Book captures the houses, the families, the impact, the history

Dan Kelleher (left) and Denis Reidy, manager of Muckross House, at the launch

Gene and Kathleen MacGillycuddy with Rose and Nicholas MacGIllycuddy

Brendan O’Mahony, Ruth O’Mahony, Dan Kelleher and Karol O’Mahony, architect and contributor to the book

Maurice O’Keeffe (right) with former Tánaiste and Labour Party leader Dick Spring and Ann Tangney, head guide at Muckross House at a book launch. Picture: Valerie O’Sullivan

Nicholas MacGillycuddy, formerly of Flesk Castle, Killarney

Don Rohan will star in Faraway Hills

Dick Spring formally launches the book

At the launch in Muckross House, Killarney of Jane O’Hea O’Keeffe’s new book entitled, The Big House in Kerry: A Social History

Jane O’Hea O’Keeffe and her husband Maurice O’Keeffe (left) with special guest Dick Spring and Dr John Knightly, a contributor to the book

An enthralling photographic and documentary account of life lived by the gentry in Kerry before independence is captured between the covers of a new book by Tralee historian Jane O’Hea O’Keeffe.

The Big House in Kerry: A Social History is based on the Anglo-Irish ascendancy in Kerry and it is expected to be in big demand by those with an interest in local history and Anglo-Irish relations.

At the launch in Muckross House, Killarney were historian and author Jane O’Hea O’Keeffeher husband Maurice O’Keeffe and former Labour leader and Tánaiste Dick Spring with Dochas Drama Group members Don Rohan, Liz Ryan and Patricia McSherry, who played ghe roles of the big house butler and housekeepers for the ceremonial launch.
Pictures: Valerie O’Sullivan

The book was formally launched in Muckross House, Killarney by former Tánaiste, Foreign Affairs Minister and Labour Party leader Dick Spring who praised the author for producing an essential body of work.

The publication is set out across chapters, each dedicated to a large house and the family or families that inhabited them.

It written by some of the county’s leading historians, including Jane, who edited and compiled the work, and it draws together the latest research by some of Kerry’s finest historians into a wide-ranging and detailed account of the lives of a selection the county’s gentry families and their contributions to the county’s social, political and physical landscapes.

Jane O’Hea O’Keeffe, who edited and compiled the work, discusses the project with Dick Spring who launched it.
Pictures: Valerie O’Sullivan

The book features an engaging account of the burning of Kerry’s big houses from 1919-23 and it gives an insightful account of houses properties like Beaufort House, Muckross House, The Reeks in Killarney, Flesk Castle in Killarney, Derryquin Castle and Askive in Sneem, Ballyheigue Castle, Belleville House in Portmagee, Kilmorna House in Listowel, Oak Park, Collis Sandes House in Tralee, Kilcoleman Abbey in Milltown and Killarney House and the Browne family.

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