The Kerry Bog Village Museum

During our time in County Kerry, we tried to learn as much as we could about the area. We found The Kerry Bog Village Museum and knew we had to stop.

It cost five euro to enter, and it was well-worth the small fee. We learned about what life was like in Ireland in the early 1800’s and learned about the much older “bog bodies”.

The Village is a few houses and structures that have been recreated and maintained to show what life was like for farmers and families in the area years ago. We walked through homesteads, blacksmith’s quarters, stables, and even an illegal alcohol still and barroom. ​

It was an interesting and educating quick walk through the exhibit. The area is small, because the rest of the land is a bog, or ancient swamp.

The Bog Bodies...

The bog has a specific chemical makeup that creates Peat soil prime for building, burning, and fertilizing. This bog Peat was essential to the people who lived here. It must has been essential to people for a long, long time, because ncient bodies have been found mummified in the water. The bog is extremely acidic and efficiently mummifies what are now know as “bog bodies”. ​​

After learning about the bodies, we decided it was enough for us, and we had seen just about everything else at the village site.

It was a very nice and quick stop during our trip through Ireland.

Read about other places we went in County Kerry in our more detailed blog post here!