Ballinskelligs, officially ( Irish for "town (townland) of the craggy rock"), is a

townland A townland (; Ulster-Scots: ''toonlann'') is a traditional small land division used in Ireland and in the Western Isles of Scotland, typically covering . The townland system is of medieval Gaelic origin, predating the Norman invasion, and mo ...

in the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

of Prior,

County Kerry County Kerry () is a Counties of Ireland, county on the southwest coast of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. It is bordered by two other countie ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. It may also refer to the wider district around the townland. It is located in the south-west of the

Iveragh peninsula The Iveragh Peninsula () is located in County Kerry in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is the largest peninsula in southwestern Ireland. A mountain range, the MacGillycuddy's Reeks, lies in the centre of the peninsula. Carrauntoohil, its hig ...

(''Uíbh Ráthach'') and is within the

Gaeltacht A ( , , ) is a district of Ireland, either individually or collectively, where the Irish government recognises that the Irish language is the predominant vernacular, or language of the home. The districts were first officially recognised ...

. According to the 2016 census about 10% of the population of the electoral division speak Irish on a daily basis outside the education system. The townland was in the

poor law union A poor law union was a geographical territory, and early local government unit, in Great Britain and Ireland. Poor law unions existed in England and Wales from 1834 to 1930 for the administration of poor relief. Prior to the Poor Law Amendment ...

Cahersiveen Cahersiveen (), sometimes Cahirciveen, is a town in the south-west of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, in County Kerry. As of the 2022 census of Ireland, 2022 census, it had a population of 1,297. Geography Cahersiveen is on the slopes of 376-met ...

. The rocks referred to in the area’s Irish name are the

Skellig Islands The Skellig Islands (), historically "the Skellocks", are two small, steep, and rocky islands lying about west of Bolus Head off the Iveragh Peninsula in County Kerry, Ireland. The larger of the two is Skellig Michael (also known as Great Skel ...

— Skellig Michael and Little Skellig—an ancient monastic colony which lies off the coast from Ballinskelligs. The town is also the site of a beach. Ballinskelligs was the termination site of an early

transatlantic telegraph cable Transatlantic telegraph cables were undersea cables running under the Atlantic Ocean for telegraph communications. Telegraphy is a largely obsolete form of communication, and the cables have long since been decommissioned, but telephone and dat ...

laid in 1875 from Tor Bay, Nova Scotia, Canada—a distance of .

Notable features

Ballinskelligs Castle is situated on the western shore of Ballinskelligs Bay, on a narrow promontory which is subject to heavy erosion. The castle was constructed by the MacCarthy Mór dynasty in the 16th century to protect the bay from pirates, and possibly in order to charge a tariff on incoming trade vessels.

Ballinskelligs Priory was an Arrouaisian house of Augustinian canons. Within Ballinskelligs are the two parts of the Cill Rialaig project, the Artist Retreat in the former village of Cill Rialaig, and the Arts Centre in the village of Dun Geagan. The project is led, since its foundation in the 1990s, by local resident Noelle Campbell-Sharp of Canuig House.

References

{{County Kerry Towns and villages in County Kerry Gaeltacht places in County Kerry Beaches of County Kerry Augustinian monasteries in the Republic of Ireland Gaeltacht towns and villages Iveragh Peninsula

Notable features

See also

References