Some 27 close-knit members of the ‘Kenny Clan,’ led by George Kenny and his wife Sandy, visited Thurles for some six days last week; all part of their summer vacation and ongoing research into their roots.
Gathered from all over the USA, the ‘Clan Kenny’ group choose the historic Lisheen Castle, near Thurles, Co Tipperary as the location for their main base and recent sojourn.
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American, Australian and other welcome European and Asian visitors searching for their roots and who carefully and intelligently plan their trips to Ireland are now beginning to wisely make their holiday bases here in Thurles, Co.Tipperary. Of course logically and geographically Thurles Co. Tipperary represents the very hub of Ireland, providing just a one or two hour drive, at most, to access most of Ireland’s historical and scenic areas, (e.g. Cobh – 1 h 20 min or 126.4 km, Cliffs of Moher – 2 hrs or 156.8 km, Kilkenny Castle – 44 min or 48 km, Dublin’s Trinity College – 1 h 31 min or 146.2 km etc.).
Visitors on the other hand who choose their central holiday base on Ireland’s coastline, soon learn to their financial and other costs that a great deal of vacation time is being lost in attempting to reach these same destinations, during any visit. Coastline visitors end up instead constantly forced to change their ‘base camps’ in their efforts, over a short period, to pack in all of what our green and pleasant Ireland has to offer.
George and Sandy Kenny, through their own research, have discovered that their Kenny ancestors first arrived in America, possibly sometime in 1846 during the great Irish famine (1845-1849) period. However while records of their arrival in New York are recorded, to date little is known about from whence they originally hailed here in Ireland. To this end if anyone has any information on known Kenny immigrants in or around that period in Irish history, perhaps you could contact us here on Thurles.Info and we can arrange to connect you with the US Kenny Clan.
The Clan members, many of whom are keen musicians, visited the Monk’s Traditional Irish Pub here in Thurles, to join local musicians as part of their regular Wednesday night Irish music jam sessions.
We look forward and welcome their promised return trip to Ireland in the not too distant future.
Last, but by no means least, a big ‘Thank You‘ to classic rock and folk singers, songwriters and musicians; Nikki Turner and Nora Fogarty ; latter also Sean-nós (Irish for “old style”) singer for their granting of the free use of their great vocal & musical talents, in the making of this slide-show video.
