Ballinskelligs

---

title: "Ballinskelligs" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["towns-and-villages-in-county-kerry", "gaeltacht-places-in-county-kerry", "beaches-of-county-kerry", "augustinian-monasteries-in-the-republic-of-ireland", "gaeltacht-towns-and-villages", "iveragh-peninsula"] description: "Area in western County Kerry, Ireland" topic_path: "geography/ireland" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballinskelligs" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Area in western County Kerry, Ireland ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox settlement"]

Field	Value
official_name	Ballinskelligs
native_name	Baile an Sceilg
native_name_lang	ga
settlement_type	Village
image_skyline	Ballinskelligs.jpg
image_size	300px
pushpin_map	Ireland
pushpin_label_position	right
pushpin_map_caption	Location in Ireland
subdivision_type	Country
subdivision_name	Ireland
subdivision_type1	Province
subdivision_name1	Munster
subdivision_type3	County
subdivision_name3	County Kerry
unit_pref	Metric
population_as_of	2011
population_total	375 (Electoral District)
population_density_km2	auto
coordinates
blank_name	Irish Grid Reference
blank_info
footnotes	Official name: Baile an Sceilg
::

|official_name = Ballinskelligs |other_name = |native_name = Baile an Sceilg |native_name_lang = ga |settlement_type = Village |image_skyline = Ballinskelligs.jpg |image_size = 300px |image_caption = |pushpin_map = Ireland |pushpin_label_position = right |pushpin_map_caption = Location in Ireland |subdivision_type = Country |subdivision_name = Ireland |subdivision_type1 = Province |subdivision_name1 = Munster |subdivision_type3 = County |subdivision_name3 = County Kerry |unit_pref = Metric |area_footnotes = |area_total_km2 = |population_as_of = 2011 |population_footnotes = |population_total = 375 (Electoral District) |population_density_km2 = auto |coordinates = |elevation_footnotes = |elevation_m = |blank_name = Irish Grid Reference |blank_info = |footnotes = Official name: Baile an Sceilg

Ballinskelligs, officially Baile an Sceilg (Irish for "town (townland) of the craggy rock"), is a townland in the civil parish of Prior, County Kerry, Ireland. It may also refer to the wider district around the townland. It is located in the south-west of the Iveragh peninsula (Uíbh Ráthach) and is within the Gaeltacht. According to the 2016 census about 10% of the population of the electoral division speak Irish on a daily basis outside the education system. The townland was in the poor law union of Cahersiveen.

The rocks referred to in the area’s Irish name are the Skellig Islands—Skellig Michael and Little Skellig—an ancient monastic colony which lies off the coast from Ballinskelligs. The town is also the site of a beach.

Ballinskelligs was the termination site of an early transatlantic telegraph cable laid in 1875 from Tor Bay, Nova Scotia, Canada—a distance of 2565 nmi.

Notable features

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fd/Castles_of_Munster,_Ballinskelligs,Kerry-geograph.org.uk-_1392857.jpg" caption="Ruins of Ballinskelligs Castle"] ::

Ballinskelligs Castle is situated on the western shore of Ballinskelligs Bay, on a narrow promontory which is subject to heavy erosion. The castle was constructed by the MacCarthy Mór dynasty in the 16th century to protect the bay from pirates, and possibly in order to charge a tariff on incoming trade vessels.

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/16/Ballinskelligs_Priory.jpg" caption="Ballinskelligs Priory"] ::

Ballinskelligs Priory was an Arrouaisian house of Augustinian canons.

Within Ballinskelligs are the two parts of the Cill Rialaig project, the Artist Retreat in the former village of Cill Rialaig, and the Arts Centre in the village of Dun Geagan. The project is led, since its foundation in the 1990s, by local resident Noelle Campbell-Sharp of Canuig House.

References

References

1. "Table 10: Population in each county, city, rural area and electoral division within the Gaeltacht, 2006 and 2011". Central Statistics Office.
2. [http://www.logainm.ie/22062.aspx Placenames Database of Ireland]
3. Deidre Flanagan et al.: ''Irish Place Names'', Gill & Macmillan, 1994, {{ISBN. 0-7171-2066-X, p. 172
4. "Ballinskelligs - Where is Ballinskelligs?".
5. "ArcGIS Web Application".
6. Lord Killanin and Michael V. Duignan: ''The Shell Guide to Ireland'', Ebury Press, London 1967, p. 86
7. Glover, Bill. "Direct United States Cable Company Cable Station ~ Rye Beach, New Hampshire". Atlantic Cable.
8. Ballinskelligs Castle Committee. "Ballinskelligs Castle".
9. Sheehan, John. (1988). "Ballinskelligs Castle, Ballinskelligs". [[Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government]].
10. Saints and Stones. "Ballinskelligs Priory".
11. (18 June 2014). "My mother got pregnant at 20". Evening Herald.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::