Kilkeel is a small town, civil parish and townland in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is the southern-most town in Northern Ireland. 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 around the island of Ireland. It had a population of 6,541 people at the 2011 Census. The town contains the ruins of a 14th-century church and fort, winding streets and terraced shops. It lies just south of the Mourne Mountains.
Geography
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, and extends into the neighbouring townlands of:
Derryoge
Drumcro
Dunnaman
Kilkeel
Altogether there are 69 townlands in the civil parish and barony.
History
Kilkeel takes its name from the old church overlooking the town, it being the anglicised version of the Gaelic 'Cill Chaoil' meaning "church of the narrow place". The name may be drawn from the church's location on a narrow site between the Aughrim and Kilkeel rivers. The church was built 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-boatUB-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. is now in the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum at Cultra. 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.
Economy
Fishing is a major industry in Kilkeel, with Kilkeel Harbour the home port for the largest fishing fleet in Northern Ireland.
There are fish-processing factories around the port, pleasure angling off the piers and lobster farming along the coastline.
In recent years Rockwell Collins has become the largest employer in the area. Its Kilkeel facility, which manufactures aircraft seats for a worldwide customer base, employs over 800 people.
On Census day there were 6,541 people living in Kilkeel, accounting for 0.36% of the Northern Ireland total. Of these:
21.27% were aged under 16 years and 15.15% were aged 65 and over;
51.49% of the usually resident population were female and 48.51% were male;
54.00% belong to or were brought up in a 'Protestant and Other Christian ' religion and 40.99% belong to or were brought up in the Christian Catholic denomination ;
54.67% indicated that they had a British national identity, 27.60% had a Northern Irish national identity and 20.29% had an Irish national identity ;
35 years was the average age of the population;
8.93% had some knowledge of Ulster-Scots and 8.82% had some knowledge of Irish.
Religion
The town of Kilkeel has a strong Unionist heritage. In 2001, the ward of Kilkeel Central was recorded as 69% Protestant, and the ward of Kilkeel South was 37% Protestant. Kilkeel now sits within the administrative area of Newry, Mourne and Down District Council which is recorded in the 2011 census as being 72.32% from a Catholic religious background and 23.91% from a Protestant religious background. In the district 44.31% indicated that they had an Irish national identity, 30.39% had a Northern Irish national identity and 28.53% had a British national identity. For more details see:
Most popular sports in the Kilkeel area include Football, Hockey, Gaelic football, fishing, golf, hurling, and swimming. There are five Gaelic Athletic Association clubs in the local area which include An Ríocht, Longstone, Atticall, Ballymartin, and Glasdrumman. Each club boast impressive facilities including playing fields, sports halls, fitness suites, bar facilities and cater for a wide range of cross community activities above and beyond GAA sporting activities. These include Youth clubs, Mens Sheds, Walking clubs, Yoga, Basketball and many more. All five teams have a strong presence in the Down GAA calendar through the various leagues and field teams at every age group from U6 through to senior level. One of the most recognised sports teams in the town is Kilkeel Hockey Club. They play 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. The Men's 1st team have just recently been awarded the Anderson Cup in the Anderson Cup final at the Stormont pitches in Belfast which was a great achievement for the club and also for the town. The most senior football team is Valley Rangers F.C. of the Mid-Ulster Football League. Other local teams include Ballyvea, Kilkeel, 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.
