Lixnaw () is a village in the north of

County Kerry County Kerry () is a Counties of Ireland, county on the southwest coast of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. It is bordered by two other countie ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. It is near the River Brick, southwest of

Listowel Listowel ( ; , ) 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 4,794 according to the 2022 census of Ireland, 2022 census, the third large ...

and northeast of

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

History

Lixnaw was once the seat of the Fitzmaurice family, the

Earls of Kerry Baron Kerry is an ancient title in the Peerage of Ireland, named after County Kerry. It was created circa 1223 for Thomas FitzMaurice FitzGerald, Thomas FitzMaurice, Lord OConnello, son of Maurice FitzGerald, Lord of Llanstephan. In 1325, Mauri ...

. 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 Anglo-Irish Whig (British political party), Whig states ...

, 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 The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

. A total of twenty-nine Irishmen died while serving under conscription in the US Army under the banner of the UN from 1950 to 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 The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

church designed by Irish architect J. J. McCarthy, but more

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 9th and 10th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norma ...

than

Celt The Celts ( , see Names of the Celts#Pronunciation, pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples ( ) were a collection of Indo-European languages, Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancient Indo-European people, reached the apoge ...

ic 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 Michael, also called Saint Michael the Archangel, Archangel Michael and Saint Michael the Taxiarch is an archangel and the warrior of God in Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. The earliest surviving mentions of his name are in third- and second- ...

defeating

Satan Satan, also known as the Devil, is a devilish entity in Abrahamic religions who seduces humans into sin (or falsehood). In Judaism, Satan is seen as an agent subservient to God, typically regarded as a metaphor for the '' yetzer hara'', or ' ...

. Tonaknock Cross is an early

high cross A high cross or standing cross (, , ) is a free-standing Christian cross made of stone and often richly decorated. There was a unique Early Medieval tradition in Ireland and Britain of raising large sculpted stone crosses, usually outdoors. Th ...

which is located approximately 6 km away.

Transport

The village is on the R557 road.

Bus Éireann Bus Éireann (; "Irish Bus") is a state-owned bus and coach operator providing services throughout Republic of Ireland, Ireland, with the exception of Dublin, where bus services are provided by sister company Dublin Bus. It is a subsidiary of C ...

route 272 stops several times a day, every day, serving Listowel and Tralee. There is also an occasional Local Link service to nearby villages and townlands. 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 Gaa may refer to: * Gaa language, a language of Nigeria * gaa, the ISO 639 code for the Ga language of Ghana GAA may stand for: Compounds * Glacial (water-free), acetic acid * Acid alpha-glucosidase, also known as glucosidase, alpha; acid, an e ...

club,

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

, 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 GAA, Kerry County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association since 1889 ...

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

Éamonn Fitzmaurice Éamonn Fitzmaurice (born 1977) is an Irish former Gaelic football manager and player. He played at senior level for the Kerry county team and later managed it between 2012 and 2018, during which time he became a member of an exclusive club of ...

References

{{Authority control Towns and villages in County Kerry