Lacemaking and Standing Stones

The village of Kenmare in south County Kerry is small, but it is packed with history. The Kenmare Lace and Design Center takes up most of floor of the building where it’s housed. And the park in the center of town is home to the Kenmare Stone Circle, said to offer magical powers to those who are receptive. And both are worth the drive.

When you enter the Lace Center you are welcomed by examples of Kenmare lace, Limerick Lace, Bobbin Lace, Carrickmacross Lace and Irish Crochet Lace; and by Nora Finnegan. She knows all about them all and is happy to demonstrate how they are made.

Nora Finnegan, master lacemaker in Kenmare.

“It takes 15-25 hours to make an inch of Kenmare Lace,” she says. It used to be said it was worth its weight in gold.” And she has a lot of stories about lace made for Princess Dianna’s wedding veil, for priest’s vestments and the story of a bedspread made for an American customer.

“She wanted a bedspread made. It took 25 nuns 3 years to make it. It was worth $300 at a time when a substantial house could be bought for $100! So that bedspread was worth three houses back then,” she says.

And in the center of a park in the center of the village is a stone circle said to have magical powers for those who are receptive to ‘energy veins’ running through the area. And he says many people enter the circle barefoot to be more connected with the energy there.

Stone Circle in Kenmare. It is said to be 3 thousand years old and magic.

It’s also home to two different fairy trees, Hawthorns, protected as a portal to the fairy world. And you can leave the fairies ribbons and notes asking for blessings.