Waterville, historically known as Coirean[2] (Irish: An Coireán, meaning 'little cauldron'), is a village in County Kerry, Ireland, on the Iveragh Peninsula.

[citation needed] The Butler family built a house at the mouth of the River Currane in the latter part of the 18th century.

[5] 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.

The cable station brought much activity to Waterville and additional housing was built to accommodate the telegraph company personnel who settled in the area.

[9] 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 (1874) and Waterville (1884) making County Kerry a focal point for intercontinental communication.