Dunquin

Dunquin Dún Chaoin
Village
Dún Chaoin pier
Dunquin Location in Ireland
Coordinates:52°08′01″N10°27′16″W
Country	Ireland
Province	Munster
County	County Kerry
Population (2011)
• Total	160
Irish Grid Reference	Q320008
Dún Chaoin is the only official name.

Dún Chaoin(Irish,meaning 'pleasant fort[ˌd̪ˠuːn̪ˠˈxiːnʲ]), unofficiallyanglicizedasDunquin,is aGaeltachtvillage in westCounty Kerry,Ireland.Dunquin lies at the most westerly tip of theDingle Peninsula,overlooking theBlasket Islands.At 10°27'16 "W, it is themost westerly settlementof Ireland and of Eurasia, excluding Iceland. NearbyDunmore Headis the most westerly point of mainland Ireland. The town is linked to Dingle via theR559 regional road.It is also part of thecivil parishof the same name.In summer a ferry connects the village with the main island of the Blasket Islands.

There is dramatic cliff scenery, with a view of the Blasket Islands, wherePeig Sayerslived.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,andMuiris Ó Súilleabháin.In 1588, when theSpanish Armadareturned via Irelandmany 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

This documentary film was made during 1967-68 byPaul Hockingsand Mark McCarty, 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 the1970filmRyan's Daughter,based on a screenplay byRobert Boltand directed byDavid Lean,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 BritishCampaign for Real Ale(CAMRA) was founded in Kruger's bar in Dunquin in 1971.

People

• Peig Sayers(1873-1958)Irish languagememoiristandseanchaí.
• Cáit Feiritéar(1916-2005) folklorist and seanchaí.
• FolkloristSeosamh Ó Dálaigh.
• MonsignorPádraig de Brún(1889-1960),Roman Catholic priestandIrish-languagescholar.
• Máire Mhac an tSaoi(1922-2021),Irish-languagepoet. Mhac an tSaoi spent much of her childhood visiting her uncle,MonsignorPadraig de Brún,and chose to use Dún Chaoin's dialect, folksongs, and folklore as the literary basis for her own poetry and poetics. While assigned to the IrishembassyinMadridshortly afterWorld War II,Mhac an tSaoi discovered the poetry ofFederico Garcia Lorca,which inspired her to belatedly introduceLiterary modernismintoIrish poetryin theIrish-language.
• Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh(b. 1978), award-winningseán-nos singerand performer ofIrish traditional music,was born in theAran Islands,but grew up in Dún Chaoin. She was the lead singer forDanú,and from 2016 on she has been half of theelectronicaduoAeons.Nic Amhlaoibh has both performed and recorded Irish language songs from the Dún Chaoin area, including at least one song fromGreat Blasket Island.

Gallery

• 
  The Blasket Centre with the Blasket Islands visible in the distance
• 
  Replica of a traditional Great Blasket cottage
• 
  Jagged coastline near Dunquin pier

See also

• Munster Irish
• List of towns and villages in Ireland

External links

• Dún Chaoin Entry on the Irelandscape Web Site