COUNTY KERRY [From The New London Gazetteer (1826)]

"Kerry, a county of Ireland, province of Munster, 53 m. long and 41 broad; bounded E by Limerick and Cork, W by the Atlantic, N by the Shannon, which separates it from Thomond, and S by Desmond nd the ocean, containing 1,040,487 acres, divided into 84 parishes. Chief rivers, the Cashing, Lane, Roughy, and Mang. The S is a plain, and fertile in corn; but the greater part is mountainous, chiefly adapted for grazing. Considerable quantities of beef, butter, hides, and tallow, are exported. It sends 4 members to parliament. Pop 205,037. Chief town, Tralee."

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Books:

Old spirit of Sliabh Luachra underlies
new book on Christianity By Conor Keane

THE spirit of Celtic spirituality infuses a new book Passion for the Possible by Kerry priest Daniel J O'Leary who hopes it will help those who find contemporary Christianity irrelevant.

A native of Rathmore, Fr O'Leary is now Parish Priest at St Benedict's in Gairforth in Yorkshire which is part of the diocese of Leeds. He is a regular visitor to Kerry and was most recently here for the funeral of his mother Margaret who died at the age of 97. His sister Maura, who is a teacher, still lives in the family home in Rathmore.

Fr O'Leary has great hopes that his book will have a very positive impact on individual members of the church.

``The book is a fresh, positive and loving understanding of the joys and sorrows of our daily lives. It calls for a more compassionate and human face and heart for our Catholic church.

``In the midst of the fear, scandals and disillusionment that are emptying so many churches these years. The book tries to tell the Catholic story in a new, exciting and hope-filled way,'' he says.

Fr O'Leary says that when he was growing up the Church's teachings were very `sin centered', but he wants to focus on an aspect of theology which says that `everything God made is good''.

``We must remember that there is original joy and well as original sin. I was brought up on a diet of fear, but now I want people to be brought up on a diet of joy,'' he said.

Fr O'Leary says the contents of his book has much which is close to Celtic spirituality.

the book Passion for the Possible is available in many bookshops in Kerry I hope I take this from the old spirit of Sliabh Luachra where we can see the closeness of God in everything we do,'' he added.

Fr O'Leary has just completed the construction of a new church in his parish and as part of the fund raising drive for the £1 million church he participated in a parachute jump.

The new church building is full of Celtic themes and even has an Irish-made altar.

The book Passion for the Possible is available in many bookshops in Kerry.

Books:

The colourful lives of the poets Aodhagán Ó Rathaille and Eoghan Rua Ó Súilleabháin are dealt with in the section, `Music in Words'. The author also interviews Bernard O'Donoghue, Knockduff, Cullen, who is an Oxford don and winner of the Whitbread prize for poetry.

Stone Mad For Music' The Sliabh Luachra
Story by Donal Hickey. By Breda Joy

IS Sliabh Luachra a place or a state of mind? This is the question posed by Seanchaí Éamon Kelly as he begins the foreword to the newly-published, Stone Mad for Music, The Sliabh Luachra Story.

He muses that the exact borders of the territory are never clear to him, and remarks that some say they form a triangle from Millstreet to Killarney with its apex in Castleisland.

``I heard an old man say that before the Elizabethan plantations Sliabh Luachra was a wilderness,'' he writes. ``Men who had been deprived of their rich Munster lands found shelter within the triangle and wrenched a place to live from the moorland.''

In the chapters that follow, journalist and author Donal Hickey maps out the rich spiritual and cultural legacy of that `mystic moorland' which, for centuries, has been a fertile breeding ground for music, singing, dance, stories and poetry.

Donal Hickey, born in Gneeveguilla in the heartland of Sliabh Luachra, brings together all the various strands that make the place unique and chronicles the lives of a people `stone mad for music'.

The content of the book falls naturally into two parts - the music of the area followed by the people and their way of life.

The author draws captivating pictures of characters such as the blind fiddler and music teacher, Tom Billy Murphy (1875-1943), whose physical disabilities only added to his mystique.

Moving up to the present day, he presents the story of Johnny O'Leary of Rathmore, custodian and inheritor of the old tunes.

Broadcaster and collector Ciarán Mac Mathúna jokes that he never has any trouble in reaching Gneeveguilla through a maze of winding roads in the dark, but he might find it difficult in the daylight. He has maintained close links with the area for over half a century.

Archaeological and Historical Journals

· Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy

http://journals.eecs.qub.ac.uk/RIA/Journals.html

The Academy was founded in 1786 to promote the study of Science, Polite Literature and Antiquities. The Proceedings, comprising papers presented to the Academy, are correspondingly divided into three sections, A, B and C. Section C deals with archaeology and related subjects. Latest issue: Volume 99 (1999)
Royal Irish Academy, 19 Dawson Street, Dublin 2. Telephone: 01 6762570
List of contents since 1911 Website with recent abstracts

· The Journal of Irish Archaeology

http://www.nuigalway.ie/jia/

JIA offers a forum for discussion and debate on all aspects of archaeology with particular reference to Ireland. A mix of review articles, excavation reports or specialist reports. Published at irregular intervals since 1983, but now more or less annual. Latest issue: Volume VIII (1997). ISSN 0268-537X.
National Library of Ireland call number: Ir 7905 i2
General Editor: William O'Brien, Department of Archaeology, University College Galway.

· Archaeology Ireland http://www.wordwellbooks.com/

Quarterly popular magazine with articles on recent research and excavations, illustrated with photographs and maps in full colour. Published since 1987. Current issue: Vol 15 No 2, Issue No 56 (Summer 2001). ISSN 0790-982X.
National Library of Ireland call number Ir 794105 a2.
Archaeology Ireland Ltd., PO Box 69, Bray, Co Wicklow. Tel: 01 2862649 Fax: 01 2864215. For subscriptions and back issues see the website of Wordwell, the publisher.

· Celtica http://www.celt.dias.ie/publications/celtica/

Journal of the School of Celtic Studies of the Dublin Institute of Advanced Studies. Principal topics are Early Irish literature, linguistics and placenames. Published since 1949. Current volume: Vol 22 (1991).

· Journal of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society

http://www.ucc.ie/chas/

Like most of the local journals, the JCHAS has a mixture of archaeology, local history, biography, genealogy and folklore. Cork is Ireland's largest county, on the soth coast. Cork city is the second largest city in Ireland. Published since 1892. Current volume: Vol.104 (1999).
National Library of Ireland call number Ir 794105 c1.
This journal is being republished on CD-ROM. The first volume (1892) is already available. For details of this, subscriptions to the paper journal and membership of the Society, see the Society's website.
List of contents since 1990

· Journal of the Kerry Archaeological and Historical Society

Deals with the history and archaeology of County Kerry, at the south-west corner of Ireland. Published since 1968. Current volume: 28 (1995). ISSN 0085-2503.
Kerry County Library, Tralee, County Kerry.
contents since 1968 http://www.xs4all.nl/~tbreen/Journals/Kerry.html

· The Old Limerick Journal

The city of Limerick is situated at the mouth of the river Shannon, in the south-west. Published since 1979. Current volume: No 36 (Winter 1999).
Editor: Larry Walsh, Limerick Museum, Castle Lane, Nicholas Street, Limerick.

· North Munster Archaeological Journal

As South Munster is covered by the Cork and Kerry journals, this deals with Limerick, Tipperary, and Clare, once the territory of the Kings of Thomond. Published since 1936. Current volume: Vol XXXV (1993-4). ISSN 0332-0820
Published by the Thomond Archaeological Society. Honorary editor: Professor Etienne Rynne, Department of Archaeology, University College, Galway.
contents since 1990 http://www.xs4all.nl/~tbreen/Journals/NMAJ.html

Music Sliabh Luachra

This district takes in parts of Counties Kerry, Limerick and north Cork, which lie on an elevated plain north of the Macgillycuddy Reeks, Derrynasaggart and Boggeragh Mountain chain. The music of the district shows a return to a faster pace of music which has an incredible range of musical emotion. There is tremendous life and joy in the fast moving light melodies yet at the same time many of the older players such as Con Curtin of Brosna are able to play magnificent lonely tunes at the drop of a hat. Probably the great distinguishing trademark of this area is the dominance of the slide and polka. These rhythms which appreciated such great popularity up until a generation ago would seem to be suffering a setback in the area most likely due to the impact of recordings of fiddlers from outside the area. Several players from this district are nearly household names. they include Pádraig Ó Caoimh, Denis "The Weaver" Murphy and his sister Julia, Paddy O'Connell, Donal O'Connell, Jerry McCarthy, Paddy and Johnny Cronin, both in the U.S.A., Pat Fitzgerald and Buddy Furey

Irish dance

http://www.standingstones.com

The Kerry Pony

Kerry, Sliabh Luachra, harbour many rarities in species, plants and animals. The famous Kerry violet, The Kerry Blue, dog bred in Castleisland and the Kerry cow.

The Kerry pony, in the 1980 presumed extinct. The only Irish native breed was the much larger pale gray or white Connemara. Then John Mulvihill of Ballincleave, Glenbeigh, found a small beautiful pony and began an active breeding programme. Research by Weatherby's Ireland Blood typing Laboratory shows that they are different from the thoroughbreds and Connemara.

The Kerry pony today is a handsome sturdy animal, standing some 10 - 11.5 hands, weighing 190 - 220 kg. Sure footed, strong, with a thick coat and excellent temperament.

Madelon Greve