Dingle(Irish:An DaingeanorDaingean Uí Chúis,meaning "fort of Ó Cúis" )[9]is a town inCounty Kerry,Ireland.The only town on theDingle Peninsula,it sits on theAtlanticcoast,about 50 kilometres (30 mi) southwest ofTraleeand 71 kilometres (40 mi) northwest ofKillarney.[10]Principal industries in the town are tourism, fishing and agriculture: Dingle Mart (livestock market) serves the surrounding countryside.
Dingle
Daingean Uí Chúis | |
|---|---|
Town | |
 Strand Street, Dingle | |
  Location in Ireland | |
| Coordinates:52°08′24″N10°16′17″W/ 52.13991°N 10.2715°W | |
| Country | Ireland |
| Province | Munster |
| County | County Kerry |
| Population | 1,671 |
| Irish Grid Reference | Q445011 |
| Year | Pop. | ±% |
|---|---|---|
| 1821 | 4,538 | — |
| 1831 | 4,327 | −4.6% |
| 1841 | 3,386 | −21.7% |
| 1851 | 3,273 | −3.3% |
| 1861 | 2,260 | −31.0% |
| 1871 | 2,117 | −6.3% |
| 1881 | 1,833 | −13.4% |
| 1891 | 1,764 | −3.8% |
| 1901 | 1,786 | +1.2% |
| 1911 | 1,884 | +5.5% |
| 1926 | 1,998 | +6.1% |
| 1936 | 1,800 | −9.9% |
| 1946 | 1,683 | −6.5% |
| 1951 | 1,545 | −8.2% |
| 1956 | 1,453 | −6.0% |
| 1961 | 1,460 | +0.5% |
| 1966 | 1,406 | −3.7% |
| 1971 | 1,401 | −0.4% |
| 1981 | 1,358 | −3.1% |
| 1986 | 1,253 | −7.7% |
| 1991 | 1,272 | +1.5% |
| 1996 | 1,536 | +20.8% |
| 2002 | 1,828 | +19.0% |
| 2006 | 1,920 | +5.0% |
| 2011 | 1,965 | +2.3% |
| 2016 | 2,050 | +4.3% |
| 2022 | 1,671 | −18.5% |
| [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] | ||
In 2022, Dingle had a population of 1,671,[1]a decrease from the 2016 census, and the oldest average age for a town in Ireland (44.4 years).[11]Situated in aGaeltachtregion, 13.7% of the population spoke Irish on a daily basis in 2016.[12]An adultBottlenose dolphinnamedFungiehad been courting human contact in Dingle Bay since 1983 but disappeared in 2020.[13]
History
editA large number ofOghamstones were set up in an enclosure in the 4th and 5th centuries AD atBallintaggart.
The town developed as a port following theNorman invasion of Ireland.By the thirteenth century, more goods were being exported through Dingle thanLimerick,and in 1257 an ordinance ofKing Henry IIIimposed customs on the port's exports.[14]By the fourteenth century, importing wine was a major business.The 1st Earl of Desmond,who heldpalatinepowers in the area, imposed a tax on this activity around 1329.[15]By the sixteenth century, Dingle was one of Ireland's main trading ports, exporting fish and hides and importing wines from the continent of Europe. French and Spanish fishing fleets used the town as a base.[15]
Connections withSpainwere particularly strong and, in 1529,Thomas Fitzgerald, 11th Earl of Desmondand the ambassador ofEmperor Charles Vsigned theTreaty of Dingle.[16]Dingle was also a major embarkation port for pilgrims to travel to the shrine ofSaint JamesatSantiago de Compostela.The parish church was rebuilt in the sixteenth century under "Spanish patronage" and dedicated to the saint.[17][18]
In 1569 the commerce of the town was increased when it was listed as one of fifteen towns or cities which were to have a monopoly on the import of wine.[15]
Second Desmond Rebellion
editThe Dingle Peninsula was the scene of much of the military activity of 1579–80. On 17 July 1579James FitzMaurice FitzGeraldbrought a small fleet of ships to Dingle. He made landfall, launching theSecond Desmond Rebellion,but was to die soon after in a minor skirmish with the forces of a cousin.[19]The fleet left the town after three days, anchoring atDún an Óirat the western end of the peninsula, leading eventually to theSiege of Smerwickof 1580.
Walled town and chartered borough
editThe residents of Dingle applied in 1569 for a "murage grant" to constructwallsaround the town. The grant was not forthcoming on that occasion. Following the defeat of the Desmond Rebellion,Queen Elizabethdirected that aroyal charterbe granted to incorporate the town as aborough,and to allow for the construction of walls. Traces of these town walls can still be seen, while the street layout preserves the pattern ofburgageplots.[18]
Although Elizabeth intended to grant a charter, the document was only obtained in 1607. On 2 March of that year her successor,James I,sealed the charter, although the borough and its corporation had already been in existence for twenty-two years.[20]The head of the corporation was the sovereign, fulfilling the role of a mayor. In addition to the sovereign, who was elected annually on theFeast of St Michael,the corporation consisted of twelveburgesses.The area of jurisdiction of the corporation was all land and sea within twoIrish milesof the parish church. The borough also had admiralty jurisdiction over Dingle,Ventry,SmerwickandFerriter's Creek"as far as an arrow would fly".[20]
The charter also created Dingle aparliamentary borough,orconstituency,electing two members to theHouse of Commonsof theIrish Parliament.[20]
Linen
edit
Dingle suffered greatly in theNine Years' Warand theWars of the Three Kingdoms,being burnt or sacked on a number of occasions. The town started to recover in the eighteenth century, due to the efforts of the Fitzgerald family,Knights of Kerry,who established themselves at "The Grove" at this time. Robert Fitzgerald importedflaxseed and by 1755 a flourishinglinenindustry had been established, with cloth worth £60,000 produced annually. The trade collapsed following theindustrialproduction of cotton in Great Britain, and was virtually extinct by 1837.[21]The town fell victim to acholeraplague in 1849.
Fishing
editDingle is a major fishing port, and the industry dates back to about 1830. The 1870s saw major development, when "nobby"fleets from theIsle of Mancame in search ofmackerel.Lowestoftherringtrawlers subsequently joined the fleet, allowing for a longer fishing season. The pier and maritime facilities were developed by theCongested Districts Board,and the arrival ofrail transportin 1891 allowed for the transport of fish throughout the country, and a canning and curing industry developed.[22]
Education
editThere are three primary schools in Dingle: Scoil An Ghleanna, Scoil Iognáid Rís and Bunscoil an Clochair. There are also two secondary schools –Pobalscoil Chorca Dhuibhneand Coláiste Íde Boarding School. Dingle as part of the Corca Dhuibhne Gaeltacht also hosts Irish School for students during the summer.
TheSacred Heart University,Connecticut, USA, has an Irish studies centre in Dingle.
Places of interest
editDingle's St. Mary's is aneo-Gothicchurch built to designs by J. J. McCarthy and O'Connell. The foundation stone was laid in 1862. It originally had a nave and aisles separated by arcades, supported on columns capped by octagonal tops. The arcades were demolished in one of the most radical reordering schemes to have been executed in Ireland. The project also saw the demolition of the exterior walls to below the original clerestory level, and, most notably, of the attic and upper ranges of the west elevation.
TheChapel of the Sacred Heartis aneo-gothicchapel attached to Saint Mary's.[23]It was built for a localenclosedorder ofPresentation Sisters,by the architect C. J. McCarthy in 1886. The major Irish artistHarry Clarkeproduced six double-lancetstained glasswindows for the chapel which were installed in 1924. Thelancetsdepict scenes from thelife of Christ.Clarke was at the time a leading figure in theArts and Crafts movementand was paid a fee of £1,000 for the works.[24]
Irish traditional musicis played in several locations, particularly during the summer tourist season. Dingle has a number ofpubs,restaurants and cafes. The aquarium, "Oceanworld Aquarium", is home to tropical, foreign and native animals, and a number of art and craft shops.
Dingle is home toMurphy's Ice Cream,a cafe that serves ice cream and coffee. Murphy's has homemade ice cream made from Kerry cattle. Another business,Dingle Distillery,was launched in 2012.
Gallaunmore,a standing stone and National Monument, lies 3 km (2 miles) to the east.
St. Manchan's Oratory(An Teampall Geal), a medieval oratory withoghamstone andsouterrain,lies on nearby Lateeve Hill.
Sport
editDingle is home to theDingle GAAclub, which fieldsGaelic footballteams. The most noted tournament in which Dingle competes is theKerry Senior Football Championship.[25][26]Rugbaí Chorca Dhuibhne, the localrugbyteam, and Dingle Bay Rovers F.C. are also based in the area.
The yearly Dingle Marathon started in 2009, whenJohn Griffin,a former winner of theDublin Marathon,won the race at 50 years old.[27][28]The full marathon begins and ends in Dingle town, taking inSlea Headand theDingle Peninsulaon its route, whilst the half marathon goes from Dingle toDun Chaoin.[29][30]The inaugural event had 2,500 participants, and participation peaked at approximately 3,500 participants in 2018.[29]The course is certified by theAthletics Association of Ireland.[28]
Transport
edit
Bus routes serving Dingle include routes toKillarney,toTralee,toKerry Airport,toCloghane(viaCastlegregory), and toBallydavid(viaBallyferriterandDunquin).[citation needed]
Dingle was formerly the western terminus of the narrow-gaugeTralee and Dingle Light Railway,which closed in 1953. The station was sited opposite the hospital, on the N86 road into the town from Lispole, where an undertakers premises and disused petrol station now stand. The railway station opened on 1 April 1891, closed for passenger traffic on 17 April 1939 and for regular goods traffic on 10 March 1947, finally closing altogether on 1 July 1953, by which time a cattle train once per month was the sole operation.[31]
Today, the closest train terminal is Tralee, with bus services operating from Tralee Bus and Rail Stations. In addition, bus services operate from Killarney Bus and Rail Stations to Dingle.[32]
Name
editIn 2005,Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht AffairsÉamon Ó Cuívannounced thatanglicisedplace names (such as 'Dingle') ofGaeltachttowns and villages would no longer feature on official signposts, and only theIrish languagenames would appear. The English-language version of the town's name was thus officially dropped in early 2005, with the largely colloquial Irish nameAn Daingeanbeing advanced.
In the case of Dingle, the move was particularly controversial, as the town relies heavily on the tourist industry, and there was fear that the change could prevent visitors from finding the town. Detractors noted that tourists might not recognise the Irish name on signposts and that there could also be confusion with a similarly named town (Daingean) inCounty Offaly.Supporters rejected this argument, pointing out that there are numerous towns in Ireland with similar names. The minister added to the controversy by suggesting that a name change to English could be brought about by removing the town'sGaeltachtstatus, thereby losing its entitlement to government grants for Irish-speaking areas.
In late 2005,Kerry County Councilapproved the holding of aplebiscitefor the change of name to thebilingual"Dingle/Daingean Uí Chúis"[33]which took place in October 2006.[34]The result was announced on 20 October, and 1,005 of the 1,086 returned ballots (electorate: 1,222) favoured the change to the bilingual version.[35][36]Éamon Ó Cuív stated, however, that there was no remit to act on the results of the plebiscite. Nevertheless, in 2008,Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local GovernmentJohn Gormleyannounced his intention to amend the local government laws to allow names chosen by plebiscite to supersede any Placenames Order under theOfficial Languages Act 2003.[37]This would mean thatDaingean Uí Chúiswould be the official name of the town in Irish, with "Dingle" the official name in English. However, the name of the town on road signs within theGaeltachtwill continue to display the name of the town in Irish only. In the meantime, some locals took matters into their own hands by spray painting "Dingle" on road signs that bore only the Irish version of the name. Section 48 of the Environment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2011 specifically made "Dingle" the English name and "Daingean Uí Chúis" the Irish name.[38]
People
edit- Daniel Cavanagh,former member of theWisconsin State Assemblyand theWisconsin State Senate
- Joe HigginsT.D.
- Mark O'Connor,Australian Football Leaguepremiership player (2022) forGeelong Football Club
- Joe O'Toole,Senator
- Pauline Scanlon,singer
- All members of the alternative rock band,Walking on Cars
- Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh,Gaelic games commentator
- James Louis Rice,Irish Count of theHoly Roman Empire
- Patrick James and Margaret Anna Curran McDonald, parents ofRichard and Maurice McDonald,founders ofMcDonald's Restaurants
See also
edit
- Dingle, Liverpool
- Eask Tower
- MVRanga,a ship wrecked near Slea Head, Dingle
- Wild Atlantic Way
References
editNotes
- ^abc"Interactive Data Visualisations: Towns: Dingle-Daingean Uí Chuis".CSO Ireland.Retrieved26 September2023.
- ^"Population Classified by Area"(PDF).Central Statistics Office (Ireland).April 2012. p. 39.Retrieved25 January2017.
- ^"Census 2006 – Volume 1 – Population Classified by Area"(PDF).Central Statistics Office Census 2006 Reports.Central Statistics Office Ireland.April 2007.Retrieved7 May2011.
- ^Census for post 1821 figures.Archived9 March 2005 at theWayback Machine
- ^"Histpop - The Online Historical Population Reports Website".www.histpop.org.Archived fromthe originalon 7 May 2016.
- ^"Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency - Census Home Page".Archived fromthe originalon 17 February 2012.Retrieved2011-11-03.
- ^Lee, J. J.(1981). "On the accuracy of thePre-famineIrish censuses ". In Goldstrom, J. M.; Clarkson, L. A. (eds.).Irish Population, Economy, and Society: Essays in Honour of the Late K. H. Connell.Oxford, England: Clarendon Press.
- ^Mokyr, Joel;Ó Gráda, Cormac(November 1984)."New Developments in Irish Population History, 1700–1850".The Economic History Review.37(4): 473–488.doi:10.1111/j.1468-0289.1984.tb00344.x.hdl:10197/1406.Archived fromthe originalon 4 December 2012.
- ^McKenna 1986:10–11
- ^Kerry County Council 2006:1
- ^"Census of Population 2022 Profile 1 - Population Distribution and Movements".Central Statistics Office Ireland.29 June 2023.Retrieved25 September2023.
- ^"Census 2016 Sapmap Area: Settlements Dingle-Daingean Uí Chuis".Central Statistics Office (Ireland).Archived fromthe originalon 27 June 2020.Retrieved22 March2018.
- ^O’Loughlin, Ed (27 October 2020)."Fungie, Ireland's Missing Dolphin, 'Goes With the Tide'".The New York Times.ISSN0362-4331.Retrieved16 April2021.
- ^McKenna 1986:19–20, Coppage et al 1986:380
- ^abcMcKenna 1986:20
- ^"The Treaty of Dingle remembered".The Kerryman.29 April 2009.Retrieved3 December2009.
- ^McKenna 1986:60
- ^abCoppage et al, 1986:381
- ^McKenna 1986:23
- ^abcMcKenna 1986:31–33
- ^McKenna, 1986:45–47
- ^Daniel Graham (1996)."History of Fishing on Ireland's Dingle Peninsula".Dingle Peninsula Tourism. Archived fromthe originalon 4 February 1999.Retrieved2 December2009.
- ^"Saint Mary's Catholic Church, Green Street, Dingle, County Kerry".Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht.Retrieved 30 June 2019
- ^"The Harry Clarke Windows".Irish Arts Review,Volume 30, No. 1, Spring (March - May 2013). p. 14
- ^"Dingle football match report".'The Kingdom' newspaper. July 2005. Archived fromthe originalon 22 June 2007.Retrieved25 March2008.
- ^"Murphy and Griffin appear for Kerry in the All-Ireland football final".RTÉ News.September 2007. Archived fromthe originalon 2 August 2009.Retrieved25 March2008.
- ^"Marathon a galloping success".The Kerryman.16 September 2009.Retrieved8 January2024.
- ^ab"Dingle marathon is launched".The Kerryman.22 July 2009.Retrieved26 December2020.
- ^ab"Record number of entries for 10th Dingle Marathon".The Kerryman.1 September 2018.Retrieved26 December2020.
- ^Epic Runs of the World.Lonely Planet. 1 August 2019.ISBN978-1-78868-525-2.
- ^"Dingle station"(PDF).Railscot – Irish Railways.Retrieved23 September2007.
- ^"Dingle Public Transport".Retrieved18 January2017.
- ^ "Kerry CC votes to hold Dingle plebiscite".RTÉ News.17 October 2005.Retrieved24 July2007.
- ^ "Dingle so good they may name it twice".Irish Independent.9 October 2006.Retrieved1 April2017.
- ^ "90% vote in favour of An Daingean name change".RTÉ News.20 October 2005.Retrieved24 July2007.
- ^ "Do you know the way to An Daingean?".BBC News.20 October 2006.Retrieved24 July2007.
- ^"Gormley proposes amendments to legislation on changing Place-names – Dingle and Daingean Uí Chúis to be official names of An Daingean".Local Government News.Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government.April 2008. Archived fromthe originalon 5 October 2008.
- ^"Local Government Act 2001 Revised".Revised Acts.Law Reform Commission.10 November 2017. Sec.191.Retrieved20 April2018.;"Placenames orders".Placenames Database of Ireland.Retrieved20 April2018.
Section 48 of the Environment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2011 amended the Placenames (Ceantair Ghaeltachta) Order 2004 (S.I. No. 872 of 2004) made under the Official Languages Act insofar as it relates to the placename "An Daingean". This amendment provides that "Daingean Uí Chúis" in Irish and "Dingle" in English are now the official placenames rather than "An Daingean".
Bibliography
- Barrington, T J (1976).Discovering Kerry. Its History, Heritage and Topgoraphy.Cork: The Collins Press.ISBN1-898256-71-3.
- Cuppage, Judith; Bennett, Isabel; Cotter, Claire; O Rahilly, Celie (1986).Archaeological Survey of the Dingle Peninsula.Ballyferriter: Oidhreacht Chorca Dhuibhne.ISBN0-906096-06-5.
- An Daingean Local Area Plan 2006–2012(PDF).Tralee: Kerry County Council Planning Policy Unit. 2006.Retrieved3 December2009.[dead link]
- McKenna, Jack (1985).Dingle.Killarney: Mac Publications.
External links
edit- "An Daingean Local Area Plan"(PDF).Kerry County Council. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 20 November 2017.Retrieved18 January2017.