Lixnaw () is a village in North 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 is located near the River Brick SW of

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 ...

and NE of

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 ...

History

Lixnaw was once the seat of the

Fitzmaurice Fitzmaurice is a Hiberno-Norman, Cambro-Norman, Anglo-Norman surname. It is patronymic as the prefix '' Fitz-'' derives from the Latin'' filius'', meaning "son of". According to Irish genealogist Edward MacLysaght: Fitzmaurice is uncommon ...

family, the Earls of Kerry. In 1320 Nicolas, the third baron of Lixnaw erected the Castle of Lixnaw, built the old bridge, and improved the village. In 1600 Charles Wilmot and his forces garrisoned the castle and established it as their centre of operations. It was subsequently retaken by Lord Kerry who entrusted its defence to his brother Gerald, who was eventually forced to surrender the castle due to a shortage of water. Today, nothing remains of the Castle of Lixnaw. An interesting point about the Earls of Kerry is that one of the descendants

William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne William Petty Fitzmaurice, 1st Marquess of Lansdowne, (2 May 17377 May 1805; known as the Earl of Shelburne between 1761 and 1784, by which title he is generally known to history), was an Irish-born British Whig statesman who was the firs ...

, who was born in Dublin but was largely reared in Lixnaw (except when he was in Eton), became British Prime Minister in 1782. Later Lansdowne Road in Dublin was named after him, which lent its name to the rugby stadium. Lixnaw is situated near the River Brick over which there were originally two stone bridges, from which the village got its name.

Places of interest

Korean War Memorial

Erected to honour the Irish soldiers who died in the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

. A total of twenty-nine Irishmen died while serving under conscription in the US Army under the banner of the UN from 1950-1953. The monument takes the form of a stone arch, high and wide with three granite slabs on which all 35 names, addresses and dates of death are inscribed.

St. Michael's Church

St. Michael's Church 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 designed by Irish architect J. J. McCarthy, but more Norman than Celtic in design, due to having to flank the nave with aisles that open off it through round-arched arcades. It has a modernised interior.

Other local features

St. Michael's Holy Well features a statue depicting St. Michael defeating Satan. Tonaknock Cross is an early high cross which is located approximately 6 km away.

Transport

Lixnaw railway station opened on 20 December 1880, closed for passenger traffic on 4 February 1963, closed for goods traffic on 2 December 1974 and finally closed altogether on 11 June 1983.

Sport

The local GAA club,

Lixnaw GAA Lixnaw Hurling Club is a Gaelic Athletic Association club in the north of County Kerry, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. They primarily play in competitions organised by the Kerry County Board of the GAA, such as the Kerry Senior Hurling Championshi ...

, have won the

Kerry Senior Hurling Championship The Kerry Senior Hurling Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as Garvey's SuperValu Senior Hurling Championship) is an annual hurling competition organised by the Kerry County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association since 1889 for the t ...

on nine occasions, most recently in 2018. Well-known Lixnaw players include Paul Galvin and Éamonn Fitzmaurice.

References

{{Authority control Towns and villages in County Kerry