Portmagee

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Portmagee
Irish: An Caladh
Village
Portmagee.jpg
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Portmagee
Location in Ireland
Coordinates: 51°53′08″N10°21′58″W / 51.885604°N 10.366116°W / 51.885604; -10.366116
Country Ireland
Province Munster
County County Kerry
Population
 (2022) [1]
116
Time zone UTC+0 (WET)
 • Summer (DST) UTC-1 (IST (WEST))
Irish Grid Reference V370730

Portmagee (Irish : An Caladh, meaning 'the ferry') [2] is a village in County Kerry, Ireland. The village is located on the Iveragh peninsula south of Valentia Island, and is known locally as 'the ferry', in reference to its purpose as a crossing point to the island. Access to Valentia Island is now via the Maurice O'Neill Memorial Bridge (R565 road) from Portmagee, which was built in 1970 and named in memory of a member of the IRA executed in 1942 for his part in the shooting dead of Detective George Mordaunt in Dublin. [3] [4]

Contents

Name

The name Portmagee (Port Magee and Magee's Port as it was formerly known) comes from Captain Theobald Magee, a notorious 18th-century smuggler. [5] Having served in the army of King James as an officer, Magee 'retired' to a life of merchant shipping between France, Portugal and Ireland. [6] Thanks to the many inlets around the South West coast, his trade in contraband spirits, textiles and tea and tobacco was hard to police and therefore very profitable. He married Bridget Morgell, [6] the widow of a rich Dingle merchant and also the daughter of the then representative for Dingle, Thomas Crosbie. There is some suspicion that Magee's death in a Lisbon monastery was due to some exile imposed by Crosbie, an influential MP. However, his wife and sons continued the family business of smuggling.

Tourism

In December 2012, Portmagee was awarded the Fáilte Ireland National Tourism Town Award, the first town to be awarded the accolade. [5]

Places of interest

Portmagee Pier Portmagee (2).jpg
Portmagee Pier
Great Skellig Skellig Michael by Maureen (1).jpg
Great Skellig

The village serves as a departure point for tourists travelling to visit 'Skellig Michael', an island off the coast featuring a 6th-century monastic settlement. Skellig Michael (from Sceilig Mhichíl in the Irish language, meaning Michael's rock), also known as Great Skellig, is a steep rocky island in the Atlantic Ocean about 9 miles (14 kilometres) from the coast of County Kerry. It is the larger of the two Skellig Islands. Probably founded in the 7th century, for 600 years the island was a centre of monastic life for Irish Christian monks. The Gaelic monastery, which is situated almost at the summit of the 230-metre-high rock became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996. [7] It is one of Europe's better known but least accessible monastic sites. Since the extreme remoteness of Skellig Michael has until recently discouraged visitors, the site is exceptionally well preserved. The very spartan conditions inside the monastery illustrate the ascetic lifestyle practiced by early Irish Christians. The monks lived in stone 'beehive' huts (clochans), perched above nearly vertical cliff walls.

Another monastery, Illaunloughan, is located in the Portmagee Channel north of the town.

South of the town are the popular Kerry Cliffs. [8]

Skellig Rangers

The local GAA team, Skellig Rangers, was founded in 1895 (originally as Portmagee G.A.A, before adopting its present name in the 1930s), and plays at Pairc Chill Imeallach in Portmagee. [9]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">County Kerry</span> County in Ireland

County Kerry is a county on the southwest coast of Ireland, within the province of Munster and the Southern Region. It is bordered by two other counties; Limerick to the east, and Cork to the south and east. It is separated from Clare to the north by the Shannon Estuary. With an area of 4,807 square kilometres (1,856 sq mi) and a population of 156,458 as of 2022, it is the 5th largest of Ireland's 32 counties by land area, and the 15th most populous. The governing local authority is Kerry County Council.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Skellig Michael</span> UNESCO heritage island off coast of Kerry, Ireland

Skellig Michael, also called Great Skellig, is a twin-pinnacled crag 11.6 kilometres (7.2 mi) west of the Iveragh Peninsula in County Kerry, Ireland. The island is named after the archangel Michael, with "Skellig" derived from the Irish language word sceilig, meaning a splinter of stone. Its twin island, Little Skellig, is smaller and inaccessible. The two islands rose c. 374–360 million years ago during a period of mountain formation, along with the MacGillycuddy's Reeks mountain range. Later, they were separated from the mainland by rising water levels.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clochán</span> Dry-stone hut in Ireland

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Valentia Island</span> Irish island off the Iveragh Peninsula, County Kerry

Valentia Island is one of Ireland's most westerly points. It lies off the Iveragh Peninsula in the southwest of County Kerry. It is linked to the mainland by the Maurice O'Neill Memorial Bridge at Portmagee. A car ferry also departs from Reenard Point to Knightstown, the island's main settlement, from April to October. Another, smaller village named Chapeltown sits at roughly the midpoint of the island, three kilometres from the bridge. Valentia Island's permanent population is 658. It is about 11 kilometres long by almost three kilometres wide, making it the fifth-biggest island off the Irish coast.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ventry</span> Seaside village in County Kerry, Ireland

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Castlegregory</span> Village in County Kerry, Ireland

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South Kerry is a division of Kerry GAA. The South Kerry division consists of club teams. It is primarily known for Gaelic football, though some hurling is also played. The division fields teams in the Kerry Senior Football Championship, Kerry Minor Football Championship, and Kerry Under-21 Football Championship.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geokaun</span> Mountain in Ireland

Geokaun Mountain is the highest mountain on Valentia Island, County Kerry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bentee</span> Natural feature in Ireland

Bentee or Benatee is a hill overlooking the town of Cahersiveen in County Kerry, Ireland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beginish Island</span> Place in Ireland

Beginish is an island in Valentia Harbour, in south west Kerry Kerry, Ireland.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chapeltown, County Kerry</span> Village on Valentia Island, Ireland

Chapeltown is a village on Valentia Island in the south-west of County Kerry. It is the second major settlement on the Island, the other being Knightstown 4 kilometers away. Chapeltown is located in the centre of the Island, approximately 3 kilometers from the bridge which links the island to the mainland at Portmagee.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">R565 road (Ireland)</span> Road in Ireland

The R565 road is a regional road in County Kerry, in south-western Ireland. It is 18.5 km (11.5 mi) long and runs along the Iveragh Peninsula and Valentia Island. The road has two crossings to the island; the permanent Maurice O'Neill Memorial Bridge, and a seasonal vehicle ferry at Knightstown.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">R566 road (Ireland)</span> Road in Ireland

The R566 road is a regional road in Ireland. It is a road on the Iveragh Peninsula in County Kerry. Part of the road is on the Wild Atlantic Way.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kerry county football team</span> Gaelic football team

The Kerry county football team represents Kerry in men's Gaelic football and is governed by Kerry GAA, the county board of the Gaelic Athletic Association. The team competes in the three major annual inter-county competitions; the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, the Munster Senior Football Championship and the National Football League.

References

  1. ↑ "Sapmap Area: Settlements Portmagee". Census 2022. Central Statistics Office . Retrieved 15 June 2022.
  2. ↑ "An Caladh". logainm.ie. Retrieved 8 December 2012.
  3. ↑ Reidy, Marisa (27 April 2011). "TG4 documentary on O'Neill execution". The Kerryman. Retrieved 9 January 2018.
  4. ↑ "The 'unofficial' opening of Valentia bridge". The Kerryman. 5 March 2014. Retrieved 9 January 2018.
  5. 1 2 McGreevy, Ronan; Anne Lucey (8 December 2012). "Tiny Kerry fishing village nets State's first 'tourism town award'". Irish Times. Retrieved 8 December 2012.
  6. 1 2 Pochin Mould, Daphne Desirée Charlotte (1978). Valentia: portrait of an island. Blackwater Press. p. 53.
  7. ↑ Brockman, Norbert (2011). Encyclopedia of Sacred Places, Volume 1. ABC-CLIO. p. 521. ISBN   9781598846546.
  8. ↑ Nugent, Patrick (9 December 2017). "Experience the Force: A guide to the Star Wars magic in Kerry". The Irish Times. Retrieved 4 June 2024.
  9. ↑ "Club History". Skellig Rangers G.A.A. Retrieved 7 September 2018.
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