The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
Maharees highlights rich heritage
THE history of the Maharees is not the history of big monuments, but of ordinary people who have succeeded in eking out an existence from a harsh environment since the Bronze Age. For the most part it has been a hidden history but it will be better known following the launch last weekend of the Maharees Heritage Trail which tells the story of those people, and the land and sea that sustained them.
The 10km trail follows the Maharees coastline, taking in Tralee Bay, Scraggane Bay, Brandon Bay and five of the narrow peninsula’s six villages, highlighting points of interest along the way.
Maharees Conservation Association CLG developed the trail to raise awareness of the natural and cultural heritage of the area among the local community and the many visitors to the area. Interpretive trail map signs are located at Beal Geal, Kilshannig and Fahamore and they complement existing signage about the unique sand dune system and the resident and visiting bird populations.
Speaking at the launch in Fahamore on Saturday, Maharees Conservation Association Chairman Martin Lynch said the Maharees has a long history of human settlement, dating from the Bronze Age fulacht fias found at Magherabeg and the Early Christian Monastic Sites at Oileán tSeanaigh and Kilshannig. However, for the most part it was “a hidden history of the people who lived here and how they got on”.
Some of that hidden history is revealed along the heritage trail, for example at Chora Locha where a massive shell midden provides evidence that the stony strand provided a supply of shellfish to countless generations of inhabitants. The beach provided for the local polulation in other ways as well: In 1890 the 174-foot barque, The Charger, was wrecked there and many of the 29,000 deal boards she was carrying were washed ashore. The authorities arrived to claim the wreckage but didn’t find much as the locals had already carried them off and hidden them.
Martin also referred to accounts from the 1800s which told of the struggle for survival in the Maharees. One visiting writer noted that “an extraordinary air of savagery pervades” and in 1895 The Kerry Sentinel reported on evictions saying that “the homes of these poor creatures are a scene of desolation… their plight ought to bring tears to a heart of stone”.
Minister of State for Tourism and Sport, Brendan Griffin, performed the official launch of the heritage trail, arriving in Fahamore with great ceremony in a horse and trap driven by Denny Cronin. He said tourism needs to be developed as a year-round industry to provide the jobs needed to keep young people at home in rural areas and the Maharees Heritage Trail was a good example of developing tourism in a sustainable way.
“The Maharees is a beautiful place, with so much more potential. There are challenges to address [such as the ongoing erosion of the peninsula] but we’ll do that and we can build a great future for this community,” he said.
Speaking in the open air beside Chora Locha strand, Minister Griffin added that he has travelled widely at home and abroad since being appointed as a minister, but he had never before made a speech in such a spectacular location. On a balmy summer’s day in the sun-kissed Maharees everybody was inclined to agree.