Rathkeale

Rathkeale Ráth Caola
Town
Rathkeale main street, with the former Central Cinema to right
Rathkeale Location in Ireland
Coordinates: 52°31′00″N 8°56′00″W / 52.516667°N 8.933333°W / 52.516667; -8.933333Coordinates: 52°31′00″N 8°56′00″W / 52.516667°N 8.933333°W / 52.516667; -8.933333
Country	Ireland
Province	Munster
County	County Limerick
Elevation	45 m (148 ft)
Population (2011)
• Urban	1,550
Irish Grid Reference	R360420

Rathkeale (Irish: Ráth Caola, meaning "Caola's ringfort") is a town in west County Limerick, in Ireland. It is 30 km (18 mi) southwest of Limerick city on the N21 road to Tralee, Co Kerry, and lies on the River Deel. Rathkeale has a significant Irish Traveller population, and the largest concentration of descendants of the German Palatines who immigrated to Ireland in the early 18th century is in villages around it.

Rathkeale has shopping facilities, a museum and a community college, Coláiste na Trócaire, founded in 1995. The town has a large Roman Catholic parish church, Augustinian Abbey ruins and a Church of Ireland church, Holy Trinity.

Rathkeale railway station opened on 1 January 1867, closed for passenger traffic on 4 February 1963 and finally closed altogether on 2 December 1974. The Great Southern Trail an off-road trail for cyclists and walkers is a greenway rail trail which follows the route of the former Limerick-Tralee railway line between Rathkeale and Abbeyfeale.