EXPLORE
• Special Exhibition Gallery
• Audio Visual Room
- Museum Gallery
• Tom Crean Room
• Knight’s Hall
• Medieval Experience
• Special Exhibition Gallery
• Audio Visual Room
- Museum Gallery
• Tom Crean Room
• Knight’s Hall
• Medieval Experience
Museum GalleryThe First Settlers 8,000 – 4,000 BC
The earliest human evidence in Kerry dates from around 5,000 BC, at the mesolithic site at Ferriter’s Cove on the Dingle Peninsula. The sea provided food and a flint-like stone, rhyolite, was also available, which could be worked to produce blades, scrapers and axeheads. No evidence of a permanent structure was found and it is likely that this was a temporary camp inhabited at a time of year when food was plentiful.
Earliest Farmers 4,000 – 2,500 BC
Around 4,000 BC an agricultural revolution transformed a hunter-gatherer economy to one based on agriculture. Settlements became more permanent, and stone tools became more varied and sophisticated. Large permanent burial monuments, called megalithic tombs, were constructed and generally consisted of large stone chambers under cairns of stones. Pottery was manufactured for the first time, both for domestic use and for deposition with burial.
Miners and Traders 2,500 – 500 BC
Metalworking arrived in Ireland around 2,500 BC. Bronze was produced in Kerry from imported tin and copper that was readily available, for instance in Ross Island near Killarney. The objects produced increased in sophistication from simple flat axeheads to socketed tools such as swords, rapiers, daggers and spearheads. The Bronze Age sites with which Kerry is best endowed are the enigmatic stone alignments, stone circles, single standing stones and rock art.
The Celts 500 BC – 500 AD
The Celts are associated with the advent of iron, and this is one of the least understood periods of Irish archaeology. It is likely that the great stone forts, such as Staigue in South Kerry, may have been in use at this time. An important development in this period was the appearance of the first Irish script called Ogham, carved on stone pillars to commemorate the death of an important person. This period is also associated with the great Celtic legends of Cuchulainn, the Tain, Fionn MacChumhail and the Fianna.
Saints and Scholars 500 – 1200
Christianity arrived in Ireland in the 5th century AD, and from the 6th century, monastic settlements, such as the island hermitage of Skellig Michael, Reask, on the Dingle Peninsula, and Church Island in Caherciveen, were founded. People lived in defended homesteads known as ringforts, circular enclosures of earth and stone, and in timber or stone huts (clóchans). The Viking raids of the 8th and 9th centuries led to the eventual settlement of the Vikings in the 10th century.
Normans and Gaels 1200 – 1500
The Normans arrived in Ireland in 1169 and were in Kerry by around 1200. The most influential of the Norman families was the FitzGeralds (Geraldines) who acquired most of North Kerry and Limerick, and they were created Earls of Desmond in 1329. In many parts of Ireland the Normans were slowly absorbed into Irish culture. By 1500 there was little or no contact between the Earls of Desmond in Kerry and the English Crown.
Unwilling Subjects 1500 – 1700
During the 16th century the English Crown gradually reasserted its authority in Ireland. The rebellion of the Earl of Desmond in 1579 brought devastation to the region before it finally ended in 1583, with the death of the Earl. In 1649 Oliver Cromwell brutally crushed a revolt that had spread throughout the country. William Petty, surveyor of all of the confiscated lands, was granted 270,000 acres in South Kerry, which he developed and he established the town of Kenmare.
New Ascendancy 1700 – 1800
The Penal Laws were introduced in the 18th century, targeting the Catholic religion. This was a period of widespread agrarian unrest, with many dispossessed Catholics joining militant groups such as the Whiteboys. In 1798 the rebellion of the United Irishmen, under the leadership of Wolfe Tone, ended in failure. In 1801 the Irish parliament was abolished and Ireland was bound to Britain by the Act of Union.
The Land: Victim and Victors 1800 – 1900
In 1829 as a result of campaigning by Daniel O’Connell, a barrister from Cahersiveen, the government passed the Emancipation Act, which did away with the Penal Laws. Between 1845 and 1849 disease repeatedly attacked the potato crop, the staple diet of the majority of the people, and caused a devastating famine. A land war in the 1880s tried to achieve fair rents and security of tenure, aims that were achieved by 1900. The end of the century saw a revival of interest in Gaelic history and culture.
Rebels and Statesmen 1900 – 1949
The 1916 Rising, although a failure, began a series of events that led to the War of Independence, the divisive Treaty of 1921, and the subsequent Civil War, which hardened those divisions. The return to democratic politics in 1923 marked the beginning of the development of the Irish Free State, and this continued through the Economic War of the 1930s and World War 11. On Easter Monday 1949 the Fine Gael Taoiseach John A Costello proclaimed the Republic of Ireland.
The earliest human evidence in Kerry dates from around 5,000 BC, at the mesolithic site at Ferriter’s Cove on the Dingle Peninsula. The sea provided food and a flint-like stone, rhyolite, was also available, which could be worked to produce blades, scrapers and axeheads. No evidence of a permanent structure was found and it is likely that this was a temporary camp inhabited at a time of year when food was plentiful.
Earliest Farmers 4,000 – 2,500 BC
Around 4,000 BC an agricultural revolution transformed a hunter-gatherer economy to one based on agriculture. Settlements became more permanent, and stone tools became more varied and sophisticated. Large permanent burial monuments, called megalithic tombs, were constructed and generally consisted of large stone chambers under cairns of stones. Pottery was manufactured for the first time, both for domestic use and for deposition with burial.
Miners and Traders 2,500 – 500 BC
Metalworking arrived in Ireland around 2,500 BC. Bronze was produced in Kerry from imported tin and copper that was readily available, for instance in Ross Island near Killarney. The objects produced increased in sophistication from simple flat axeheads to socketed tools such as swords, rapiers, daggers and spearheads. The Bronze Age sites with which Kerry is best endowed are the enigmatic stone alignments, stone circles, single standing stones and rock art.
The Celts 500 BC – 500 AD
The Celts are associated with the advent of iron, and this is one of the least understood periods of Irish archaeology. It is likely that the great stone forts, such as Staigue in South Kerry, may have been in use at this time. An important development in this period was the appearance of the first Irish script called Ogham, carved on stone pillars to commemorate the death of an important person. This period is also associated with the great Celtic legends of Cuchulainn, the Tain, Fionn MacChumhail and the Fianna.
Saints and Scholars 500 – 1200
Christianity arrived in Ireland in the 5th century AD, and from the 6th century, monastic settlements, such as the island hermitage of Skellig Michael, Reask, on the Dingle Peninsula, and Church Island in Caherciveen, were founded. People lived in defended homesteads known as ringforts, circular enclosures of earth and stone, and in timber or stone huts (clóchans). The Viking raids of the 8th and 9th centuries led to the eventual settlement of the Vikings in the 10th century.
Normans and Gaels 1200 – 1500
The Normans arrived in Ireland in 1169 and were in Kerry by around 1200. The most influential of the Norman families was the FitzGeralds (Geraldines) who acquired most of North Kerry and Limerick, and they were created Earls of Desmond in 1329. In many parts of Ireland the Normans were slowly absorbed into Irish culture. By 1500 there was little or no contact between the Earls of Desmond in Kerry and the English Crown.
Unwilling Subjects 1500 – 1700
During the 16th century the English Crown gradually reasserted its authority in Ireland. The rebellion of the Earl of Desmond in 1579 brought devastation to the region before it finally ended in 1583, with the death of the Earl. In 1649 Oliver Cromwell brutally crushed a revolt that had spread throughout the country. William Petty, surveyor of all of the confiscated lands, was granted 270,000 acres in South Kerry, which he developed and he established the town of Kenmare.
New Ascendancy 1700 – 1800
The Penal Laws were introduced in the 18th century, targeting the Catholic religion. This was a period of widespread agrarian unrest, with many dispossessed Catholics joining militant groups such as the Whiteboys. In 1798 the rebellion of the United Irishmen, under the leadership of Wolfe Tone, ended in failure. In 1801 the Irish parliament was abolished and Ireland was bound to Britain by the Act of Union.
The Land: Victim and Victors 1800 – 1900
In 1829 as a result of campaigning by Daniel O’Connell, a barrister from Cahersiveen, the government passed the Emancipation Act, which did away with the Penal Laws. Between 1845 and 1849 disease repeatedly attacked the potato crop, the staple diet of the majority of the people, and caused a devastating famine. A land war in the 1880s tried to achieve fair rents and security of tenure, aims that were achieved by 1900. The end of the century saw a revival of interest in Gaelic history and culture.
Rebels and Statesmen 1900 – 1949
The 1916 Rising, although a failure, began a series of events that led to the War of Independence, the divisive Treaty of 1921, and the subsequent Civil War, which hardened those divisions. The return to democratic politics in 1923 marked the beginning of the development of the Irish Free State, and this continued through the Economic War of the 1930s and World War 11. On Easter Monday 1949 the Fine Gael Taoiseach John A Costello proclaimed the Republic of Ireland.
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