A slideshow of photos I took during my first visit to Kilkeel in County Down on Saturday 14th July 2018.
Kilkeel (from Irish: Cill Chaoil, meaning "church of the narrow") is a town in County Down. It lies within the historic barony of Mourne. Kilkeel town is the main fishing port on the Down coast, and its harbour houses one of the largest fishing fleets in Ireland. It had a population of 6,887 people in the 2011 Census. The town contains the ruins of a 14th-century church and fort, winding streets and terraced shops. It is located just south of the Mourne Mountains.
Kilkeel town sits on a plain south of the Mourne Mountains, west of where the Kilkeel River flows south into the North Channel. The town is centred in the townland of Magheramurphy (from Irish Machaire Mhurchaidh, meaning 'Murphy's plain').
Kilkeel takes its name from the old church overlooking the town, it being the anglicised version of the Gaelic 'Cill Chaoil' meaning "Narrow Church" or "The Church of/in the Narrow Place." The name may be drawn from the church location on a narrow site above the town. The church was constructed in 1388 and dedicated to "St Colman Del Mourne". It was thought to be the principal church in a group which included Kilmegan and Kilcoo despite the fact that Kilkeel was very sparsely populated in the Middle Ages. There are references to Kilkeel as a Christian settlement as far back as the 11th century.
The cemetery attached to the church was used for burials until 1916. The last burials at the cemetery were victims of a collision between two steamers the Retriever and the SS Connemara in Carlingford Lough.
On 30 May 1918 a fleet of Kilkeel fishing boats was sunk by the U-boat UB-64 under the command of Otto von Schrader. The boats sunk, 12 miles off the coast of County Down, included the Jane Gordon, Cyprus, Never Can Tell, St Mary, Sparkling Wave, Lloyds, Marianne Macrum and the motor vessel Honey Bee. Only two boats, Moss Rose and Mary Joseph, were not sunk and the crews returned to port on those boats. The Mary Joseph (N55) is now in the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum.
A local history group, set up in the 1980s and covering both the town of Kilkeel and the Mourne region, has produced a set of seven periodicals called The 12 Miles of Mourne. A book on Hanna's Close, a clachan of houses in Aughnahoory townland one mile outside of Kilkeel, that covers the history of the region up to 1798, was self-published in 2008.
Fishing is a major industry in Kilkeel. There are fish-processing factories around the port, pleasure angling off the piers and lobster farming along the coastline.Whitewater Brewery (established 1996) brews and sells Belfast Ale.
In recent years BE Aerospace has become the largest employer in the area. Its Kilkeel facility, which manufactures aircraft seats for a worldwide customer base, employs over 800 people.
The town of Kilkeel has a strong Unionist heritage. In 2001, the ward of Kilkeel Central was recorded as 69% Protestant (21% Catholic, 10% other), and the ward of Kilkeel South was 37% Protestant (55% Catholic, 7% other).
Churches in Kilkeel include St. Colman's Church (Roman Catholic), Our Lady of the Angels Oratory (Roman Catholic), Christ Church (Church of Ireland), Kilkeel Presbyterian Church, Mourne Presbyterian Church, Kilkeel Baptist Tabernacle.
Naíscoil na mBeann is an Irish-medium pre-school which takes children aged 3+ years to prepare them to enter primary school. It was founded in 2008 and lead to the inception of Gaelscoil na mBeann, the Irish-medium primary school in Kilkeel.
Primary Schools in Kilkeel are Gaelscoil na mBeann, Brackenagh West Primary School, Grange Primary School, Holy Cross Primary School,
Kilkeel High School, Kilkeel Primary School, Mourne Independent Christian School, and St Colman's Primary School.
Secondary Schools in Kilkeel are St. Columban's College, St. Louis Grammar School and Mourne Grange Village School
Most popular sports in the Kilkeel area include Gaelic football, soccer, fishing, golf, hockey, hurling, and swimming.
There are five Gaelic Athletic Association clubs in the local area which include An Ríocht, Longstone, Atticall, Ballymartin, and Glasdrumman.
Kilkeel Hockey Club plays at McAuley Park, fielding three men's teams and two ladies' teams. Kilkeel is the only hockey club in Mourne, drawing players from the whole of the Mourne area, with Annalong providing a considerable number of its players.
Soccer clubs in Kilkeel are Valley Rangers F.C., Ballyvea, Kilkeel Athletic and the Mourne Rovers. With the exception of Kilkeel Athletic, the local football clubs play in the SK Holmes Newcastle League.
There are two local golf courses, Kilkeel Golf Course and Cranfield Pitch and Putt.
Other clubs in Kilkeel are Youth clubs, Mens Sheds (Pensioners), Walking clubs, Yoga, Basketball (Kilkeel Elks' home court is in An Ríocht Hall) and many more.