Dingle
Dingle (Irish: An Daingean or Daingean Uí Chúis, meaning "Ó Cúis' fort") is
a town in County Kerry, Ireland.
The only town on the Dingle Peninsula,
it sits on the Atlantic coast,
about 50 kilometres (30 mi) southwest of Tralee and 71 kilometres (40 mi) northwest
of Killarney.
Principal
industries in the town are tourism, fishing and agriculture: Dingle Mart (livestock
market) serves the surrounding countryside. In 2006 Dingle had a population of
1,920. Dingle is situated in a Gaeltacht region. There used to be two secondary
schools but they have now amalgamated to produce Pobalscoil Chorca Dhuibhne. A
friendly dolphin named Fungi lives in the harbour.
History
Development of the port
In Ireland the
town was developed as a port following the Norman invasion of
Ireland. By the thirteenth century more goods were being exported
through Dingle than Limerick, and in 1257 an
ordinance of Henry III
imposed customs on the port's exports. By the fourteenth century, importing wine was
a major business. Maurice
FitzGerald, 1st Earl of Desmond, who held palatine powers in the area, imposed a tax on
this activity around 1329. 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.
Connections
with Spain were particularly strong, and in 1529 Thomas
Fitzgerald, 11th Earl of Desmond and the ambassador of Charles V of
Spain signed the Treaty of Dingle. Dingle was also a major embarkation port for
pilgrims to travel to the shrine of Saint James
at Santiago de Compostela.
The parish church was rebuilt in the sixteenth century under "Spanish
patronage" and dedicated to the saint.
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.
The Second Desmond Rebellion
The Dingle
Peninsula was the scene of much of the military activity of 1579–80. On 17 July
1579 James FitzMaurice
FitzGerald brought a small fleet of ships to Dingle. He made
landfall, launching the Second Desmond
Rebellion, but was to die soon after in a minor skirmish with the
forces of a cousin. The fleet left the
town after three days, anchoring at Dún an Óir at the western end of the peninsula,
leading eventually to the Siege of Smerwick of 1580.
Walled town and chartered borough
The residents
of Dingle applied in 1569 for a "murage grant" to construct walls around the town. The grant was not
forthcoming on that occasion. Following the defeat of the Desmond Rebellion, Queen Elizabeth
directed that a royal charter be
granted to incorporate the town as a borough, and to allow for the construction of
walls. Traces of these town walls can still be seen, while the street layout
preserves the pattern of burgage plots.
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. The head
of the corporation was the sovereign, fulfilling the role of a mayor. In
addition to the sovereign, who was elected annually on the Feast of St Michael, the corporation consisted of
twelve burgesses. The area
of jurisdiction of the corporation was all land and sea within two Irish miles of the parish church. The borough
also had an admiralty jurisdiction over Dingle, Ventry, Smerwick and Ferriter's Creek " as far as an arrow would
fly".
The charter
also created Dingle a parliamentary borough,
or constituency,
electing two members to the House of Commons of the Parliament of Ireland.
Linen
Dingle suffered
greatly in the Nine Years' War
and the Wars 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 imported flax seed and by 1755 a flourishing linen
industry had been established, with cloth worth £60,000 produced annually. The
trade collapsed following the industrial
production of cotton in Great Britain, and was virtually extinct by 1837. The town fell victim to a cholera
plague in 1849.
Fishing
Dingle is a
major fishing port, and the industry dates back to about 1830. The 1870s saw
major development, when "nobby" fleets from the Isle of Man came in search of mackerel. Lowestoft herring trawlers subsequently joined the fleet,
allowing for a longer fishing season. The pier and maritime facilities were
developed by the Congested
Districts Board, and the arrival of rail transport in 1891 allowed
for the transport of fish throughout the country, and a canning and curing
industry developed.
Places of interest
Dingle's
St. Mary's was a neo-Gothic
church 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
clerstory level, and, most notably, of the attic and upper ranges of the west
elevation.
There are many
opportunities to hear traditional Irish music in the town, particularly during the
summer tourist season. Dingle has a number of pubs as well as restaurants and cafes. There is
also an aquarium, "Oceanworld Aquarium", in the town, and a number of
art and craft shops.
Dingle Distillery—one of only five in Ireland—was
launched in Dingle in 2012.
Sport
Dingle is home
to the Dingle GAA club, which plays the popular traditional Irish game of Gaelic football. The most noted tournament in
which Dingle competes is the Kerry
Senior Football Championship.
Cuman Rugbai Chorca Dhuibhne, the local rugby team, and Dingle Bay
Rovers F.C. are based in the area.
People
- Fungie (Dolphin),
an adult Bottlenose dolphin
who has been courting human contact in Dingle Bay since 1983
- Famous Gaelic
Athletic Association commentator Mícheál Ó
Muircheartaigh was born east of Dingle, near Lios Póil in 1930.
- Also from
Dingle are Joe O'Toole,
Senator, Pauline Scanlon,
singer, and Joe Higgins T.D.
- Páidí Ó
Sé, Kerry Footballer and Senior Manager, born in Ventry, west of Dingle,
- Walking on Cars
band members are from Dingle
Name
In 2005, Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs
Éamon Ó Cuív announced
that anglicised place names (such as 'Dingle') of Gaeltacht
towns and villages would no longer feature on official signposts, and only the Irish language names would appear. The
English-language version of the town's name was thus officially dropped in
early 2005, with the Irish name An Daingean being 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
finding the town. Detractors noted that tourists might not recognize the Irish
name on sign-posts, and that there could also be confusion with a similarly
named town (Daingean) in County 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's Gaeltacht status, thereby losing
its entitlement to government grants for Irish-speaking areas.
In late 2005, Kerry County council approved the holding of a plebiscite for the change of name to the bilingual "Dingle/Daingean Uí Chúis" which
took place in October 2006. The result
was announced on 20 October, and 1,005 of the 1,086 returned ballots
(electorate: 1,222) favored the change to the bilingual version. 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 Government
John Gormley, announced his intention to amend
the local government laws to allow names chosen by plebiscite to supersede any
Placenames Order under the Official
Languages Act 2003. This
would mean that "Daingean Uí Chúis" would 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 the Gaeltacht will 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.
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