Milltown

Milltown combines a planned town centre with distinctive historic buildings, an annual music festival and a long cycling route. This offers a range of ways to explore: you can discover the town’s architecture, experience Féile Lughnasadh or get to know Milltown as part of the King Puck Route. The town therefore offers more than one single point of interest when looking for a holiday apartment.

Town centre and historic buildings

Milltown is a planned town, which gives its small town centre a distinctive character. Another defining feature is the formal square in front of the gates of Kilcolman Abbey. This square still exists and forms an architectural focal point, or a distinct area in its own right. Anyone interested in the layout and history of a place will find not only individual buildings here, but also a square described as a distinct part of the townscape.

Milltown Church (Kilcolman) is a free-standing, two-storey Church of Ireland church built by the Board of First Fruits in 1819. Its east window features limestone tracery dating to around 1865. The church was also renovated and extended around the same time, around 1865. This gives the church a clearly defined building history: construction in 1819 was followed by work roughly four decades later. The tracery on the east window is a specific architectural detail to look out for when exploring the building.

A different type of building is The Monastery on Church Street. This free-standing convent building was built around 1850, has two storeys and five bays. The church and The Monastery thus represent different building purposes and periods: on the one hand, an 1819 church with later work and a notable window detail; on the other, a convent building dating from around 1850. These differences make architecture a subject in its own right during your time in Milltown, without limiting your visit to a single building.

Musical tradition and excursions nearby

Féile Lughnasadh is a traditional Irish music festival in Milltown. It is organised by the local Milltown-Listry branch of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann, and attracts visitors and locals every year. For travellers who want to focus on music and local traditions, it is a recurring part of cultural life that you can take into account when choosing when to travel.

There is also a historic site outside the town: Killagha Abbey lies outside Milltown on the banks of the River Maine, right beside the N70. Geoffrey De Marisco founded the abbey in 1215 for the Canons Regular of St Augustine. Its east window was restored by a local community group. This building brings together its foundation history and a specific example of community restoration. Killagha Abbey is distinct from Kilcolman Abbey, whose gates mark the square in Milltown that still exists.

Explore Milltown by bike

Route 12, the King Puck Route, connects Milltown, Beaufort, Kilgobnet, Lough Caragh, Killorglin and Callanafersy before returning to Milltown. It is 62 kilometres long and has no major climbs. You can therefore use the route’s distance and stated elevation profile as specific criteria when planning your day. The route offers a different way to experience the destination from exploring the town centre and its architectural history: it passes through several named places and landscapes before returning to Milltown.

Milltown is on the N70. Together with the location of Killagha Abbey directly beside this road, this provides a clear point of reference when choosing which destinations to include in your trip. If your trip is centred on the 62-kilometre cycling route, you can make it a focus in its own right. Your choice of holiday apartment in Milltown can therefore reflect the experiences that matter most to your trip.

Discover other places

Find more town pages for Anascaul, Castleisland, Muckross, Aughrim, Beaufort, Lispole, Inch and Gortrelig.

For the broader travel overview: County Kerry.