population figures
Sneem, Kerry — Census town, CSO 1996 report — census population
Figures cover the historical town area printed in the 1986 report. Boundaries may have changed between censuses. Legal town, environs and suburb totals remain separate and differ from modern settlement boundaries.
View population figures
Sneem, Kerry — Census town, CSO 1986 report — census population
These figures use different area definitions. Read the boundary note before comparing them.
Sneem, Kerry
Published census settlement populations
288people · 2016
Settlement boundaries changed during this period. Differences may reflect boundary changes as well as population change. Where a 2011 legal-town-and-environs count is shown, it has not been recalculated onto the 2016 settlement boundary.
placenames