Ballinskelligs Baile an Sceilg | |
|---|---|
Village | |
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  Ballinskelligs Location in Ireland | |
| Coordinates:51°49′33″N10°16′20″W / 51.825885°N 10.272217°W /51.825885; -10.272217 | |
| Country | Ireland |
| Province | Munster |
| County | County Kerry |
| Population (2011) | |
• Total | 375 (Electoral District)[1] |
| Irish Grid Reference | V429657 |
| Website | http://www.visitballinskelligs.ie |
| Official name: Baile an Sceilg | |
Ballinskelligs, officiallyBaile an Sceilg (Irish for "town (townland) of the craggy rock"),[2][3] is atownland in thecivil parish of Prior,County Kerry,Ireland. It may also refer to the wider district around the townland.[4] It is located in the south-west of theIveragh peninsula (Uíbh Ráthach) and is within theGaeltacht. According to the 2016 census about 10% of the population of the electoral division speak Irish on a daily basis outside the education system.[5] The townland was in thepoor law union ofCahersiveen.
The rocks referred to in the area’s Irish name are theSkellig Islands—Skellig Michael andLittle Skellig—an ancient monastic colony which lies off the coast from Ballinskelligs. The town is also the site of a beach.[6]
Ballinskelligs was the termination site of an earlytransatlantic telegraph cable laid in 1875 fromTor Bay, Nova Scotia, Canada—a distance of 2,565 nautical miles (4,750 km).[7]
Ballinskelligs Castle is situated on the western shore of Ballinskelligs Bay, on a narrow promontory which is subject to heavy erosion.[8][9] The castle was constructed by theMacCarthy Mór dynasty in the 16th century to protect the bay from pirates, and possibly in order to charge a tariff on incoming trade vessels.[8]
Ballinskelligs Priory was an Arrouaisian house ofAugustiniancanons.[10]
Within Ballinskelligs are the two parts of theCill 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 residentNoelle Campbell-Sharp of Canuig House.[11]
...what often confuses first time visitors is that Ballinskelligs isn't a town or a village, it's an area made up of small villages...
