was on the main road from Tralee to County Limerick. Farming was the principal industry for centuries and services such as forges for smithing, and lime kilns from the late 1600s (to make lime for acidic soils) developed around this. Local forges were still operational in the mid-20th century. The remains of some kilns can still be found dotted about the landscape. There was a population decline, possibly partly associated with the opening of what is now the main Tralee-Listowel road to the south in 1846, and then the North Kerry railway line with stations opening at Abbeydorney and Lixnaw in 1880 (the line ceasing services entirely from 1978). However, there was also from the 1840s onwards the significant effect of the peak years of the Great Famine in which between 20% and 30% of the population of Kerry died or emigrated (see map). In 1841, 1851 and 1861 the population of Kilflynn village was 147, 134 and 119 respectively (in 2011 it was 126). The area covers two election districts (Kilflynn and Kilfeighny) so these figures may not be entirely representative. History from 1900 Kilflynn people joined the Irish Volunteers, were involved in the War of Independence and the Civil War. The Kilflynn company of the Irish Volunteers was formed in 1913 of about 100 men, drilled by two ex-British soldiers and reservists named Collins and Sheehy. On 13 June 1914 a separate corps formed in Lixnaw, supported on the day by the Kilflynn and other Volunteers. Later in 1914, the reservists were called up to fight in what became World War I and in addition John Redmond encouraged the Irish to join the Allied forces, so the company disbanded as a result and didn't reform until 1917 at Lixnaw. Engagements with the Royal Irish Constabulary (R.I.C) and the "Tans" ("Black and Tans", officially the R.I.C. Reserve Force) became vehement from 1919 after Churchill's call to British war veterans to assist in Ireland. In March 1921 British forces created a cordon starting from Kilflynn to the Atlantic coast in an attempt to trap and round up IRA members: hundreds of men were imprisoned in Ballyheigue Castle, including just one IRA man. After two previous failures, the IRA succeeded in blowing up the bridge over the Shannow where the road to Kilflynn joins the Abbeydorney-Lixnaw road (R557). Units from Kilflynn and Abbeydorney lay in wait for Crown forces and opened