# Cahersiveen

Cahersiveen (Irish: Cathair Saidhbhín, meaning 'Little Sadhbh's stone ringfort'), sometimes Cahirciveen, is a town in the far south-west of Ireland, in County Kerry. As at 2022 it had a population of 1,297.

## Geography and access

Cahersiveen is on the slopes of 376-metre-high Bentee, and on the lower course of the River Ferta. It is the principal settlement of the Iveragh Peninsula, near Valentia Island. The town is 50 km west of Killarney, and is connected to the Irish road network by the N70 national secondary road.
Cahersiveen was served from 1893 to 1960 by the Cahersiveen railway station on the Great Southern and Western Railway.
As at 2024 there are many Local Link buses every day to various local towns and villages, with some going to Killorglin, Killarney and Tralee.

## History

In 1597, the Iveragh estate was received by Trinity College, Dublin as part of a royal grant. It previously belonged to the Earl of Desmond. The 8,808 acre estate stretched from Killorglin all the way to Valentia incorporating the parishes of Glenbegh, Killinane, Cahir, Killemlagh, Dromod, Prior and Valentia.
The Scottish civil engineer Alexander Nimmo first visited Cahersiveen in 1811 as sent by the Bog Commission. He noted the lack of development, and poverty, in the estate, and that the main road to the area was unpassable by carriage at that time. Over the next few years, whilst planning the bogs of the estate he also designed many road and bridge plans. The most notable of these was the main road through Iveragh into the town built in 1822.
It was here the first shots of the Fenian Rising were fired in 1867.
Cahersiveen was the site of the murder of five local men taken in the early hours of the morning from Bahaghs Workhouse where they were held prisoner, shot in the legs then blown up with a landmine on 12 March 1923 during the Civil War.

## Mentions in literature

Patrick O'Brian's novel Post Captain gives Cahersiveen as the location of the character Stephen Maturin's childhood home in Ireland.
    At present two Highlanders were talking slowly to an Irishman in Gaelic ... as he lay there on his stomach to ease his flayed back. 'I follow them best when I do not attend at all,' observed Stephen, 'it is the child in long clothes that understands, myself in Cahirciveen."
Cahirciveen is the central city in Brian Moore's futuristic novel Catholics

## Places of interest

The Catholic church in the town is the only one in Ireland named after a layperson, Daniel O'Connell.
The decommissioned Royal Irish Constabulary barracks, dating to the 1870s and now a heritage centre, was built in the distinctive "Schloss" style favoured by its architect, Enoch Trevor Owen. Because of this, it is often claimed to have been mistakenly built from the plans for a British barracks in India – a common myth heard in many Irish garrison towns.
The stone forts of Cahergall and Leacanabuaile stand close to each other a short distance from the town.
The ruins of Ballycarbery Castle are near to Cahergall and Leacanabuaile.
The town falls within the Kerry International Dark-Sky Reserve, the first Gold Tier Reserve in the northern hemisphere and one of only four Gold Tier Dark-Sky Reserves on earth.

## Gaeltacht Service Town

Cahersiveen is the eighth Gaeltacht Service Town, on the 15th of June 2023 the Minister of State Patrick O'Donovan launched the "Cathair Saidhbhín Language Plan" alongside Kerry County Council.

## Education

The town's primary school, Scoil Saidhbhín, opened in September 2015. This is an amalgamation of Scoil Mhuire, a boys' primary school and St Joseph's Convent, a girls' primary school. There are four primaries in the parish of Cahersiveen, including those in the town's hinterland: Aghatubrid National School, Coars National School, and Foilmore National School. Aghatubrid was established in 1964 and as of 2019 had about 75 students.
Coláiste na Sceilge is the town's co-educational secondary school. Over 530 pupils attend from all around the Iveragh Peninsula.
An tAonad Lán-Ghaeilge is the local Gaelscoil - an all Irish-speaking class for 1st to 3rd-year students, where students do all their learning through Irish.

## Notable people

* Sigerson Clifford (1913–1985)
* Jerry Grogan
* Daniel O'Connell (The Liberator) (1775–1847)
* Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty (The Scarlet Pimpernel) (1898–1963)

## Gallery

* Gate to Holy Well on New Street
* Corner of Main Street and O'Connell Street
* O'Connell Street
* West Main Street