LISTOWEL

'Listowel' (''Lios Tuathail'', "Tuthail's fort", in Irish) is a market town in County Kerry, Ireland, and is situated on the River Feale, 28 km (17 miles) from the county town, Tralee.
The combined population of Listowel Urban and Rural Districts is 22,668; the town itself has a population of 3,589 (CSO census 2002).
A famous horseracing meet called the Listowel Races or Harvest Festival takes place here annually, usually in the last week of September.
A number of internationally known playwrights and authors have lived there, including John B. Keane and Bryan McMahon

Contents

Geography

History

Writers Festival

Pat McAuliffe and his Work

Published Writers with Listowel Connection

Other Notable People from Listowel

Related places

References

External Links

Geography

Listowel is located at the head of the North Kerry limestone plain. Rested in the very heart of North Kerry, on the River Feale, its hinterland is an area of mainly dairy agricultural use. To the north is the Irachticonnor barony, with Clanmaurice to the south. Surrounding villages include Ballybunion, Ballyduff, Lixnaw, Duagh, Causeway, Asdee, Finuge, Tarbert, Ballylongford and Lisselton.

15 km (9 miles) from Ballybunion, home to one of the most famous golf courses in the world.
Listowel is on the N69 Limerick - Foynes - Tralee road. Bus Éireann provides daily services to Tralee, Cork, and Limerick. The nearest railway station is Tralee. Listowel used have its own railway station on a broad gauge line between Tralee and Limerick city, however this was closed to passengers in 1963, freight in 1978 and finally abandoned and lifted in 1988. The station building has been preserved as a private residence.
The current town clerk is John Doody , Castleisland former town clerk of Tralee .

History

A unique part played by Listowel in Irish railway history is that of having hosted the world's first monorail operation. The Lartigue system connected the town with Ballybunion, with a double-engined steam locomotive straddling an elevated rail. 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.
The 15th century ruins of Listowel Castle have been rebuilt and now the castle is a tourist attraction in Listowel. The castle formerly belonged to the Fitzmaurices of Lixnaux, who held it by grant of Henry II. It gives title to the Earl of Listowel.

Listowel was the site of a famous mutiny which occurred during the Anglo-Irish War. On the 17th June 1920, police officers at Listowel police station refused to obey the commanding officer's orders that they be relocated to police barracks outside of their rural enclosure, and moved to more urban areas which they could more easily operate with the army in countering the IRA's campaign of terror. The episode has come down to be known as the Listowel mutiny.

Writers Festival

Listowel is also the home of Irelands biggest literary festival. Held annually. For more information check out the following link: Listowel Writers Week.

Pat McAuliffe and his Work

Local plasterer and builder Pat McAuliffe (1846 - 1921) used stucco or external plaster to decorate the facades of townhouses and shops in the town and surrounding area. Local artist Sean Lynch from Moyvane wrote a thesis on his work in 2004.

Published Writers with Listowel Connection

★ George Fitzmaurice, (1877 - 1963)

★ Maurice Walsh, (1879 - 1964)

★ Thomas MacGreevy,(1893 - 1967)

★ Bryan MacMahon (1909 - 1998)

★ John B. Keane, (1928 - 2002)

★ Brendan Kennelly, (1936 - )

★ Gabriel Fitzmaurice, (1952 - )

★ John O'Flaherty, (1937 - ) ''Listowel Races''

★ John McAuliffe, ( 1973 - ), poet, RTE poet of the Future 2000, "A Better Life", "Next Door"

★ Daniel Boland MBE (1891 - 1973), born near Lisselton, Legal Texts, ''ABC Guide to the Practice of the Supreme Court''

★ Billy Keane (), writer and publican, ''The Last of the Heroes''

★ Padraig A. de Brún (1940 - )

★ Timothy Enright - Tadhg Mac Ionnrachtaigh (1926 - 1993)

★ John Moriarty (writer) (1938 - 2007) ''Dreamtime''(1994), ''Turtle was Gone a Long Time I: Cross the Kedron'' and more

★ An tAthair Míchaél Ó Ciosáin (1920 - 1991) ''Cnoc an Fhomhair'' (1989)

★ Seán O'Quigley (1914 - 1994) ''Health and Travel'' (1979)

★ Cecile O'Rahilly (1894 - 1980) ''Ireland and Wales: their Literary Relations'' (1924)

★ Brendan O'Shea (1943 - ) ''Food for Sport and Fitness'' (1983)

★ Father Kieran O'Shea (1937 - ) ''Castleisland: Church and People'' (1981)

★ Robert Pierse (1937 - ) ''Road Traffic Law in the Republic of Ireland'' (1989)

★ Maureen Beasley (1918 - ) Poet, ''The Homes of Killocrim'' (1989)

★ Father Anthony Gaughan () ''Listowel and its vicinity''. 1973.

★ William (Bill) Dee (1965 - ) Poet and Publisher

★ Patrick Fitzgibbon (1945 - ) Playwright and poet, ''Estuary'' (1993)

★ Patrick Given (1934 - ) Playwright and poet, ''The King's Servant'' (1961)

★ Tony Guerin (1938 - ) Playright, ''Cuckoo Blue'' (1998)

★ Denis C (DC) Jennessy (c1942 - ) Poet, ''The Lays of North Kerry'' (1872)

★ Eamon Kelly (1914 - 2001) Novelist, ''The Apprentice'' (1995)

★ Seán McCarthy (1923 - 1990) Journalist and poet. ''Book of Ballads'' (1966)

★ Patrick O'Connor (1919 - 1996) Journalist, Sunday Tribune, RTE Guide, The Standard

★ Father Cornelius O'Keeffe (1929 - ) ''The Later Days are Cold'' (1960)

★ Christian O'Reilly (1968 - ) Scriptwriter, playwright. ''It Just Came Out'' (2000), ''The Good Father'' (2002)

★ Séamus Wilmot (1902 - 1977) ''The Splendid Pretence'' (1947)

★ Vincent Carmody (1944 - ) ''North Kerry Camera: Listowel and its Surroundings (1860-1960)'' (1989)

★ John Dennehy (1946 - ) ''Arts and Crafts in the Primary School'' (1969)

★ Michael Guerin (1946 - ) ''The Lartigue: Listowel and Ballybunion Railway'' (1988)

★ Timothy Leahy (1927 - ) ''Memoirs of a Garda Superintendent'' (1996)

★ Patrick Lysaght (1917 - ) ''The River Feale'' (1987)

★ Michael McCarthy (1918 - 2004) ''Early Days'' (1990)

★ John Molyneaux (1930 - ) Editor ''Clár Cuimhne 1898-1960, Páirc na h-Imearha, Lios Tuathail'' (1960)

★ Nora Relihan (1929 - ) ''Signposts to Kerry'' (2001)

★ Mairéad Carey (1969 - ) Journalist. ''Evening Herald'', ''Magill''

★ Willian Galvin (1970 - ) Journalist. ''Irish Press'', ''Sunday Independent''

★ Katie Hannon (1968 - ) ''The Naked Politician'' (2004)

★ Conor Keane (1960 - ) Journalist ''Limerick Leader'', ''Kerryman'', '' Irish Examiner''

★ John (Seán) Keane (1961 - ) Journalist ''The Kingdom'', ''Kilkenny People'', ''The Irish Times''

★ Father Patrick (Pat) Moore (1957 - ) Journalist, ''Alive-O'

★ Share Phelan (1978 - ) Journalist, ''Waterford News and Star'', Young Journalist of the Year 2003

★ Joseph Stack (1968 - ) Journalist, ''Radio Kerry'', ''RTÉ''

★ Noel Twomey (1970 - ) Journalist, ''Irish Independent'', ''Kerryman''

★ Deirdre Walsh (1968 - ) Journalist, ''Kerryman''

★ Jimmy Woulfe (1952 - ) Journalist, ''Evening Echo'' ''Voices of Kerry'' (1994).

Other Notable People from Listowel

★ Jimmy Deenihan, Gaelic footballer and TD

★ Tadhg Kennelly, footballer

★ Tim Kennelly, footballer

★ Bryan M.E. MacMahon, Judge

★ T. F. O'Rahilly language scholar

★ Michael J. Stack, Member of the United States House of Representatives

★ Séamus O Sullivan, writer and musician

★ John Moriarty writer

Related places

★ Listowel, Ontario is a town in Ontario, Canada, named after the Irish town.

★ Sister city (since 1985)] with Shawnee, Kansas, United States [1]

★ Sister city with Los Gatos, California, United States

References

★ Prideaux, J.D.C.A. (1981). Odd Man Out, in ''The Irish Narrow Gauge Railway'', pp. 26-27. David & Charles (Publishers) Ltd. ISBN 0-7153-8071-0.

★ Gaughan, Father Anthony. ''Listowel and its vicinity''. 1973.

★ Gaughan, Father Anthony. ''Listowel and its vicinity Since 1973''. 2004. ISBN 1-85607-912-0

★ Fitzmaurice, Gabriel. ''The Listowel Literary Phenomenon''. 1994. ISBN 1-874700-87-7

External Links

★ Listowel UDC

★ Jim Cogan's Listowel Site

★ Listowel Race Company

★ Writers Week

★ Lartigue Monorail

★ Boards.ie active thread (2007)

★ Emmets

★ Food Fair

★ St John's Theatre

★ Listowel Online

★ Writers Musuem

★ Mount Rivers
Local Media

★ Kerry's Eye

★ The Kerryman

★ Radio Kerry
Listowel Industries

★ Spectra Photo

★ Kerry Group

★ Listowel Arms Hotel

★ Listowel Autos