Kilgarvan, Cill Gharbháin, Co. Kerry

Cill Gharbháin · Co. Kerry

Healy-Rae country. The flat-cap capital of rural Ireland, on the road over from Kenmare.

Kilgarvan is a small village in the Roughty valley, on the R569 about eleven kilometres east of Kenmare. Two hundred and sixty-odd people. A church, a creamery, a primary school, a few pubs, and the Roughty river running past the back of the main street on its way down to Kenmare Bay.

What put Kilgarvan in the national news for the last thirty years is the Healy-Raes. Jackie Healy-Rae - a flat-capped Fianna Fáil councillor turned independent - took a Dáil seat in 1997 and held Kerry South until 2011. His sons Michael and Danny followed him in. They are still there. The family runs businesses out of the village and the politics out of the village and a bar in the village with their own name on the door, and Irish journalists have written more column inches about a hill farm in south Kerry than about most county towns. Love them or hate them, you do not ignore them.

Past the politics, it is a quiet stop. Walkers come off the Kerry Way and look for tea. People driving over from Cork pull in at the bar for a sandwich. Once a year the village stops dead for the agricultural show on the August Bank Holiday weekend, and once a year a stretch of mountain road outside the village turns into a hill climb course for the motorsport people. Otherwise, you'll have the place mostly to yourself.

Population

264

Coords

51.9042° N, 9.4367° W

01 / 07

At a glance.

Three things every local will eventually mention. Read these and you've already understood more than most day-trippers do.

01 The dynasty

Three Healy-Raes in three Dáils.

Jackie won the seat in 1997 and held it until 2011. Sons Michael and Danny are both TDs now. The flat cap, the plain talk and the parish-pump politics have a postcode, and this is it.

Stories & lore → 02 The Kerry Way

Long-distance trail through the village.

The Kenmare-to-Killarney leg of the Kerry Way comes down out of the hills above the Roughty valley and through Kilgarvan. Most walkers do it the other direction. Either works.

Walks & outings → 03 The motor museum

One man's vintage car collection, opened to the public.

The Kilgarvan Motor Museum is a private collection of vintage and classic cars assembled over decades. Eccentric, deeply specific, signposted off the village. Open seasonally. Worth an hour.

Stories & lore →

02 / 07

The pubs.

None of these are themed Irish pubs, because they don't need to be. A few that earn the trip:

The Healy-Rae

The family bar

Pub on Main Street

Yes, that Healy-Rae. Run by the family, drunk in by the family, voted for in by the family. The flat cap on the wall is not ironic. Order a pint and listen - half the conversation will be about the council.

MacCarthy's

Locals

Village pub

Old-style country bar on the main street. Quiet most nights. The MacCarthy name in this valley goes back to the 1261 Battle of Callann; the pub is younger than that, but not by everything.

Kilgarvan Bar

Locals, low-key

Roadside pub

The third stool. Sandwiches at the bar if the kitchen is on. A pint and a chat is the menu most days.

03 / 07

Stories & lore.

The reason to come back. The things every local will eventually tell you about, usually after the second pint.

A flat cap and three Dáils

The Healy-Raes

Jackie Healy-Rae left Fianna Fáil in 1997, ran as an independent in Kerry South, and won. He kept the seat for fourteen years on a politics of roads, pumps, school grants and personal phone calls returned. He died in 2014. By then Michael was in the Dáil and Danny was on the council; Danny followed his brother in in 2016. Their critics call it gombeen politics. Their voters call it answering the phone. Either way, the family has elevated the parish-pump tradition to something the rest of the country argues about every election.

A small branch of a Sneem chain

Quill's Woollen Market

Quill's Woollen Market - the Aran-jumper-and-tweed shop you see in every Ring of Kerry village - started in Sneem and ended up with a small chain of branches across the south-west. Kilgarvan has one of the smaller branches. The Sneem original is the mothership; this is the convenient stop on the road from Cork. Same jumpers, fewer coaches.

One man's vintage habit

The Motor Museum

The Kilgarvan Motor Museum is what happens when a private collection of vintage cars outgrows the shed and someone decides to charge a few euro to look at it. Vintage Fords, classic Jaguars, the occasional oddity. Hand-written labels. Erratic opening hours. The kind of museum that exists because somebody cared, not because somebody planned. Phone ahead in the off-season.

Kenmare to Killarney through the back door

The Kerry Way

The Kerry Way is a 200-kilometre walking trail that loops round the Iveragh peninsula. The last stage - Kenmare to Killarney - comes up out of the Roughty valley and crosses the hills past Kilgarvan. Most walkers don't stop in the village; the route runs above it. The few who drop down in for tea are a known species in the bar.

04 / 07

Things to do outside.

Wear waterproofs. Bring a sandwich. Tell someone where you're going if it's the mountain.

Kerry Way - Kenmare to Killarney stage The last leg of the Kerry Way. Kenmare to Killarney by the old droving route over the hills above Kilgarvan. Forest tracks, a pass, then down through Galway's Bridge into the national park. Long day. Pack lunch - there's nothing on the route.

24 kmdistance

7-8 hourstime

Coillte forest at Rossacroo-na-loo Coillte's millennium forest a couple of kilometres outside the village. Marked loops through mixed broadleaf and conifer. Quiet. A rainy-afternoon walk rather than a destination.

4 km loopdistance

1 hourtime

Roughty river riverside The Roughty runs along the back of the village on its way down to Kenmare Bay. Anglers know it for salmon and brown trout. A short walk along the bank gets you out of the car and into the valley.

as long as you fancydistance

30-60 mintime

05 / 07

When to go.

There is no bad time. There are different times.

Spring

Mar-May

The Roughty valley is at its brightest. Lambs in every field. Walkers starting to appear on the Kerry Way.

◉ Go

Summer

Jun-Aug

August Bank Holiday weekend is the agricultural show - the village's one full day of the year. Cattle, vintage tractors, baking, prize jam.

◉ Go

Autumn

Sep-Oct

Quiet, cool, the hill climb often runs around now. Best walking weather of the year.

◉ Go

Winter

Nov-Feb

Short days, wet roads, half the place asleep. Fine if you want it to yourself; less fine if you want a meal after seven.

◐ Mind yourself

06 / 07

What to skip.

Honestly? Don't bother.

If a local was sitting beside you, this is the bit where they'd lean in.

Coming for "the village" alone

It's a one-street village. If you don't have a reason - a walk, the museum, a pint where the Healy-Raes drink - you've driven through it before you've parked.

The Motor Museum without phoning ahead

Opening hours are seasonal and approximate. A wasted detour is a real possibility. Phone the day of.

Expecting a restaurant scene

There is none. Bar food at best. Eat in Kenmare before you come or after you leave.

Getting there.

By car

On the R569 between Kenmare and the Cork road. About 11km east of Kenmare and 18km south of Killarney over the mountain. The drive over from Cork via Macroom and the N22 brings you down into Kenmare; Kilgarvan is the next village east.

By bus

Bus Éireann services between Kenmare and Killarney call in. Limited timetable - check the day. No direct bus from Cork; change in Kenmare or Killarney.

Next on the tour

Co. Kerry

Kenmare

Eleven kilometres down the road. The smart end of South Kerry - bookshops, restaurants, a stone circle, a bay.

Co. Kerry

Killarney

North over the hills. Train station, lakes, all the visitors. Eighteen kilometres on a twisty road.

Co. Kerry

Sneem

Further round the Ring of Kerry from Kenmare. The original Quill's, two village greens and a river between them.

Co. Kerry

Templenoe

West back towards Kenmare, a quiet pier parish with a giant-killing GAA club.