Ardfert is a
parish in the
Barony of Clanmaurice, County Kerry, Ireland, anciently in the territory of Ui Fearba/Hy Ferba, of which the O'Laeghain (O'Leyne, Leen or Lane) were once the Gaelic Lords, until
Norman invasion of Ireland. Ardfert is the home of St. Brendan's
Ardfert Cathedral, which was destroyed in the
Irish Rebellion of 1641, and the birthplace of
St. Brendan the Navigator, who was educated about the year 500 AD. He founded a
monastery there in the sixth century, but both town and monastery were destroyed by fire in 1089, and again in 1151. The
Norman influence can still be seen not only in the
architecture, but also in local family surnames such as the Cantillons (Barons de
Ballyheigue), and Fitzmaurices, and in place names, such as Ballintobeenig, a nearby townland below Mt. Crusline called after St. Aubin.
Thomas FitzMaurice, 1st Baron Kerry founded a
Franciscan friary there in 1253, and Nicholas, the 2nd Lord Kerry, built a
leper house there in 1312. It was the seat of a
bishopric until 1660. The
Crusader
Knights Hospitaller of the Order of Saint John of
Jerusalem (later known as Knights of Malta), also had some rights in Ardfert, although there is a record of a dispute between them and the Franciscans in 1325 about the market cross and
pillory. They had already been established in the area in c. 1200 when
Meiler FitzHenry, grandson of King
Henry I of England, and Justiciar of Ireland under King John, established a preceptory at Rattoo under a Fra' William from Dublin. Under the terms of a royal grant in
letters patent of
James I of England on 6 July 1612, the
Lord of Kerry (FitzMaurice) could hold courts
baron and leet. The
Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland, recount how in 1601, Prince
Hugh Roe O'Donnell, on his way to the
Battle of Kinsale, sent some of his kinsmen troops there to reconquer Ardfert,
Lixnaw, and Ballykeally for his ally FitzMaurice. En route, he visited and venerated a relic of the
True Cross (
Holy rood) on the Feast of St. Andrew, on 30 November 1601, at
Holy Cross Abbey, near
Thurles,
County Tipperary, which was a rallying point for the defence of religious freedom and for Irish sovereignty. From there he sent an expedition to Ardfert, to win a quick victory and recover the territory of his ally, Fitzmaurice, Lord of Kerry, who had lost it and his 9-year-old son, to Sir Charles Wilmot. The expedition captured Caislean Gearr (Short Castle, of which no trace remains), adjacent to the Cathedral in Ardfert. An
O'Donnell from
Tyrconnell remained behind in stewardship to hold it, according to "''The Life of Hugh Roe O'Donnell, Prince of Tyrconnell''"written by
Lughaidh O'Cléirigh, circa 1603 in Gaelic. A large tomb in the grounds of the cathedral was built much later by John O'Donnell (1803–1879), the most prominent descendant two centuries later, and whose own direct male descendant was the late
Patrick Denis O'Donnell (1922–2005), the Irish military historian. He owned the summit overlooking Ardfert (Mt. Crusline, Ballintobeenig, from where his ancestral
O'Donnell of Tyrconnell, under authority of Prince
Hugh Roe O'Donnell would have launched the battle to regain Ardfert for Lord Kerry in 1601). The family seat of John O'Donnell, at Tubrid mentioned by
Samuel Lewis in his 1837
Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, passed through a female line to the O'Carrolls. The house expanded by John O'Donnell in Tubridmore was listed as an intended "protected structure" in the archaeological monuments section of the draft Kerry County Development Plan 2015–2021. In the early 19th century, the
Earl of Listowel (Hare) was
Lord of the Manor and held court every three weeks in Ardfert, through an appointed
Seneschal, having bought those rights from the Earl of Kerry, Fitzmaurice. The area's archaeological heritage includes the medieval cathedral, St. Brendan's, and associated churches, Temple na Hoe (Church of the young Virgin) and Temple na Griffin. Several have these have become
heritage tourism attractions in the Kerry area due to their central location. The 13th century Franciscan Friary, to the north east of the village, was once an integral part of Ardfert Abbey - not an abbey at all but the name of the Talbot-Crosbie mansion destroyed by fire in 1922 by the IRA. Five other structures included on the
Record of Protected Structures (RPS) are located in Ardfert; St Brendan's Catholic Church (consecrated in 1855), the Old Gates of the Earl of
Glandore's Demesne, the Talbot-Crosbie Memorial, the Ardfert Parish Room (now a site registered as derelict by Kerry County Council) and Brandon House. There are also many other structures within the village which are not included in the RPS, but are considered to be of considerable architectural and heritage value, such as the Ardfert Retreat Center. Also nearby are the surviving
estate walls which contribute to the character and identity of the village. ==Geography and development==