Museum closed for private event 10am to 2pm on Thursday 21st October

Kerry County Museum will be closed to the public on Thursday 21st October from 10am until 2pm as the descendants of Pierce Mahony (1850-1930) of Kilmorna House near Listowel will make a donation of family memorabilia to the museum. The collection is hugely important for the county from a historical perspective and will have a positive impact on tourism, notably the North Kerry Greenway which passes through Kilmorna, as the items reveal history which was not known until the items came to light in 2020.

The items being donated are also significant on a national and international level due to their connection to Pierce Mahony. Pierce Mahony lived at Kilmorna House during the later half of the 19th century and sat as an MP with the Irish Parliamentary Party in the House of Commons in Westminster. During his time as an MP, Pierce kept a visitors book at Kilmorna which was signed by many famous names in Irish politics and culture at the time. The most famous signature is by Charles Stewart Parnell, the leader of Irish nationalism. He signed the book twice when he was in the area to speak at Home Rule meetings. The Nobel Prize winner and icon of Irish literature William Butler Yeats signed the book twice. Until the visitors book came to light, there was no evidence he ever visited Kerry. Other famous signatures include politician John Redmond, who was the leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party, revolutionary Maud Gonne and the famous Irish composer William Percy French, who wrote songs such as ‘The Mountains of Mourne’ and ‘Phil the Fluter’s Ball’.

The people who signed the visitors book came to Kilmorna House by train from all over Ireland, Britain and the world. Kilmorna Railway Station was only a mile away from the Mahony home. The railway is now the route of the North Kerry Greenway.  From 1912, Pierce Mahony became an Irish chieftain and assumed the title ‘The O’Mahony of Kerry’. His kilt is being donated to Kerry County Museum. Also being donated is a small statue of St Francis which belonged to Sir Arthur Vicars, the half-brother of Pierce Mahony. On April 14th, 1921, the IRA returned to Kilmorna and burned down the house. They also shot Vicars dead on the garden steps on suspicion of being a spy. He was one of the most high profile civilian casualties of the Irish War of Independence and it was claimed his death led many Protestant gentry families to leave Ireland for fear of meeting the same fate during the conflict. The Mahony home at Kilmorna was one of nine Big Houses burned during the Irish War of Independence in Kerry and among 79 nationally.

 

 

 

 

By |October 19th, 2021|Categories: Uncategorized||

Wah-Na-Be! Get ready to be blown away!

Wah-Na-Be! is a new music video and exhibition created by a group of young people as part of the Skills4Life Programme at Munster Technological University. The Skills for Life Programme supports young people between the age of 18 and 23 and is part of Saint John of God Kerry Services. The work was supported by Kerry Local Creative Youth Partnership through a Creative Youth Grant. Wah-Na-Be! was launched by Jimmy Deenihan, the new chairperson of MTU, at Kerry County Museum as part of Culture Night 2021 and will run as part of the Museum’s community and outreach programme until the end of December.

The stars of the music video are students Siobhan Looney, Kate McNamara, James Doyle, Donal Lynch, JP O’Brien and Dale O’Carroll, who came up with their own idea to create a music video under the artistic direction of Jackie O’Mahoney of Jackie O’Mahoney’s School of Performing Arts. The results were simply amazing! Be blown away by a very talented group of young people, making their mark on music, photography and video production in Kerry. You can see Wah-Na-Be! at Kerry County Museum or watch the video by clicking HERE.

By |October 13th, 2021|Categories: Uncategorized||

ARTiculation 2022: A National Public Speaking Competition for Secondary Schools

ARTiculation Ireland is a public speaking competition which promotes the appreciation and discussion of art, artefacts and architecture in secondary schools throughout Ireland. The competition seeks to engage students between 15-19 years, regardless of background or experience, with art to develop the confidence and ability to express their opinions and conclusions. Participating students are offered the chance to deliver a ten-minute presentation before their peers and a wider audience about a work of art, an artefact or piece of architecture of their choice, through a series of internal school heats and regional heats across Ireland with the chance of being selected for the All Ireland Final. If you are a secondary school teacher teaching Art, English, History or TY (or indeed any other subject that might benefit from public speaking and discourse), please register your interest before 22 October by sending an email to education@kerrymuseum.ie

By |October 12th, 2021|Categories: Uncategorized||

The Kerry Young Historian Award 2022: Calling all Kerry Secondary Schools

The Kerry Young Historian Award is a collaboration of the Kerry Archaeological & Historical Society, Kerry County Museum & Kerry County Council. It is supported by The Education Centre Tralee and the History Teachers’ Association of Ireland, Kerry branch. The competition is aimed at young people interested in history, archaeology and heritage. The purpose of the award is to encourage participants to research and write an essay on a local history topic in a personal, interesting and critical way with a special focus on some of Kerry’s untold stories. The award aims to encourage and produce the historians of the future as well as engaging young people in local history, archaeology and heritage. Winning essays will feature in the prestigious Kerry Magazine published annually by the Kerry Archaeological & Historical Society. For more information or to submit an expression of interest please contact us at education@kerryhistory.ie

By |October 12th, 2021|Categories: Uncategorized||

Explore Your Local Heritage 2022: Calling all Kerry Primary Schools

This education and outreach initiative from the Kerry Archaeological and Historical Society and Kerry County Museum invites you to explore your local heritage and share your discoveries. We are calling on all pupils and teachers to take their school building as the focal point and research the hidden history and heritage of the immediate locality. The project can be about any aspect of local heritage that interests you, from the history of an old building or ruin to local folk tales and stories. Your project can include pupils’ creative writing, drawings, paintings, photographs, arts & crafts, drama, music and LEGO projects as well as old photographs, letters, medals, newspaper clippings, oral history recordings and other artefacts and memorabilia that could help to document and illustrate your local heritage. For more information or to submit an expression of interest please email project coordinators Victoria and Claudia at education@kerryhistory.ie

By |October 12th, 2021|Categories: Uncategorized||

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