• 10 years ago
Portmagee http://www.kerrycliffs.com
Portmagee, is a little village in County Kerry, Ireland. The village is located on the tip of Iveragh peninsula south of Valentia Island. The name in Irish means 'the ferry', referring to its purpose as a crossing point to the island where access to Valentia Island is now via a bridge from Portmagee. The bridge is called the Maurice O'Neill Memorial Bridge.
Portmagee, origin of the name
The name of Portmagee is derived from a name of Captain Theobald Magee who was the notorious smuggler operated around 18th century. The man was an officer in the army of King James, the famous army in an Irish history. After retiring, captain Magee opted for mercantilism operating the countries of France, Portugal and here in Ireland.
By use of the primitive ways of capital accumulation plus the rugged coastline of south west Kerry was a perfect location to trade in contraband spirits, textiles and tea and tobacco was almost impossible to police and hence very lucrative in his operations. In this way he became much feared merchant tycoon around Ireland.
Captain Magee married a Bridget Morgell, who was the widow of a rich Dingle merchant and also the daughter of the then representative for Dingle, Thomas Crosbie. It is then understood that Magee's death was due to some exile imposed by the powerful MP
After the death of captain Magee in Lisbon monastery, his wife and sons took charge for the running of the family business.

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