Overview
Beaufort, under the MacGillycuddy’s Reeks, is associated with the director Sidney Olcott and the Kalem Company’s early films in Ireland, including the 1910 short The Lad from Old Ireland. The Irish Film Institute archive has surviving films from the period, including the 1910 short.
That’s the village’s one genuine claim to fame, and it tells you the rest: Beaufort is small, strung along the River Laune west of Killarney on the road to Killorglin. The Irish name is Lios an Phúca, ‘fort of the púca’, the shape-shifting horse of Irish folklore, tied to the ring forts scattered across the parish. People don’t come for the village itself. They come because it sits at the foot of the Reeks and right at the mouth of the Gap of Dunloe.
If you only do one thing
Walk part of the Gap of Dunloe. The Gap of Dunloe is an 11 km glacial valley between Purple Mountain and the MacGillycuddy’s Reeks, with a chain of mountain lakes along the way. You can walk a section and turn back. The narrow road is shared with traffic, cyclists and horse-drawn jaunting cars, so allow room to pass, use designated parking, and try to go early in the morning or in the evening when the road is quieter.
The mountains and the woods
For a mountain day, see the separate Carrauntoohil route guide. The path is rugged, conditions on the Reeks turn fast, and the climb is serious in bad weather, so check the forecast, carry a map or GPS and treat the mountain with respect.
For a gentler outing, Tomies Wood is an oak woodland on the shore of Lough Leane with a waymarked loop and red deer that you have a decent chance of seeing early in the day. Use the National Parks and Wildlife Service car park at Tomies Wood and follow the marked loop. The River Laune runs past the village.
The films, and the rest of the history
The Kalem Company made several films in Ireland in those years, adapting Irish stories such as Rory O’More, The Colleen Bawn and Arrah-na-Pogue.
The deeper history is in the ground. A South Kerry archaeological survey identified over 100 sites across the parish, including the Dunloe Ogham Stones, two ruined churches, and Dunloe Castle, built in 1207, with Corr Castle following in 1450. Earlier, the Beaufort estate belonged to the Day family: Edward Day, Archdeacon of Ardfert, lived here until 1808, and his descendant John Robert Fitzgerald-Day until 1881.
Getting there and parking
Beaufort is west of Killarney towards Killorglin, on the road that forms part of the Ring of Kerry. Check current bus services with the operators before you plan to travel without a car. Use designated parking at the trailhead or attraction you are heading for, such as the National Parks and Wildlife Service car park at Tomies Wood, and don’t leave the car where it blocks the narrow roads into the Gap.