(St.Brendans
Avenue and Church Street, Ardfert, turn of 20th Century)
With
these nostalgic lines did the local musician and poet, Christy
Connell reminisce of his youthful days in his native village.
Ardfert today is a place apart, a modern, busy, expanding,
town 5 miles north of Tralee, but with a rich heritage of
history.
From
its early foundation as a monastic settlement in the 6th century
under the patronage of St Erc and St Brendan the Navigator,
it survived, to become the principal Kerry settlement in medieval
times. The placename Ardfert/Ard Fhearta denotes ’’The
Height of the Burial Mounds.’’
The
word ‘’Fert ‘’ is an old Irish word, often
referring to pre-christian burials. There may have been a
a settlement of this nature before the arrival of Erc or Brendan.
Little
is recorded of the early life of Ardfert, but we know from
the annals, that the little stone church now incorporated
into the magnificent cathedral, was burned in 1046 A.D.
In
the 13th century, the Anglo-Norman family of Fitzmaurice established
themselves here in the barony of Clanmaurice. The town was
important enough to have been enclosed by defenses in 1286.
From
the 17th century onwards however, power lay in the hands of
the Crosbie family. They controlled Ardfert Town with its
burgesses, courts and bridewell, down to the Act of Union,
in 1800, when the town lost its borough status.
They
in turn severed their connection with Ardfert in 1922, after
the formation of the Irish Free State. The town and parish
of Ardfert includes a number of important heritage sites.
It
boasts two fine churches of the 12th and 15th centuries, a
cathedral, largely built in the 13th, but with later 15th
century additions. It contains too, a fine 13th century Franciscan
Friary, the ruins of a tower house at Rathoneen and an ancient
holy well site at Tobar na Molt.
There
are many fine examples of ring-forts in the parish, including
the most famous of them all, Casement’s Fort. Another
feature of great historic interest was Ardfert’s Round
Tower, which fell in a storm c.1771. In the grounds of the
cathedral can be found an ancient Ogham stone. At Liscahane
and at The Gallán, Ardfert, are two fine standing stones.
As
per the Census of 1851, the following townlands are included
in the parish of Ardfert;
| Ardfert
Town |
Commons South |
Rathoneen |
| Ardfert
Oughter |
Commons East |
Rathcrihane |
| Ballininprior
|
Commons
West |
Sackville
|
| Ballinvoher
|
Creegooane
|
Skrillagh |
| Ballymacquinn
Lower |
Farrenwilliam
|
Tubridbeg |
| Ballymacquin
Upper |
Gortaspiddale |
Tubridmore |
| Brandonwell
|
Graigue
Glebe |
Two
Islands |
| Carrahane
Upper |
Kill
|
|
| Carrahane
Lower |
Killorane |
|
| Cloon
Glebe |
Knockavurra
Glebe |
|
| Collegefield
|
Knockroe |
|
| Commons
North |
Larha
|
|
