Bonane or Bunane () is a small village in

County Kerry County Kerry () is a Counties of Ireland, county on the southwest coast of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. It is bordered by two other countie ...

, Ireland, approximately 10 kilometres from

Kenmare Kenmare () is a small town in the south of County Kerry, Ireland. The name Kenmare is the anglicised form of ''Ceann Mara'', meaning "head of the sea", referring to the head of Kenmare Bay. It is also a townland and civil parish. Location Ken ...

. It is within the Sheen River valley, between the Sheehy and

Caha Mountains The Caha Mountains (''An Cheacha'' in Irish) are a range of low sandstone mountains on the Beara peninsula in south-west County Cork, Ireland. The highest peak is Hungry Hill, at . Other notable peaks include Knocknagree, Sugarloaf Mountain ...

. The area is home to a number of archaeological sites.

History

Prehistory

Evidence of ancient settlement in the area includes a number of

ringfort Ringforts or ring forts are small circular fortification, fortified settlements built during the Bronze Age, Iron Age and early Middle Ages up to about the year 1000 AD. They are found in Northern Europe, especially in Ireland. There are ...

stone circle A stone circle is a ring of megalithic standing stones. Most are found in Northwestern Europe – especially Stone circles in the British Isles and Brittany – and typically date from the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age, with most being ...

bullaun A bullaun (; from a word cognate with "bowl" and French ''bol'') is the term used for the depression in a stone which is often water filled. Natural rounded boulders or pebbles may sit in the bullaun. The size of the bullaun is highly variable ...

souterrain ''Souterrain'' (from French ', meaning "subterrain", is a name given by archaeologists to a type of underground structure associated mainly with the European Atlantic Iron Age. These structures appear to have been brought northwards from Gaul d ...

and hut sites in the surrounding

townland A townland (; Ulster-Scots: ''toonlann'') is a traditional small land division used in Ireland and in the Western Isles of Scotland, typically covering . The townland system is of medieval Gaelic origin, predating the Norman invasion, and mo ...

s of Milleens and Deelis.

Ecclesiastical sites

Historically associated with Saint Fiachna, there are a number of ecclesiastical sites around Bonane, including a

Mass rock A Mass rock ( Irish: ''Carraig an Aifrinn)'' was a rock used as an altar by the Catholic Church in Ireland, during the 17th and 18th centuries, as a location for secret and illegal gatherings of faithful attending the Mass offered by outlawed ...

at ''Inse an tSagairt'' in Innisfoyle townland. In his 2013 book on Mass rocks, Tony Nugent includes a story about the last killing of a

Roman Catholic priest The priesthood is the office of the ministers of religion, who have been commissioned ("ordained") with the holy orders of the Catholic Church. Technically, bishops are a priestly order as well; however, in common English usage ''priest'' re ...

at a Mass rock, which reputedly took place at the ''Inse an tSagairt'' site in 1829. According to the story, described in other sources as a "strong folk belief" or "local legend", a woman, who ran a

shebeen A shebeen (, "home-made whiskey") was originally an illicit bar or club where accessible alcoholic beverages were sold without a license. The term has spread far from its origins in Ireland, to Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Zimb ...

at nearby

Glengarriff Glengarriff () is a village of approximately 200 people on the N71 national secondary road in the Beara Peninsula of County Cork, Ireland. Known internationally as a tourism venue, it has a number of natural attractions. It sits at the northe ...

, conspired with five local men to kill a priest and split the £45 bounty. After capturing the priest during

Mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...

, beheading him inside a house at Killowen near

, and bringing his severed head to

Cork city Cork ( ; from , meaning 'marsh') is the second-largest city in Republic of Ireland, Ireland, the county town of County Cork, the largest city in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the List of settlements on the island of Ireland ...

, the six conspirators learned that Catholic Emancipation had just been signed into law and that no reward would be given. In the folktale, the six

priest hunter A priest hunter was a person who, acting on behalf of the English and later British government, spied on or captured Catholic priests during Penal Times. Priest hunters were effectively bounty hunters. Some were volunteers, experienced soldiers ...

s reputedly threw the severed head into the

River Lee The River Lee () is a river in Ireland. It rises in the Shehy Mountains on the western border of County Cork and flows eastwards through Cork, where it splits in two for a short distance, creating an island on which Cork's city centre is b ...

in frustration. The nearby parish church at Sheana-Shéipéil, described as having "tottering walls" and a "confined unsafe cabin" in 1839, was replaced with a new structure at Milleens in the mid-19th century. The present church, dedicated to Saint Fiachna, was built on the same site in 1892.

Amenities

Tourist sites in the area include Bonane Heritage Park, a chocolate factory and traditional farm and visitors centre. St. Fiachna's Church (built 1892) is in the centre of the village, while Bonane's national (primary) school is located at Tulloha.

Transport

Bonane lies on the N71 national route between

and

. While

Bus Éireann Bus Éireann (; "Irish Bus") is a state-owned bus and coach operator providing services throughout Republic of Ireland, Ireland, with the exception of Dublin, where bus services are provided by sister company Dublin Bus. It is a subsidiary of C ...

route 270 (from

Killarney Killarney ( ; , meaning 'church of sloes') is a town in County Kerry, southwestern Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The town is on the northeastern shore of Lough Leane, part of Killarney National Park, and is home to St Mary's Cathedral, Killar ...

Skibbereen Skibbereen (; ) is a town in County Cork, Ireland. It is located in West Cork on the N71 national secondary road. The River Ilen runs through the town; it reaches the sea about 12 kilometres away, at the seaside village of Baltimore. Located ...

) passes through the village, there is no official

bus stop A bus stop is a place where Public transport bus service, buses stop for passengers to get on and off the bus. The construction of bus stops tends to reflect the level of usage, where stops at busy locations may have shelter (building), shelters ...

. A

TFI Local Link TFI Local Link, or simply Local Link, is a set of local bus services in Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided ...

service, which must be prebooked, runs every Wednesday and on the second Saturday of the month.

References

External links

Bonanekenmare.ie website
Towns and villages in County Kerry Mass rocks {{Kerry-geo-stub