Kerry people are a proud people, proud of their own achievements and proud of their heritage.  The immortal Daniel O'Connell gave pride and identity back to an Ireland which lay crushed, but unbroken, by centuries of oppression.  He taught the world the meaning of democracy and non-violence, a legacy that is only now slowly coming to fruition. 

Back through the centuries another Kerryman takes his place in the pantheon of all-time greats, Breanainn or Breandán (anglicized Brendan), of Fenit.  He was born in 484, probably in Fenit Island, west of Tralee.  Brendan was fostered by Airde of Cathair Airde in Listrim, about a mile from Churchill.  Fostering a child was a feature of Irish social life and it seems likely that Brendan grew up in Cathair Airde.  From here he could see clearly his own home in Fenit Island three miles away and beyond that the Maharee Islands and then the boundless Atlantic.  This, doubtless, was the inspiration of his dream, to go where so many of his people had gone, to seek new places and to find his destiny in God beyond the far horizon. 

At this time Barrindus, a hermit who had much sea going experience, lived at Teampal Baruin (whence, possibly, the present name of Barrow) just across the mouth of Barrow harbour from Fenit Island.  He is credited with telling Brendan of his adventures at sea.  There were other sources of information available to Brendan.  For thousands of years Ireland, and Kerry in particular, had a place on the commercial and migration highway of Europe.  Many sagas (called Imram), that may be compared to those of Homer, celebrated voyages of sea-going people.  Among these was the Voyage of Maelduin which many say became the basis of the subsequent Navigatio Brendani, the great medieval saga of Brendan's travels to the Faeroes and beyond.  Another Imram concerned Bran, a Kerryman who always returned to his home near Srub Brain or Sron Bhroin or Brandon Point as it is now known.  Brendan was known as the greatest of the navigators of his, or any other, time.  When the monks of the eighth and subsequent centuries came to Christianize the Imram they made Brendan the central figure in the saga.  We know that Brendan sailed the Shannon to Clonfert and that he visited the Aran Islands and Iona in Scotland and probably went to Wales and Normandy. 

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