Ballydehob

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Ballydehob (Ireland)
Ballydehob
Ballydehob
Ballydehob on the map of Ireland

Ballydehob ( Irish : Béal an Dá Chab ) is a place on the Irish southwest coast in County Cork in the province of Munster . Ballydehob had 274 inhabitants at the 2016 census. Ballydehob is 12 km west of Skibbereen and 32 km east of Mizen Head , the most westerly point in Ireland, and 30 km east of Sheep's Head with the Fastnet Lighthouse .

history

At the beginning of the Bronze Age (2200-600 BC), copper was mined in the vicinity of Ballydehob, as in the nearby copper mines at Mount Gabriel . There are megalithic testimonies from this time. In the following era, Iron Age Celts erected ring forts to defend the area.

Various clans fought for supremacy in this area until the Middle Ages . Eventually the McCarthys and O'Mahonys became the leading families on the south-west coast of Ireland. A number of medieval fortifications protected the coastal strip. Kilcoe Castle was the McCarthys' westernmost stronghold. It is now the best preserved structure from that period in West Cork.

In the time of Elizabeth I in 1602, George Carew's troops invaded the area and drove out the rebellious clan chiefs. Their journey through West Cork was described in the Pacata Hibernia by Sir Thomas Stafford . But not only this description, written from the point of view of the conquerors, illuminates the struggles of this time, but also the contemporary work Historicae Catholicae Iberniae Compendium by Don Philip O'Sullivan , who fled from Ireland to Spain.

In the 17th century, many Protestants from England settled on the coast, but Huguenot refugees also escaped persecution in France in small boats and landed on the Irish coast. The Norfolk Swantons soon became the most influential family in the area and in the late 18th century the place was renamed Swantons Town. The use of this name is proven up to the census of 1821.

In the 1820s, copper mining began to become the main industry in Ballydehob. Lord Audley opened the Cappagh mine, the 20-meter-high smokestack for roasting the copper ore that existed until February 2002 when it was destroyed by lightning. During this time a station of the Royal Irish Constabulary was set up in Ballydehob , six years before London got the first police station. By the 1840s, the city's population had grown to 20,000. The Great Famine in Ireland soon decimated the population. Thousands of residents died or emigrated to the United States via the ports on the southern coast of Ireland . In Ballydehob, the population decreased by 42% between 1841 and 42%.

In the 1880s, County Cork was a center of cooperative land reform and in Ballydehob the Irish National Land League held a large gathering in what is now St. Brigit's School, attended by Anna Parnell , sister of Charles Stewart Parnell , gave a speech.

traffic

Ballydehob Viaduct

On September 6, 1886, Ballydehob station opened with a large festival and numerous sporting events. The station was on the Schull and Skibbereen Railway , a narrow-gauge railway that at the time had a speed limit of 15 miles per hour in this area. A stone bridge with 12 arches led over the estuary of the river and is now used as a tourist attraction and lookout point. The decline in copper mining and coal shortages led to the line being closed. The last train rolled through the town on January 27, 1947. The station was closed on June 1, 1953.

Ballydehob is on the N71, a national secondary road that connects the city of Cork with Killarney in County Kerry .

Culture

In the 1960s, many artists and writers settled in Ballydehob. For some time there was hippie - Municipalities in place. One house was painted with flowers and was soon known as the Flower House .

Ballydehob hosts a number of annual festivals that are open to visitors not only from the local area but also

  • Féile Átha Dá Chab is a festival of traditional Irish folk music and dance held in April.
  • Ballydehob International Jazz Festival is an ever-growing jazz festival in May with musicians and visitors from all over the world.
  • Ballydehob Summer Festival celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2009. It's a typical summer festival for families. In this context, the Ballydehob Traditional Boat Gathering has also taken place in recent years .
  • Ballydehob Old Time Threshing and Vintage Weekend is a harvest festival and celebrates traditional Irish farming in West Cork in October.

tourism

Levis' Pub, the traditional Irish pub of the Levis Sisters, is opposite Annie's Restaurant. It has been a longstanding tradition to stop in the pub first for a drink while studying the menu at Annie's Restaurant. Annie Barry herself often comes from the eatery across the street to take orders and ask the guests over when the meal is ready. After a meal in the restaurant, many visitors return to the pub, where the Levis Sisters performed for 25 years. There are a number of other traditional pubs and restaurants in Ballydehob.

Personalities

One of the most famous residents of the city was the wrestler Danno Mahony . He won on June 30, 1935 the world title of the National Wrestling Alliance in Boston by a title fight against Jim Londos. He was known by the nickname "Irish Whip" (Irish whip). This name came from a throwing technique he had developed. A pub called The Irish Whip still exists in the center of Balldehob . Mahony died in a car accident on November 4, 1950. In 2000 a bronze statue of Mahony was erected in Ballydehob.

In the mid-1990s, the medieval Kilcoe Castle was acquired by actor Jeremy Irons and renovated for residential use.

The Berlin-born geologist Colin J. Campbell , who became known for his work on the global peak oil production , now lives in Ballydehob.

Web links

Commons : Ballydehob  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Ballydehob on citypopulation.de, accessed on July 2, 2018
  2. a b c History of Ballydehob ( Memento from August 24, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  3. Philip O'Sullivan: Historicae Catholicae Iberniae Compendium Microform, archive.org
  4. Irish railways (PDF; 552 kB) Castletownroche station (p. 6)
  5. ^ Roads Act 1993 (Classification of National Roads) Order 2006 (PDF; 361 kB) of the Department of Transport pp. 20–21
  6. ^ Féile Átha Dá Chab
  7. ^ Ballydehob International Jazz Festival ( Memento from February 2, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  8. Annie's Restaurant ( Memento from November 26, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  9. Kilcoe Castle on the homepage of Jeremy Irons ( Memento from November 4, 2009 in the Internet Archive )

Coordinates: 51 ° 34 ′  N , 9 ° 28 ′  W