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Rathkeale

Town in County Limerick, Ireland

Summary

Town in County Limerick, Ireland

Field	Value
settlement_type	Town
name	Rathkeale
native_name	Ráth Caola
native_name_lang	ga
image_skyline	Art deco cinema, Rathkeale, Co. Limerick - geograph.org.uk - 581939.jpg
image_caption	Rathkeale main street, with former Central Cinema
pushpin_map	Ireland
pushpin_label_position	right
pushpin_map_caption	Location in Ireland
coordinates
unit_pref	Metric
elevation_m	45
blank_name_sec1	Irish Grid Reference
blank_info_sec1
subdivision_type2	County
subdivision_name2	County Limerick
population_total	1,441
population_footnotes
population_as_of	2016
subdivision_type	Country
subdivision_name	Ireland
subdivision_type1	Province
subdivision_name1	Munster

Rathkeale () is a town in west County Limerick, in Ireland. It is 30 km (18 mi) southwest of Limerick city on the N21 road to Tralee, County Kerry, and lies on the River Deel. The town is in a townland and civil parish of the same name.

It has a significant Irish Traveller population, and since 1995, almost half the town residents have been members of the travelling community. Rathkeale also has the largest concentration of descendants of the German Palatines who immigrated to Ireland in the early 18th century.

Rathkeale has shopping facilities, a museum, two primary schools, and a community college (Coláiste na Trócaire, founded in 1995). The town has a large Roman Catholic parish church, St. Mary's, Augustinian Abbey ruins, and the Holy Trinity Church of Ireland church.

History

On the southwestern edge of the town is the 15th-century tower house of Castle Matrix. The castle was built as a fortress during the early 1400s by Thomas FitzGerald, 7th Earl of Desmond, and was later the home of Maurice FitzGerald, 9th Earl of Desmond. It contains a display of art objects, holds historical records, and is one of a series of significant Desmond properties in County Limerick (see also Adare, Askeaton, and Newcastle West).

In the cemetery of the Holy Trinity Church are many gravestones bearing names of Irish Palatine families. These families came from Rheinland-Pfalz, in the Rhineland Palatinate, Germany as refugees in 1709. Many of their descendants now live in North America. The region around Rathkeale, namely the townlands of Killeheen, Ballingrane, and Courtmatrix, contains the largest concentration of Palatine descendants in Ireland today. Rathkeale's former railway station on the closed North Kerry railway line from Limerick to Tralee has been converted into the Irish Palatine Museum.

Transport

Rathkeale is served by Bus Eireann routes 13 and 14 which operate between Limerick and Tralee and Killarney respectively.

The area was formerly served by Rathkeale railway station, which opened in January 1867. Having closed for passenger traffic in February 1963, it was permanently closed in December 1974.

The Great Southern Trail, an off-road trail for cyclists and walkers, is a greenway rail trail which follows the route of the former Limerick-Tralee railway line between Rathkeale and Abbeyfeale.

Sport

Mick Neville Park, a large Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) training facility in Rathkeale, is owned by Limerick GAA. It is used by the county teams for training and some matches. It has also hosted club games throughout the GAA season.

The local GAA club, Rathkeale GAA, fields both hurling and football teams. Their home ground, nicknamed "the bog garden," is just outside the north side of the town.

Rathkeale A.F.C. is an association football (soccer) club that competes in the Limerick Desmond League Premier Division. Their home ground is at Holy Cross, just outside the north side of the town.

People

Sean (Jackie) Finn, Brigadier of the 4th (Rathkeale) West Limerick Battalion of the IRA during the Irish War of Independence was a native of Rathkeale. His grave in the local graveyard features an impressive Celtic cross.
The town is reportedly home to many members of the Rathkeale Rovers crime group, who own much of the property within the town.

References

"Census 2016 - Small Area Population Statistics (SAPMAP Area) - Settlements - Rathkeale". Central Statistics Office.
"Rathkeale History & Heritage {{!}} Limerick.ie".
"Ráth Caola/Rathkeale".
"Rathkeale A Unique Town".
"Rathkeale".
"St Mary Church – Rathkeale".
"Some Irish Palatine Landmarks".
"Rathkeale station". Railscot - Irish Railways.
"Home". Great Southern Trail.
(3 May 2019). "MICK NEVILLE PARK GRANTED PLANNING PERMISSION".
"Rathkeale GAA".
"RAFC Home Page".
(2016-02-29). "A small Irish town swollen by the proceeds of crime".

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

towns-and-villages-in-county-limerick townlands-of-county-limerick civil-parishes-of-county-limerick irish-travellers

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