Gneeveguilla, ( ), officially Gneevgullia (), is a small village in the

Sliabh Luachra Sliabh Luachra (), sometimes anglicised Slieve Logher, is an upland region in Munster, Ireland. It is on the borders of counties Cork, Kerry and Limerick, and bounded to the south by the River Blackwater. It includes the Mullaghareirk Mounta ...

region of East County Kerry,

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. It lies about east of

Killarney Killarney ( ; ga, Cill Airne , meaning 'church of sloes') is a town in County Kerry, southwestern Ireland. The town is on the northeastern shore of Lough Leane, part of Killarney National Park, and is home to St Mary's Cathedral, Ross Cast ...

, close to the County Kerry/

County Cork County Cork ( ga, Contae Chorcaí) is the largest and the southernmost county of Ireland, named after the city of Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. Its largest market towns a ...

border.

Location

Gneeveguilla is situated in a region of hills and valleys and serves a rural hinterland consisting of dairy farms, pastureland and peatland.

Townland A townland ( ga, baile fearainn; Ulster-Scots: ''toonlann'') is a small geographical division of land, historically and currently used in Ireland and in the Western Isles in Scotland, typically covering . The townland system is of Gaelic orig ...

s in the area include Coom (Lower and Upper), Bawnard, Gullaun, Mausrower and Lisheen. At Mausrower, there used to be a large quarry in the early part of the 20th century, the remnants of which can be seen today on the approach from the Killarney direction towards Lower Coom. Hence the junction at Lower Coom being known as the Quarry Cross.

History

In the 19th century Gneeveguilla was the scene of an event known as the 'Moving Bog'. On the night of Sunday 28 December 1896, after a prolonged period of bad weather, sleeping families were awakened by an unusual sound. When daylight broke, to their horror they realised that over of bogland was on the move in a southerly direction, taking everything before it. It followed the course of the Ownachree river into the river Flesk. The bog continued to move until New Year's Day and came to rest covering hundreds of acres of pastureland. The Moving Bog claimed the lives of 8 members of one local family. The Church of the Holy Rosary is a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

church in Gneeveguilla opened on 10 October 1937. It is one of three churches in the Rathmore Parish of the Diocese of Kerry.

Education

Gneeveguilla National School () is a Catholic, co-educational school in the center of Gneevguilla, directly across from the GAA pitch and athletics center.

Music and culture

Several exponents of the ' Sliabh Luachra style' of traditional Irish music come from the Gneeveguilla area, including fiddler players Julia Clifford, Denis Murphy and Johnny and Paddy Cronin; and button accordion player Johnny O'Leary. Eamon Kelly statue

There is a statue in the village in honour of the Sliabh Luachra seanchaí (storyteller) Éamon Kelly (1914–2001).

Sports

Gneeveguilla is home to Gneeveguilla AC. Established in 1978, it has had success in both local Kerry Athletics and at national Level.

Gneeveguilla GAA Gneeveguilla are a Gaelic football team from County Kerry, Ireland. They play in the Kerry Intermediate Football Championship, Kerry County Football League (Division 1) and the East Kerry Senior Football Championship. The club was founded in ...

is the local GAA club which plays in the

East Kerry GAA The East Kerry Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association caters for 13 Gaelic football clubs and 1 hurling club in the East Kerry division of the GAA county of Kerry. History Early Years The East Kerry Board was founded in 1925 following ...

division. Gneeveguilla is home to Ambrose O'Donovan, a former captain of the

Kerry senior football team The Kerry county football team represents Kerry in men's Gaelic football and is governed by Kerry GAA, the county board of the Gaelic Athletic Association. The team competes in the three major annual inter-county competitions; the All-Ireland ...

which won the 'Centenary All-Ireland'

All-Ireland Senior Football Championship The All-Ireland Senior Football Championship (SFC) ( ga, Craobh Shinsir Peile na hÉireann) is the premier competition in Gaelic football. An annual tournament organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA), it is contested by the county ...

. Gneeveguilla won the Kerry Intermediate Football Championship in 2010, beating Finuge in the final in Austin Stack park in

Tralee Tralee ( ; ga, Trá Lí, ; formerly , meaning 'strand of the Lee River') is the county town of County Kerry in the south-west of Ireland. The town is on the northern side of the neck of the Dingle Peninsula, and is the largest town in Count ...

. They then went on to win the Munster Championship and lost the All-Ireland semi-final to St.James of County Galway, after a period of extra time.

Development

Kerry County Council Kerry County Council ( ga, Comhairle Contae Chiarraí) is the authority responsible for local government in County Kerry, Ireland. As a county council, it is governed by the Local Government Act 2001. The council is responsible for housing and ...

's "South East Kerry Settlements Local Area Plan 2008-2015", a number of opportunities for the future development of Gneeveguilla were identified. The plan recommended against scattered and ribbon development, as well as environmental and pedestrian safety improvements.

Notable people

* Julia Clifford (1914–1997), traditional musician * Paddy Cronin (1925–2014), fiddler * Eamon Kelly (1914–2001), actor and storyteller * Denis Murphy (1910–1974), traditional musician *

Liam Murphy Liam Murphy is a character (arts), fictional character from the Australian Seven Network, Channel Seven soap opera ''Home and Away'', played by Axle Whitehead. The character debuted on-screen during the episode airing on 5 March 2009. Whitehead ...

, Gaelic footballer * Ambrose O'Donovan (b.1962), Gaelic footballer *

Charlie McCarthy Charlie McCarthy is Edgar Bergen's famed ventriloquist dummy partner. Charlie was part of Bergen's act as early as high school, and by 1930, was attired in his famous top hat, tuxedo, and monocle. The character was so well-known that his popularit ...

, Gaelic footballer *

Aogán Ó Rathaille Aodhagán Ó RathailleVariant Irish spellings of his name include ''Aogán'' and ''Ua Rathaille'' or Egan O'Rahilly (c.1670–1726), was an Irish language poet. He is credited with creating the first fully developed Aisling. Early life It is tho ...

(c.1670–1726), poet born at Scrahanaveal near Gneeveguilla *

Eoghan Rua Ó Súilleabháin Eoghan Rua Ó Súilleabháin (174829 June 1784), anglicized as Owen Roe O'Sullivan ("Red Owen"), was an Irish poet. He is known as one of the last great Gaelic poets. A recent anthology of Irish-language poetry speaks of his "extremely musical" p ...

(1748–1782), poet

References

{{County Kerry Towns and villages in County Kerry