Place Book

The Place Book of North Kerry

2009-11-08T13:41:00.000-08:00

Hi there. You have just arrived in Ballyduff, at rush hour. Starting from here, this site will take you on unforgettable journeys all over North Kerry.

This website is part of a much larger conglomeration of linked sites - all social networks or blogs - which explores North Kerry through music, photography, paintings, text, and video.

http.//www.bobscottnorthkerry.com

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Places of Pilgrimages, Shrines, and Holy Wells

2009-11-08T12:52:00.001-08:00

This section gathers together places out of doors that are visited and held in special regard for religious reasons. They are place of peace and quiet where people gather together to pray on special occasions.

The first is an old graveyard. Although no longer in use, an outdoor mass is said every year to remember those buried here.

For me this is the most poignant place of all. Known as a Killeen, it is a place where unbaptised babies and unidentified fishermen drowned at sea were buried. The belief that these two groups could not be buried in a normal cemetery seems strange to us, but we have to understand it the context of the belief of people of their time, and in fact it was an act of love, not rejection.

The graveyard lies on the edge of the strand, at Kilmore, just north of Ballyduff, windswept and washed by the tide, the remote feeling adding to the sense of mystery, appropriate to a meeting point with the infinite.

For similar reasons towers point upwards, to a world beyond which is impossible to fully understand. This superb example of a round tower, at Rattoo, is only half a mile to the south of Ballyduff. For the monks who lived worked and prayed here, the tower was both a place of protection and refuge, and a symbol of faith.

A roadside shrine to Our Lady, at a place called Raheela Cross, also very close to my house, placed here like many others to commemorate the Eucharistic Congress.

One of the projects for the Millennium year, 2000, was the placing of this Pieta, based on the famous sculpture by Michaelangelo, in the gravyard at Raheela.

This shrine is situated at a Holy Well, in a road called Ladies' Walk, half a mile to the east of Ballyduff

As with most of the places shown here, an annual mass is celebrated.

Tuber Leis is a another holy well, said to have been visited by St. Bridget.

The well is a few yards in front of the statue, crucifix, and grotto, on the other side of the road.

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Tree sculptures - Listowel

2009-11-08T04:09:00.001-08:00

The main town of North Kerry is Listowel, about nine miles from Ballyduff. One of its hidden gems, is this group of sculptures, put here by someone as a memorial to a loved relative. The place is accessible to the public, near the golf course, but unless you know where they are, you won't find them except by a lucky accident. Maybe that was the idea.

Time for a game of golf

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Place Book

The Place Book of North Kerry

Places of Pilgrimages, Shrines, and Holy Wells

Tree sculptures - Listowel

Listowel Town

The Garden of Europe, Listowel

Ropes and nets - Cashen village

Wild Flowers - North Kerry

On the Bog , Ballyduff and Finuge

The Castle, Ballybunion

Lobster pots, Meenegohane

The River Feale, Listowel

Lislaughton Abbey

Industrial harbour, Fenit

Old boats, the Cashen, Ballyduff

Bog man

Pattern (Patron) Day, Ballyheigue

Breakwater posts at Ballyea, Ballybunion

The horse fair in Ballyduff

The cliffs at Ballybunion