Kenmare - City of Ireland

Kenmare is a small town in the south of County Kerry, Ireland. The Irish name for the town 'An Neidín' translates into English as 'The Little Nest'. The name Kenmare is the anglicised form of Ceann Mara "head of the sea", which refers to the furthest point inland reached by the sea.

The entire area was granted to the English scientist, Sir William Petty by Oliver Cromwell as part payment for completing the mapping of Ireland, the Down Survey in 1656. He laid out the modern town circa 1670. Like William Petty, a previous surveyor of Ireland, Sir Valentine Browne, ancestor of the Earl of Kenmare was granted some lands in County Kerry during the resulting plantation, the Munster Plantation.

The three main streets that form a triangle in the centre of the town are called Main Street,Henry Street , after the son of William the 1st. Marquis and Shelbourne Street . This name was also later applied to Shelbourne, Dublin.

A suspension bridge, which is claimed to be the first in Ireland, over the Kenmare River was opened in 1841 and served the community till 1932 when it was replaced by a new concrete bridge.

The town is noted for receiving Ireland's tidiest town award in 2000 and being a runner-up in 2003 and 2008. The Catholic Church in the town contains stained glass from Franz Mayer & Co..

The town library is one of the Carnegie Libraries funded by Andrew Carnegie. It opened in 1918, and the architect was R.M. Butler.

The Church of Ireland church of St Patrick celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2008.

Kenmare was home to English composer Ernest John Moeran for a number of years up to his death and a local bar is named after him. Gaelic footballer Mickey 'Ned' O'Sullivan is from the town, while another footballer, Pat Spillane, comes from nearby Templenoe. Current Kerry GAA player Paul O'Connor hails from Kenmare. Kenmare is also the home of Irish Olympic slalom skier Thos Foley. Diplomat Con Cremin was also from Kenmare. NY construction magnate Patrick Harrington was also from Kenmare. Anna McPartlin grew up in Kenmare, in 2007 she wrote the novel Apart from the Crowd, with setting in Kenmare.