This town is set among the Kerry hills on the banks of Kenmare River. Kenmare was built by Sir William Petty in 1670, following which the land was transferred to him by the English. Kenmare town is steeped in history and is a beautiful base for exploring the region. Set along the Ring of Kerry road Kenmare is a famous stopover when touring the Ring.
Antiquities | History |
Antiquities
The dolmens of Co. Kerry (Self Catering, Kerry, Ireland) number, according to Borlase, twenty-two. Two in the townland of Gortna-gulla may be mentioned, as they have been examined and planned in recent years. Both are wedge-shaped structures and belong to a type common in the South of Ireland.
Botany | Topography | Zoology |
Botany
Lough Derg is the lower of the two great lake-like expansions of the Shannon, the other, Lough Ree, lying further up the river. Save at its southern end, where he lake is embosomed in hills of Silurian slate, the winding shores are. formed of low-lying limestones, and the numerous islands arc composed of the same rock. Botanical interest centres on the low, uncultivated islets and reefs, and on the sloping, stony shores. Here a peculiar flora is developed, as the following list of abundant plants will show :
Westward a few miles, across the deep gash in which lies the Upper Lake of Killarney, Macgillicuddys Recks rise head and shoulders above the surrounding sea of hills. Those arc a beautiful group of lofty cones, with steep sides and many imposing cliff ranges, and deep coombs in which lie dark tarns. The loftiest, Carrantuohill, the highest mountain in Ireland, attains 3414 ft., and several of the other peaks exceed 3000 ft. At the cast end of the Reeks the famous Gap of Dunloe, through which a road runs, separates them from the Purple Mountain group which looks down on the Lower Lake.
Tralee , the county town, is situated at the shallow head of a bay far to the westward. The small stream on which it stands has been widened and deepened to allow of the passage of coasting craft to the town, but larger vessels berth at Fenit, a few miles westward. Killorglin is an important marketing centre. Dingle , the most westerly town in Europe, lies in a sheltered bay near the extremity of the mountainous Dingle Peninsula. Killarney is inland, near the beautiful lakes of the same name, with wild mountains to the west and south and low, boggy uplands to the north. Kenmare is beautifully situated at the head of the noble sea-inlet known as Kenmare river : steamers berth a short distance below the town. Castleisland and Listowel lie in the less picturesque country to the north. The famous Lakes of Killarney lie 
at the eastern end of Macgillicuddys Reeks, the loftiest mountain range in Ireland. They consist of a tolerably large sheet of water, the Lower Lake or Lough Leane, the small and scarcely distinct Muckross Lake, and another small and very irregular sheet of water, the Upper Lake; the last lies among high hills, and is connected with the others by a broad slow stream, the Long Reach. Different agencies have been at work in the production of these lakes