Listowel Lios Tuathail | |
|---|---|
Town | |
 John B. Keane statue in the Small Square | |
 Coat of arms | |
  Listowel Location in Ireland | |
| Coordinates:52°26′49″N9°29′10″W / 52.447°N 9.486°W /52.447; -9.486 | |
| Country | Ireland |
| Province | Munster |
| County | County Kerry |
| Area | |
• Total | 5.4 km2 (2.1 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 27 m (89 ft) |
| Population | |
• Total | 4,794 |
| • Rank | 92nd |
| • Density | 890/km2 (2,300/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC±0 (WET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+1 (IST) |
| Eircode routing key | V31 |
| Telephone area code | +353(0)68 |
| Irish Grid Reference | Q988338 |
| Year | Pop. | ±% |
|---|---|---|
| 1831 | 2,289 | — |
| 1841 | 2,598 | +13.5% |
| 1851 | 2,134 | −17.9% |
| 1861 | 2,273 | +6.5% |
| 1871 | 2,199 | −3.3% |
| 1881 | 2,965 | +34.8% |
| 1891 | 3,566 | +20.3% |
| 1901 | 3,605 | +1.1% |
| 1911 | 3,409 | −5.4% |
| 1926 | 2,917 | −14.4% |
| 1936 | 3,098 | +6.2% |
| 1946 | 3,311 | +6.9% |
| 1951 | 3,149 | −4.9% |
| 1956 | 3,144 | −0.2% |
| 1961 | 2,859 | −9.1% |
| 1966 | 2,822 | −1.3% |
| 1971 | 3,021 | +7.1% |
| 1981 | 3,649 | +20.8% |
| 1986 | 3,693 | +1.2% |
| 1991 | 3,597 | −2.6% |
| 1996 | 3,656 | +1.6% |
| 2002 | 3,999 | +9.4% |
| 2006 | 4,338 | +8.5% |
| 2016 | 4,820 | +11.1% |
| 2022 | 4,794 | −0.5% |
| [3][4][2] | ||
Listowel (/ˈlɪstoʊl/LISS-tohl;Irish:Lios Tuathail, meaning 'Tuathal'sringfort',[5]pronounced[l̠ʲɪsˠˈt̪ˠuəhəlʲ]) is a heritage market town inCounty Kerry, Ireland. It is on theRiver Feale, 28 km (17 mi) from the county town,Tralee. The town of Listowel had a population of 4,794 according to the2022 census, the third largest in the county.[2] Listowel is also the name of atownland within the town and an encompassingcivil parish.[5]
Described by the organisers of Listowel's writers festival as the "Literary Capital of Ireland",[6] a number of internationally known playwrights and authors have lived there, includingBryan MacMahon andJohn B. Keane.
Listowel is on theN69Limerick –Foynes – Traleeroad.Bus Éireann provides daily services to Tralee,Cork, and Limerick. The nearestrailway station is Tralee. Listowel used to have its own railway station on abroad gauge line between Tralee and Limerick city; however, this was closed to passengers in 1963, to freight in 1978, and finally abandoned and lifted in 1988. The station building has been preserved as a private residence.
Listowel is located at the head of the North Kerry limestone plain. Positioned in the very heart of North Kerry, on the River Feale, its hinterland is an area of mainly dairy agricultural use. The barony ofIraghticonnor[7] is to the north, with thebarony of Clanmaurice to the south. Surrounding villages includeAsdee,Ballybunion,Ballyduff,Ballylongford,Causeway,Duagh,Lisselton,Lixnaw,Moyvane,Finuge andTarbert.
In July 2000, Listowel was officially designated as one of Ireland's 26 "Heritage Towns" – in part because of modern environmental and renewal works, but also because of its architectural heritage and "historic importance".[8]
Listowel's history dates back to at least 1303 when it first appears in thePlea Roll where its name took the form of Lystothyl. By 1320 the town is referred to in ecclesiastical tax records, mis-written as Lismokill. In subsequent documents the name of the town is written variously as: Lissmoli, Listuoli, Lystuanyl, Lestovell, Lestowell, Lishtoghill, Listwohill and Listowhil.[9] In theAnnals of the Four Masters, in an entry dated 1582, the town first appears as Lios Tuathail, the currently accepted spelling of the Irish Gaelic form of the town's name. Thomas Dineley wrote the English form of the name as 'Listoel' in 1681.[10] In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century there were two versions of the name in use, Listowel and Listowell. From the late 19th Century onwards the current spelling of Listowel was generally adopted.[11] Since the foundation of the Irish State in 1922, the town's name has been referred to as Listowel in statute law, for example in the Statutory Instrument[12] under theLocal Government Reform Act 2014, when the Municipal District of Listowel was established as one of the six municipal districts in County Kerry.
The town developed around a fortress of the Fitzmaurice family,Listowel Castle, and its square. The last bastion against Queen Elizabeth I in theDesmond campaign, Listowel Castle was built in the 15th century and was the last fortress of theGeraldines to be subdued. It fell after 28 days siege toSir Charles Wilmot on 5 November 1600, who had the castle's garrison executed in the following days. The castle became the property of the Hare family, the holders of the title ofEarl of Listowel, after reverting away from the Fitzmaurices,Knights of Kerry. It is now anational monument, and was subject to restoration by theOffice of Public Works (OPW) from 2005. OPW tour guides are now based at the castle during the summer tourist season giving free tours of the castle.[13]
Another smaller castle at Ballinruddery, Listowel, was built in the post-1600 period by the then Knight of Kerry.
Listowel played a role inIrish railway history as it was the site of the world's firstmonorail operation. TheListowel and Ballybunion Railway was built to theLartigue system, with a double-engined steam locomotive straddling an elevated rail. It officially opened on 29 February 1888,[14] with public services beginning on 5 March 1888.[15] It connected the town withBallybunion. Coaches, with a compartment on either side of the rail, had to be kept balanced. If a cow was being brought to market, two calves would be sent also, to balance it on the other side. The calves would then be returned, one on either side of the rail. In 2003, a 1000 m long replica of the original monorailway was opened.
Listowel was the site of anoted mutiny which occurred during theIrish War of Independence. On 17 June 1920, members of theRoyal Irish Constabulary at Listowel police station refused to obey the commanding officer's orders that they be relocated to police outposts outside of the town. TheBlack and Tans had occupied the town barracks, forcing the redeployment, something which was both dangerous and hopeless in the face of huge local hostility to the men in question. Police commissioner Colonel Smythe wished that the RIC constables would operate with the army in countering the IRA's fight for freedom in the more rural areas. He suggested while negotiating with the constables that they would be given the power to shoot any suspect on sight. Led by ConstableJeremiah Mee, they refused, both from a point of personal safety and possibly also from a sense of sympathy with their country men struggling against the British forces. The officers were discharged after the mutiny. The episode has come down to be known as theListowel mutiny.
The title ofEarl of Listowel is associated with the Hare family. The current incumbent Lord Listowel isFrancis Michael Hare, one of the 92 hereditary peers elected to the BritishHouse of Lords.
Holders of the title have includedWilliam Hare, 5th Earl of Listowel, who was aLabour politician and served as the lastSecretary of State for India and Burma. Another member of the family was theConservative politician John Hare, 1st Viscount Blakenham. He was the third son of the fourth Earl.
In the 1970s, many small dairies in Ireland started to merge so as to be able to compete with the larger milk companies within theEuropean Economic Community (which Ireland joined in 1973). Dairies in County Kerry followed suit and Kerry Co-operative Creameries Ltd (Kerry Co-op) began trading in January 1974. In the period from 1974 to 1979, Kerry expanded its milk business in a similar fashion to other dairy co-ops. Its milk supply increased from 67 million gallons in 1974 to 87 million gallons in 1978.[citation needed] The new co-op acquired the independent Killarney, Limerick, Mariewasere and Ballinahina Dairies (Cork) which later became part of Kerry's Dawn Dairies structure with the addition of Galway and Moate Dairies.[citation needed] However, in 1979 everything changed for Kerry Co-op when the county was chosen as a pilot area for a bovine disease eradication scheme. Allied to this, milk production was further depressed due to wet summer weather in 1979 and in 1980, which meant that Kerry lost almost 20% of its milk supply.[citation needed] This was significant in that it happened at a time when the co-op was in the course of completing a €18 million capital expenditure programme at the NKMP plant in Listowel.[16]
Kerry Group today is a leader in global food ingredients and flavours markets, and a leading branded consumer foods processing and marketing organisation in some EU markets.[citation needed]
Headquartered in Tralee, the Group employs approximately 290 people at its manufacturing plant in Listowel.[17]
Listowel is serviced by many primary, post-primary and post-leaving certificate education facilities. Children between five and twelve are facilitated by Presentation Primary School for girls, Scoil Realta na Maidne, for boys, and Gaelscoil Lios Tuathail, which is a mixed school. The town has two Catholic secondary schools,Presentation Secondary School, Listowel andSt. Michael's College. The town is also served by Listowel Community College, a mixed post-primary and post-leaving certificate school and Coláiste na Ríochta, a mixed post-primary school. The town hosts Learning Initiative of North Kerry.[citation needed]
The origin ofListowel races can be traced back to an annual gathering at Ballyeigh, Ballybunion, about nine miles from Listowel. This event, which dates to the early nineteenth century, consisted of a variety of games, horse-racing and a pre-arranged faction fight which concluded the event. Due to disturbances surrounding these fights, the meeting at Ballyeigh was suspended and racing transferred to Listowel, where the first meeting took place in 1858. The racecourse is located beside the River Feale, and two of the three entrances to the course are accessed by bridge across the river. The racecourse is called "the island" by the locals due to this fact.[18] Traditionally it was a meeting where farmers came to spend/gamble the money they made from the harvest but it has since grown into something larger and more wideranging.[19]
The Listowel track consists of a 1-mile, 2 furlong mile oval left-handed track with National Hunt fences and hurdles. The hurdle course is adjustable after each day's racing to give new ground. Listowel's racecourse is within walking distance of the town centre.
Founded in 1970, Listowel is home to Ireland's oldestliterary festival.[20] North Kerry is the birthplace of many of Ireland's most prominent writers, including John B Keane, Bryan Mac Mahon, Brendan Kennelly, Seamus Wilmot, Gabriel Fitzmaurice,George Fitzmaurice, Maurice Walsh and Robert Leslie Boland. The Writers' Week Festival was established to celebrate those writers and to provide an opportunity for other Irish writers to develop their talents and meet new audiences.[21]
The concept of the Literary Workshop was first introduced at Writers' Week in 1971 by Bryan MacMahon. At the event, writers share their skills in poetry, fiction, theatre, and screen – with workshops in song writing, comic writing and storytelling also subsequently added.[citation needed] Writers' Week also provides a programme of literary events including lectures, readings, workshops, book launches, seminars, theatre, literary and historical tours, art exhibitions, music and dance.[citation needed]
Competitions are also held, together with a series of literary awards.[citation needed] The total prize fund of €35,000 includes the Kerry Group Novel of the Year and The Pigott Poetry Prize.
Participants have included: Nobel Laureate and Booker Prize-winnerJ. M. Coetzee, Nobel LaureateSeamus Heaney, Booker Prize winnersKazuo Ishiguro,John Banville,James Kelman andAnne Enright, Poets LaureateTed Hughes,Carol Ann Duffy, andAndrew Motion, playwrightsTom Murphy,Brian Friel,Roddy Doyle,Frank McGuinness andHugh Leonard, poetsMichael Hartnett,Leland Bardwell,John Montague,Yevgeny Yevtushenko,Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill,Roger McGough,Rita Ann Higgins andKate Cruise O'Brien, and other novelists and writers includingBlake Morrison,Chris Whyte,Lionel Shriver,Colm Tóibín,Jennifer Johnston,John McGahern,Joseph O'Neill,Sebastian Barry,Joseph O'Connor,Hugo Hamilton,Edna O'Brien,Douglas Kennedy,Patrick McGrath,William Trevor,Colum McCann,Gerard Donovan,Frank McCourt,Irvine Welsh,Robyn Rowland,Andrew Lindsay,Michael Cunningham,Jane Urquhart,Anatoly Kudryavitsky,Cees Nooteboom,Michael Dibdin,Abdel Bari Atwan,Clive James,Melvyn Bragg,Alain De Botton,Lloyd Jones,Robert Fisk,Jung Chang,Terry Jones,Gabriel Byrne, andGraham Norton.[citation needed]
John B. Keane of Listowel wrote:
Beautiful Listowel, serenaded night and day by the gentle waters of the River Feale.
Listowel where it is easier to write than not to write,
Where first love never dies, and the tall streets hide the loveliness,
The heartbreak and the moods, great and small,
Of all the gentle souls of a great and good community.
Sweet, incomparable hometown that shaped and made me.[6]
The Listowel food Fair has been running annually since 1995.[22] The festival promotes local artisan food products, and attracts celebrity chefs, nutritionists and artisan food entrepreneurs.[23]
Listowel has played host to several editions ofFleadh Cheoil na hÉireann, hosting the event more than any other venue since its foundation in 1951.[citation needed] The Fleadh was held in Listowelon 14 occasions between 1970 and 2002.[24] The level of organisation brought to the hosting of the event, by the Listowel branch ofComhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann, was credited with modernising the event and laying down a template which several successor host towns have followed.[24] This included ensuring the festival generated a profit to fund future events.[24]
AtIrish local government level, the town of Listowel is located in the Municipal District of Listowel, which is named after the town. This is one of the six municipal districts inCounty Kerry,[12] each of which also acts as alocal electoral area (LEA) for the purpose of returning members to the local authority. The Listowel LEA currently elects six of the 33 members ofKerry County Council. In the2019 Kerry County Council election, six councillors were elected from the Listowel LEA, three representing theFine Gael party, two representingSinn Féin, one representingFianna Fáil and one independent councillor. Under theLocal Government Reform Act 2014, as well as being members of Kerry County Council, the six Listowel LEA councillors are also members of Listowel Municipal District Council. As a division of a local authority, a Municipal District can exercise certain powers of the local authority.[25]
At national level, Listowel is part of the five seat of theKerry Dáil constituency, which returns fiveTDs toDáil Éireann.[26] For European Parliament elections, Listowel is located in theIreland South constituency, which elects five of Ireland's fourteenMEPs.[27]
Listowel Emmets is aGaelic Athletic Association (GAA) club which supports the traditional Irish sport of Gaelic football,plus music, dance and the Irish language. The club has a tradition of GAA involvement and achievement since June 1885 when Listowel GAA (The Feale Amateurs) was established as a GAA branch. In 1956 Emmets GAA Club was formed and in the following year the senior, intermediate and minor North Kerry League titles were won. In 1979, the Listowel Emmets GAA pitch next to St. Michaels College was closed for redevelopment; it re-opened again in 1981, and was renamed in honour of Frank J Sheehy who was appointed as chairman to the County Board in 1953.
Listowel Celtic is the localsoccer club, playing in the Premier A division of theKerry District League. Listowel also has clubs involved in tennis, athletics, rugby, basketball, badminton and cricket. Listowel also hosts a 24hr running race; the Listowel Endurance Festival.[citation needed]
Listowel's architectural features include the four-arch bridge traversing the River Feale at the entrance to the town. Dating from 1829, according to local tradition this bridge (referred to locally as the "Big Bridge") replaced a smaller wooden structure, which had been destroyed in floods.
Local plasterer and builder Pat McAuliffe (1846–1921) used stucco or external plaster to decorate the façades of townhouses and shops in the town and surrounding area. A native of Listowel, McAuliffe created a number of plasterwork works, including "The Maid of Erin", which depicts a romantic image of Mother Ireland surrounded by a harp, a wolfhound and other symbols of Ireland.[citation needed] The Maid was at the centre of a controversy in 1999 when a new owner decided to "cover her dignity" and painted a dress on her famous bosom. A debate ensued and he was persuaded to return her to her original semi-nude state.[citation needed]
Barrett hails from near Listowel in Kerry in an area that is home to esteemed writers such as Brendan Kennelly, Bryan McMahon and the great John B Keane
Born in Listowel, County Kerry in October 1884 [..Alfred O'Rahilly was..] educated at Blackrock College Dublin and University College Dublin
Tidy Towns (Ireland) winners | |
|---|---|
| 1950s | |
| 1960s |
|
| 1970s |
|
| 1980s |
|
| 1990s |
|
| 2000s | |
| 2010s |
|
| 2020s |
|
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Geographic | |
| Other | |
