Finuge () is a village near

Listowel Listowel ( ; , IPA: �lʲɪsˠˈt̪ˠuəhəlʲ is a heritage market town in County Kerry, Ireland. It is on the River Feale, from the county town, Tralee. The town of Listowel had a population of 4,820 according to the CSO Census 2016. Desc ...

County Kerry County Kerry ( gle, Contae Chiarraí) is a county in Ireland. It is located in the South-West Region and forms part of the province of Munster. It is named after the Ciarraige who lived in part of the present county. The population of the co ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

. Finuge is a traditional Irish crossroads village with a shop, a pub, Teach Siamsa and a G.A.A. pitch. Sheehan's Thatched House located at Finuge Cross is regarded as one of the oldest surviving authentic thatched houses in Ireland. Conservation experts estimate it at least 300 years old. The village's name is derived from ''Préachán'', meaning ''

crow A crow is a bird of the genus '' Corvus'', or more broadly a synonym for all of ''Corvus''. Crows are generally black in colour. The word "crow" is used as part of the common name of many species. The related term "raven" is not pinned scientifica ...

''.

History

Around 1660, Finuge was planted by the Desmond Geraldines during the

Cromwellian Plantation Plantations in 16th- and 17th-century Ireland involved the confiscation of Irish-owned land by the English Crown and the colonisation of this land with settlers from Great Britain. The Crown saw the plantations as a means of controlling, angl ...

. At that time, Finuge village was situated near the bank of the River Feale. The land here was of excellent quality, so much so that the families were evicted and pushed south-east and re-located beside the "new road" that links

and

Lixnaw Lixnaw () is a village in North County Kerry, Ireland. It is located near the River Brick SW of Listowel and NE of Tralee. History Lixnaw was once the seat of the Fitzmaurice family, the Earls of Kerry. In 1320 Nicolas, the third baron ...

today. About the time of the "Fenian Rising", Lord Listowel decided that he wanted this land and his agent Major Homes planned to shift the whole village and evict the locals further south-east to the northwest of the townland of Irremore. The house plots were marked out and the eviction about to take place, when the Agent Holmes died unexpectedly and the village as we know it today was saved. There were three churches in Finuge at one time. In 1825 a new church was built at Irremore, it was renovated in 1961 and serves the people to the present day. The big house in the district was "Ennismore House", it became the property of the Desmond Geraldines as a result of the Cromwellian Plantation. In later times George Hewson inherited it from the last of the Fitzgeralds. "Finuge House", the ruins of which can be seen beside Finuge Bridge was owned by another Hewson family, not related to George. This family were always associated with "Harvest Home", an annual celebration at the end the harvest. The last record of such a gathering was 25 October

1877 Events January–March * January 1 – Queen Victoria is proclaimed ''Empress of India'' by the ''Royal Titles Act 1876'', introduced by Benjamin Disraeli, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom . * January 8 – Great ...

, when sixty men and women sat down to dinner. Ringforts were features of the parish, with excellent examples on the farms of Quinlans and McElligotts of Coolnaleen, Galvin's and Whelan's of Finuge, but sad to relate these no longer exist. Finuge is not just the name of a townland, it is also the name of a

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

that stretched from the townlands of Dysert to Ballinruddery. The townlands in the

of Finuge including Bealkilla, Kilcrean, Knockamoohane, Ballinruddery, Garryantanavalla, Ballygrennan, Moyassa, Knockanassig and Grogeen. There are no remains of a church in Finuge today, but there is a large burial ground.

Geography

The village is located on the banks of the River Feale, 2 miles ( 3 km) from

. The Finuge crossing is a bridge over the River Feale linking Finuge to Killocrim. It is in the

Barony of Clanmaurice {{Use Irish English, date=May 2021 Clanmaurice (''Clann Mhuiris'') is a barony in County Kerry, Ireland. It contains 16 Parishes and it is roughly 485 km2. Parishes *Ardfert *Ballyheigue *Duagh *Dysert (Partly in Trughanacmy) *Finuge *Kilcarragh ...

Sport

The GAA club in the area is known as

Finuge GAA Finuge is a Gaelic Athletic Association club from Finuge, County Kerry, Ireland. They currently compete in the Kerry Intermediate Football Championship. They also form part of the Feale Rangers divisional team that play in the Kerry Senior Fo ...

or Finuge and has had a lot of success for its size. Current players include Paul Galvin.

People

* Sean McCarthy, a Finuge native, was an Irish folk songwriter. * Paul Galvin is a

Gaelic football Gaelic football ( ga, Peil Ghaelach; short name '), commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA or Football is an Irish team sport. It is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score by ki ...

er with the Finuge club, Feale Rangers divisional side and Kerry county team.

References

External links