Kenmare House

Kenmare House is located on the east shore of Lough Leane and was the principal residence of the Brownes of Killarney, Earls of Kenmare. Sir Valentine Browne and his son, also Valentine Browne, were the first members of the family to settle in Ireland being appointed Surveyor General of Ireland in 1559. Sir Valentine Browne made an agreement with MacCarty Mor for a lease on the lands of Coshmang and Ross in 1588, the year of the Armada. Unlike most of the English settlers since the Reformation, the Brownes soon reverted to the old religion and the family continued to been given the royal title "Viscounts Kenmare" by King James II of England in 1689. It may be remarked here that this title is derived from Kenmare Castle, near Hospital, part of the Co. Limerick estate of the Browne family, and not, as might naturally be supposed, from the town of that name, which, though not actually on the Browne estate The family's first residence in Killarney was Ross Castle.

The original Kenmare House was built in 1726, after the estates were recovered by the 5th Baronet and 3rd Viscount Kenmare. It was a grandiose structure with the characteristics of a French chateau, perhaps influenced by the Brownes' time spent in France with King James II in exile at Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye. The house was part of the 137, 000 acre estate of the Brownes, who remarkably retained their lands during the Penal Laws as Catholics.

Kenmare

Kenmare (Irish: An Neidín, meaning "the little nest") is a small town (population 2175 – CSO 2011) in the south of County Kerry, Ireland. The name Kenmare is the anglicised form of Ceann Mara meaning "head of the sea", referring to the head of Kenmare Bay.

Location

Kenmare is located at the head of Kenmare Bay (where it reaches the farthest inland), sometimes called the Kenmare River, where the Roughty River (An Ruachtach) flows into the sea, and at the junction of the Iveragh Peninsula and the Beara Peninsula. The traditional Irish name of the bay was Inbhear Scéine from the Celtic inver, which is recorded in the 11th Century narrative Lebor Gabála Érenn as the arrival point of the mythological Irish ancestor Partholón. It is also located near the Macgillycuddy's Reeks, Mangerton Mountain and Caha Mountains and is a popular hillwalking destination. Nearby towns and villages are Tuosist, Ardgroom, Glengarriff, Kilgarvan, Killarney, Templenoe and Sneem.

Politics

It forms part of the Kerry South electoral constituency. Mark Daly, elected a member of Seanad Éireann in 2007, is from Kenmare.

Kenmare (disambiguation)

Kenmare is a town in County Kerry, Ireland.

Kenmare may also refer to:

Places

Transport

Other

See also