Kerry County Museum

The Kerry County Museum was named ‘2009 Museum of the Year’ in May of this year. So here at the find we decided to pay a visit since the last time any of us had been there was when the museum had electric cars to take visitors around the Medieval experience. They apparently were taken out years ago! So we thought it was time we went back.

For the month of July and August the museum is running a special summer offer. Free entry for children, while adults are €5.00. The museum is divided into six main areas, the special exhibition gallery, audio visual room, museum gallery, Tom Crean room, Knights hall and the medieval experience.

The exhibition currently running in the special exhibition gallery is ‘Spymaster’. The exhibition looks at the life of William Melville a publican’s son from Sneem. Melville worked as a policeman in London and was one of the founding members of the Special Irish Branch which was set up to deal with the Fenian dynamite campaign in England. He was recruited by the British Secret Service during the war and was responsible for foiling a German spy network. Melville know as ‘M’ worked for a number of years as an espionage agent until his death in 1918. This exhibition was fascinating and I particularly liked how the museum provided a number of fun activities for children to encourage them to actively take part. Activities such as looking at the uniqueness of your fingerprints, a questionnaire to identify if you have criminal tendencies, finger print dusting and code cracking. The other exhibitions were equally good and definitely worth a visit.

For further information and the museum opening times visit their website www.kerrymuseum.ie