Ardfert - History and Heritage

History and Heritage

Ardfert is a parish in the Barony of Clanmaurice, County Kerry, Ireland, anciently in the territory of Ui Fearba/Hy Ferba, of which the Leanes were once the Gaelic Lords, until the Normans came.

Ardfert is the home of St. Brendan's Ardfert Cathedral, which was destroyed in the War of 1641 (Irish Rebellion of 1641), and the birthplace of St. Brendan the Navigator, who was educated about the year 500 AD. He founded a monastery there in the 6th century, but both town and monastery were destroyed by fire in 1089, and again in 1151.

The Norman influence can still be seen not only in the architecture, but also in local families such as the Cantillons (Barons de Ballyheigue), and Fitzmaurices, and in place names, such as Ballintobeenig, a nearby townland below Mt. Crusline called after St. Aubin. Thomas FitzMaurice, 1st Baron Kerry founded a Franciscan friary there in 1253, and Nicholas, the 2nd Lord Kerry, built a leper house there in 1312. It was the seat of a bishopric until 1660.

The Crusader Knights Hospitaller of the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem (later known as Knights of Malta), also had some rights in Ardfert, although there is a record of a dispute between them and the Franciscans in 1325 about the market cross and pillory. They had already been established in the area in c. 1200 when Meiler FitzHenry, grandson of King Henry I of England, and Justiciar of Ireland under King John, established a preceptory at Rattoo under a Fra' William from Dublin. Under the terms of a royal grant in letters patent of James I of England on 6 July 1612, the Lord of Kerry (FitzMaurice) could hold courts baron and leet.

The Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland, recount how in 1601, Prince Hugh Roe O'Donnell, on his way to the Battle of Kinsale, sent some of his kinsmen troops there to reconquer Ardfert, Lixnaw, and Ballykeally for his ally FitzMaurice. En route, true to his family arms and Constantinian motto (In Hoc Signo Vinces) and in anticipation of the battle to come at Kinsale, he visited and venerated a relic of the True Cross (Holy rood) on the Feast of St. Andrew, on November 30, 1601 at Holy Cross Abbey, near Thurles, County Tipperary, which was a rallying point for the defence of religious freedom and for Irish sovereignty. From there he sent an expedition to Ardfert, to win a quick victory and successfully recover the territory of his ally, Fitzmaurice, Lord of Kerry, who had lost it and his 9-year old son, to Sir Charles Wilmot. The expedition captured Caislean Gearr (Short Castle, of which no trace remains), adjacent to the Cathedral in Ardfert. An O'Donnell from Tyrconnell remained behind in stewardship to hold it, according to "The Life of Hugh Roe O'Donnell, Prince of Tyrconnell"written by Lughaidh O'Cléirigh, circa 1603 in Gaelic.

A large tomb in the grounds of the cathedral was built much later by John O'Donnell (1803–1879), the most prominent descendant two centuries later, and whose own direct male descendant was the late Patrick Denis O'Donnell (1922–2005), well-known Irish military historian. He owned the summit overlooking Ardfert (Mt. Crusline, Ballintobeenig, from where his ancestral O'Donnell of Tyrconnell, under authority of Prince Hugh Roe O'Donnell would have launched the battle to regain Ardfert for Lord Kerry in 1601). The family seat of John O'Donnell, at Tubrid mentioned by Lewis in his Topographical Dictionary of 1837, passed through a female line to the O'Carrolls.

In the early 19th century, the Earl of Listowel (Hare) was Lord of the Manor and held court every three weeks in Ardfert, through an appointed Seneschal, having bought those rights from the Earl of Kerry, Fitzmaurice.

The area is rich in terms of its archaeological heritage. The medieval cathedral, St. Brendan's, and associated churches, Temple na Hoe (Church of the young Virgin) and Temple na Griffin, have become a major tourist heritage attraction in the Kerry area due to their central location. The 13th Century Franciscan Friary to the north east of the village is of equal merit, but due to its peripheral location, its contribution to the character of the village is not as obvious. It was once an integral part of Ardfert Abbey - not an abbey at all but the name of the Talbot-Crosbie mansion destroyed by fire in 1922 by the IRA.

Five structures included on the Record of Protected Structures (RPS) are located in Ardfert; St Brendan’s Catholic Church (consecrated in 1855), the Old Gates of the Earl of Glandore's Demesne, the Talbot-Crosbie Memorial, the Ardfert Parish Room (now a site registered as derelict by Kerry County Council) and Brandon House. There are also many other structures within the village which are not included in the RPS, but are considered to be of considerable architectural and heritage value, such as the Ardfert Retreat Center. Of note are the surviving estate walls which contribute to the character and identity of the village. The following structures are of particular merit and should be considered for inclusion in the Record of Protected Structures:- Gate lodge adjacent to the Ardfert Retreat Centre; Gate Lodge at Skrillagh, Ardfert; Cut stone structures adjacent to St Brendan’s Church.