Ireland (Lonely Planet, 9th Edition) - Fionn Davenport [262]
Turning right in front of the cathedral and going 500m down the road brings you to the extensive remains of a Franciscan friary, dating from the 13th century, but with 15th-century cloisters.
Return to beginning of chapter
LISTOWEL
pop 3900
The late writer Bryan MacMahon said of Listowel: ‘I harbour the absurd notion of motivating a small town in Ireland, a speck on the map, to become a centre of the imagination.’ Listowel certainly has more literary credentials than your average provincial town, with connections to such accomplished scribes as John B Keane, Maurice Walsh, George Fitzmaurice and Brendan Kennelly.
Outside these connections and a few venues, however, the town is little more than some tidy Georgian streets and a riverside park.
Orientation & Information
The Square is the main focus of the town. At its centre is the St John’s Theatre and Arts Centre, formerly St John’s Church. Most pubs and restaurants are on Church and William Sts, north from the Square, while a short walk southeast along Bridge Rd takes you to the River Feale and Childers Park. The river can also be reached down the road alongside the castle.
There’s metered parking in the main square, and free parking downhill to the right of the castle.
Bank of Ireland (the Square) Has an ATM and bureau de change.
North Kerry Together ( 068-23429; 58 Church St; 15min/1hr €1/3; 9.30am-5pm Mon-Fri) Internet access and wi-fi.
Post office (William St) At the northern end of the street.
Tourist office ( 068-22590; www.listowel.ie; 9.30am-1pm & 2-5.15pm Mon-Sat Jun-Sep) Housed in the St John’s Theatre & Arts Centre.
Woulfe’s Bookshop ( 068-21021; 7 Church St) A good place for works by local literary luminaries. The Kerry Literary & Cultural Centre bookshop also stocks titles by local writers.
Sights & Activities
Kerry Literary & Cultural Centre, with its audiovisual Writers’ Exhibition (Seanchaí; 068-22212; www.kerrywritersmuseum.com; 24 the Square; adult/child €5/3; 9.30am-5.30pm daily Jun-Sep, Mon-Fri Oct-May), is an absolute gem that gives due prominence to Listowel’s heritage of literary observers of Irish life. Rooms are devoted to local greats such as John B Keane and Bryan MacMahon, with simple, haunting tableaux narrating their lives and recordings of them reading their work. There is a cafe and a performance space where events are sometimes staged.
Keane, who is remembered with a statue in which he seems to be hailing a cab, wrote with wry humour about subjects ranging from Limerick’s beggars to the perils of giving up porter as a New Year’s resolution. On Church St there is a literary mural depicting the local writers and their pronouncements.
The 12th-century Listowel Castle ( 086 385 7201; www.heritageireland.ie; admission free; 9.30am-5.30pm late May-Aug), behind the Kerry Literary & Cultural Centre, was once the stronghold of the Fitzmaurices, the Anglo-Norman lords of Kerry. The castle was the last in Ireland to succumb to the Elizabethan attacks during the Desmond revolt. What remains of the castle has been thoroughly restored.
St Mary’s Church, in the Square, was built in 1829 in the neo-Gothic style. It has some lovely mosaic work over the altar and a vaulted roof with timber beams. In Childers Park is the Garden of Europe (), opened in 1995. Its 12 sections represent the 12 members of the EU of the day. There is a fine bust of the poet Schiller and, strikingly, Ireland’s only public monument to those who died in the Holocaust, and to all victims of injustice. The walk along the Feale here is a good respite from town.
Loctated in a former church, St John’s Theatre & Arts Centre ( 068-22566; www.stjohnstheatrelistowel.com;