''Dún Chaoin'' ( Irish, meaning 'pleasant fort' ), unofficially

anglicised Anglicisation or anglicization is a form of cultural assimilation whereby something non-English becomes assimilated into or influenced by the culture of England. It can be sociocultural, in which a non-English place adopts the English language ...

as Dunquin, is a

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 ...

village in the west of

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 ...

in the south-west of Ireland. Dunquin lies at the most westerly tip of the

Dingle Peninsula The Dingle Peninsula (; anglicised as Corkaguiny or Corcaguiny, the name of the corresponding barony) is the northernmost of the major peninsulas in County Kerry. It ends beyond the town of Dingle at Dunmore Head, the westernmost point of m ...

(Irish: ''Corca Dhuibhne''), overlooking the

Blasket Islands The Blasket Islands () are an uninhabited group of islands off the west coast of the Dingle Peninsula in County Kerry, Ireland. The last island to hold a significant population, Great Blasket Island, was abandoned in 1954 due to population decl ...

. At 10°27'16"W, it is the most westerly settlement of Ireland and of

Eurasia Eurasia ( , ) is a continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. According to some geographers, Physical geography, physiographically, Eurasia is a single supercontinent. The concept of Europe and Asia as distinct continents d ...

, excluding

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

. Nearby

Dunmore Head Dunmore Head () is a promontory in the westernmost part of the Dingle Peninsula, located in the barony of Corca Dhuibhne in southwest County Kerry, Ireland. The headland, together with parts of Mount Eagle's northern slopes is formed from ste ...

is the most westerly point of mainland

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 ...

. The town is linked to

Dingle Dingle ( or ''Daingean Uí Chúis'', meaning "fort of Ó Cúis") is a town in County Kerry in the south-west of Ireland. The only town on the Dingle Peninsula (known in Irish as ''Corca Dhuibhne''), it sits on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coa ...

via the R559 regional road. It is also part of 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 the same name. In summer, a ferry connects the village with the main island of the Blasket Islands. The village is located at the western end of the

Barony Barony may refer to: * Barony, the peerage, office of, or territory held by a baron * Barony, the title and land held in fealty by a feudal baron * Barony (county division), a type of administrative or geographical division in parts of the British ...

of Corkaguiny (the name 'Corkaguiny' being the anglicised version of ''

Corca Dhuibhne The Dingle Peninsula (; anglicised as Corkaguiny or Corcaguiny, the name of the corresponding barony) is the northernmost of the major peninsulas in County Kerry. It ends beyond the town of Dingle at Dunmore Head, the westernmost point of ma ...

''). There is dramatic cliff scenery, with a view of the Blasket Islands, where

Peig Sayers Máiréad "Peig" Sayers (; 29 March 18738 December 1958) was an Irish author and seanchaí ( or ) born in Dún Chaoin, County Kerry, Ireland. Seán Ó Súilleabháin, the former Chief archivist for the Irish Folklore Commission, described her as ...

lived. A museum in the village tells the story of the Blaskets and the lives of the people who lived there including the well-known writers of the island, which includes Sayers,

Tomás Ó Criomhthain (; commonly anglicised as Tomás O'Crohan and occasionally as Thomas O'Crohan; 29 April 1855 – 7 March 1937) was a native of the Irish-speaking Great Blasket Island near the coast of the Dingle Peninsula in Ireland. He wrote two Irish-langu ...

, and

Muiris Ó Súilleabháin Muiris Ó Súilleabháin (; 19 February 1904 – 25 June 1950), anglicised as Maurice O'Sullivan, was an Irish author famous for his Irish language memoir of growing up on the Great Blasket Island and in Dingle, County Kerry, off the western c ...

. In 1588, when the

Spanish Armada The Spanish Armada (often known as Invincible Armada, or the Enterprise of England, ) was a Spanish fleet that sailed from Lisbon in late May 1588, commanded by Alonso de Guzmán, Duke of Medina Sidonia, an aristocrat without previous naval ...

returned via Ireland, many ships sought shelter in the Blasket Sound — the area between ''Dún Chaoin'' and the Islands — and some were wrecked there. A memorial stands on the cliffs overlooking the site. Dunquin is located on the Dingle Way, which is a 179 km circular walking trail which takes in much of the Dingle Peninsula.

''The Village''

A documentary film, titled ''The Village'', was made during 1967–68 by

Paul Hockings Paul Hockings (born February 23, 1935) is an anthropologist whose prime areas of focus are the Dravidian languages, social, visual and medical anthropology. He studied archaeology and anthropology at the University of Sydney, the University of C ...

and Mark McCarty. It was shot almost entirely in Dunquin and the Great Blasket. It was the first film to be completed in the style that came to be known as "observational cinema".

''Ryan's Daughter''

Scenes from the

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...

film ''

Ryan's Daughter ''Ryan's Daughter'' is a 1970 British epic romantic drama film directed by David Lean and written by Robert Bolt. Loosely inspired by Gustave Flaubert's 1857 novel ''Madame Bovary'', the film stars Robert Mitchum and Sarah Miles as a married ...

'', based on a screenplay by

Robert Bolt Robert Oxton Bolt (15 August 1924 – 20 February 1995) was an English playwright and a screenwriter, known for writing the screenplays for '' Lawrence of Arabia'', '' Doctor Zhivago'', and '' A Man for All Seasons'', the latter two of which w ...

and directed by

David Lean Sir David Lean (25 March 190816 April 1991) was an English film director, producer, screenwriter, and editor, widely considered one of the most important figures of Cinema of the United Kingdom, British cinema. He directed the large-scale epi ...

, were shot at Coumineole Beach and ''Ceathrú'' (Caharhoo) in Dunquin. The town's then-struggling economy was largely revived by the production of this film and subsequent tourism. Its marginal condition beforehand had been documented in the 1968 ethnographic film ''The Village''.

Scoil Dhún Chaoin

''Scoil Náisiúnta Naomh Gobnait'', ''Dún Chaoin'', was first opened in 1914. Before that, the school was located across the road in ''Baile Bhiocáire''. During the 1970s, ''Scoil Dhún Chaoin'' was the subject of a countywide and national campaign which featured protest marches, sit-ins and arrests. A government decision to close the school was strongly opposed by the local community and, following almost three years of closure, the school was reopened in 1973.

CAMRA

The British

Campaign for Real Ale The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) is an independent voluntary consumer organisation headquartered in St Albans, which promotes real ale, cider and perry and traditional British pubs and clubs. History The organisation was founded on 16 ...

(CAMRA) was founded in Kruger's Bar in Dunquin in 1971.

People

(1873–1958)

Irish language Irish (Standard Irish: ), also known as Irish Gaelic or simply Gaelic ( ), is a Celtic language of the Indo-European language family. It is a member of the Goidelic languages of the Insular Celtic sub branch of the family and is indigenous ...

memoirist A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative A narrative, story, or tale is any account of a series of related events or experiences, whether non-fictional (memoir, biography, news report, documentary, travel literature, travelogue, etc.) ...

and

seanchaí A seanchaí ( or ; plural: ) is a traditional Gaelic storyteller or historian, serving as an oral repository. In Scottish Gaelic the word is (; plural: ). The word is often anglicised as shanachie ( ). The word , which was spelled (plural ...

. *

Cáit Feiritéar Cáit Feiritéar or An Bab (1 December 1916 – 8 June 2005) was an Irish storyteller. Biography Cáit Feiritéar was born Cáit Ní Ghuithín on 1 December 1916 in Ballynahow, Dún Chaoin in County Kerry. The area is within the West Kerry G ...

(1916–2005) folklorist and seanchaí. * Folklorist

Seosamh Ó Dálaigh Joseph is a common male name, derived from the Hebrew (). "Joseph" is used, along with " Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the modern-day Nordic count ...

. * Pádraig Monsignor de Brún (1889–1960),

Roman Catholic priest The priesthood is the office of the ministers of religion, who have been commissioned ("ordained") with the holy orders of the Catholic Church. Technically, bishops are a priestly order as well; however, in common English usage ''priest'' re ...

and

Irish-language Irish (Standard Irish: ), also known as Irish Gaelic or simply Gaelic ( ), is a Celtic language of the Indo-European language family. It is a member of the Goidelic languages of the Insular Celtic sub branch of the family and is indigenou ...

scholar from

County Tipperary County Tipperary () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. The county is named after the town of Tipperary (tow ...

. *

Máire Mhac an tSaoi Máire Mhac an tSaoi (4 April 1922 – 16 October 2021) was an Irish civil service diplomat, writer of Modernist poetry in the Corca Dhuibhne dialect of Munster Irish, a memoirist, and a highly important figure within modern literature in I ...

(1922–2021),

poet. Mhac an tSaoi spent much of her childhood visiting her uncle,

Monsignor Monsignor (; ) is a form of address or title for certain members of the clergy in the Catholic Church. Monsignor is the apocopic form of the Italian ''monsignore'', meaning "my lord". "Monsignor" can be abbreviated as Mons.... or Msgr. In some ...

de Brún, and chose to use ''Dún Chaoins dialect, folksongs, and folklore as the literary basis for her own poetry and poetics. While assigned to the Irish

embassy A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a Sovereign state, state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase ...

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

shortly after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Mhac an tSaoi discovered the poetry of

Federico Garcia Lorca Federico (; ) is a given name and surname. It is a form of Frederick, most commonly found in Spanish, Portuguese and Italian. People with the given name Federico Arts and language * Federico Ágreda, Venezuelan composer and DJ * Federico Aguil ...

, which inspired her to belatedly introduce

Literary modernism Modernist literature originated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and is characterised by a self-conscious separation from traditional ways of writing in both poetry and prose fiction writing. Modernism experimented with literary form a ...

into Irish poetry in the

. *

Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh (born 1978) is a musician and singer from County Kerry, Ireland. Until 2016, she was the lead singer for the traditional music group Danú, and from that year on she has been half of the electronica duo Aeons. Biography ...

(b. 1978), award-winning seán-nos singer and performer of

Irish traditional music Irish traditional music (also known as Irish trad, Irish folk music, and other variants) is a genre of folk music that developed in Ireland. In ''A History of Irish Music'' (1905), W. H. Grattan Flood wrote that, in Gaelic Ireland, there we ...

, was born in the

Aran Islands The Aran Islands ( ; , ) or The Arans ( ) are a group of three islands at the mouth of Galway Bay, off the west coast of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, with a total area around . They constitute the historic barony (Ireland), barony of Aran in ...

, but grew up in ''Dún Chaoin''. She was the lead singer for

Danú Danú is an Irish traditional music band. The founding members of Danú (Donnchadh Gough, Dónal Clancy, Daire Bracken, and Benny McCarthy) met in Waterford in Ireland in 1994, and consolidated as a band after performing in the Festival Inte ...

, and from 2016 on she has been half of the

electronica Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that came to prominence in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mos ...

duo

Aeons The word aeon , also spelled eon (in American and Australian English), originally meant "life", "vital force" or "being", "generation" or "a period of time", though it tended to be translated as "age" in the sense of "ages", "forever", "timele ...

. Nic Amhlaoibh has both performed and recorded Irish language songs from the ''Dún Chaoin'' area, including at least one song from

Great Blasket Island The Great Blasket () is the principal island of the Blasket Islands, Blaskets, County Kerry, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It was home to a small fishing community of Irish speakers until the island was abandoned in 1953 when living there bec ...

Gallery

File:Blasket Centre.jpg, The Blasket Centre with the

visible in the distance File:Replica Blasket Cottage.jpg, Replica of a traditional Great Blasket cottage File:Dunquin Coastline.jpg, Jagged coastline near Dunquin Pier

References

External links

Dún Chaoin Entry on the Irelandscape Web Site
Towns and villages in County Kerry Civil parishes of County Kerry Gaeltacht places in County Kerry Gaeltacht towns and villages Dingle Peninsula {{Kerry-geo-stub