The town's name in Irish, Coireán, means "little cauldron" or "little whirlpool", and refers to the shape of Ballinskelligs Bay on which the town sits. This name, however, has been transplanted onto the lake with the lake's Irish name being Loch Luíoch or Loch Luidheach. The Butler family built a house at the mouth of the River Currane in the latter part of the 18th century. They named their house and estate Waterville. The village that developed on the estate during the first half of the 19th century was also named Waterville.
History
Pre-history
Evidence of ancient settlement in the area include a megalithic tomb at Eightercua. This four-stone alignment is located 1.5 km south-south-east of the village.
Telegraphy
The first successful transatlantic cable was finally laid after a number of attempts in 1865 by the Anglo American Telegraph Company between Heart's Content in Newfoundland and Labrador and Valentia Island near Waterville. Waterville's role in transatlantic communication came later when in the 1880s, the Mackay-Bennett Commercial Cable Company laid their first Transatlantic telegraph cable from the nearby townland of Spunkane to Hazel Hill, near Canso, Nova Scotia. The cable station brought much activity to Waterville and additional housing was built to accommodate the telegraph company personnel who settled in the area. Waterville served as the principal European hub for the Commercial Cable Company.
Telegraph cables
On 13 July 1866, SS Great Eastern steamed westward from Valentia Island laying telegraph cable behind her. The successful landing at Heart's Content, Newfoundland on 27 July, established the first telegraph link between Europe and North America. Later, additional cables were laid from Valentia Island and new stations opened at Ballinskelligs and Waterville making County Kerry a focal point for intercontinental communication. The Commercial Cable Company were able to lay cables from Waterville to Canso, Nova Scotia, with onward connections. Connections from Waterville to Weston-super-Mare in England and Le Havre in France were soon established. During the Civil War, the communication system between Paris and New York went down on 7 August 1922 when IRA irregulars seized Waterville. In July 2000, the cable stations received an International Milestone Heritage Site Award from the IEEE for their significance in the history of electrical science. The Kerry cable stations are recognised as World Heritage Communications Sites. Waterville's cable station history is outlined in an exhibition in the Tech Amergin centre, and the remaining structures and locations feature in the Waterville Heritage Trail.
Community
and his family first visited the town in 1959. They then returned to holiday in the town every year for over ten years. The community continued the connection to Chaplin by obtaining permission from the Charlie Chaplin estate to hold the inaugural Charlie Chaplin Comedy Film Festival in the spirit of Charlie Chaplin. The first festival was held in August 2011. The Tech Amergin adult education centre is used as a venue for events, shows and exhibitions, and vocational training.
Charlie Chaplin and his family visited the town as a favoured holiday spot. There is a statue of Chaplin in the centre of the village in his memory.
Mick O'Dwyer, Gaelic footballer and former Kerry senior football manager, is from the area. There is also a statue to O'Dwyer in the town.
The Marquess of Lansdowne, the Hartopps and the Butlers were landowners and landlords in the area. Both the Hartopps and Butlers were considered helpful to tenants and created local employment. In a tourist guide of the 1860s, the Hartopp Arms Hotel and Butler's Arms were described as "stately" and "comfortable" respectively. The Hartopp Arms, later known as the Southern Lake Hotel, was demolished and the Waterville Lake Hotel constructed in its place at the beginning of the 1970s.
