Килкел: Тарихы, халқы және мәдениеті

Town in County Down, Northern Ireland

Kilkeel is a small town, civil parish and townland (of 554 acres and 6521inh) in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is the southernmost 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 is home to the largest fishing fleet in Northern Ireland. It had a population of 6,633 people at the 2021 census. Derryoge (from ga Doire Ríóg 'Ríog's oak wood')
Drumcro (from ga Druim Cró 'ridge of the fold/enclosure')
Dunnaman
Kilkeel (from ga Cill Chaoil 'church of the narrow place')

Altogether there are 69 townlands in the civil parish and barony.

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. 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, with Kilkeel Harbour the home port for the largest fishing fleet in Northern Ireland.

The town is also known as the location where the 19th century serial killer William Hare died. Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, grandson of the late Queen Elizabeth II and son of King Charles III of the United Kingdom was granted the title Baron Kilkeel along with that of Duke of Sussex and Earl of Dumbarton.

On census day in 2021, 21 March 2021, there were 6,633 people living in Kilkeel. 49.28% indicated that they had a British national identity, 32.22% had a Northern Irish national identity and 23.55% had an Irish national identity (respondents could indicate more than one national identity).

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 2021 census, 72% of district residents were from a Catholic background while 22% were from a Protestant background.

Sports played in the Kilkeel area include Gaelic football, football, hockey, fishing, golf, hurling, and swimming. There are five Gaelic Athletic Association clubs in the area: An Ríocht, Longstone, Atticall, Ballymartin, and Glasdrumman, with associated bars, facilities and community activities. The most senior association football team is Valley Rangers Football Club of the Mid Ulster Football League. Other local teams include Ballyvea FC, Kilkeel Athletic and Mourne Rovers. Kilkeel Elks Basketball Club is based at An Ríocht Hall. Kilkeel Hockey Club play at McAuley Park, and is the only hockey club in Mourne. There is also a golf course at Kilkeel Golf Club and Cranfield formerly had a pitch and putt course. Fairways Golf, an indoor golf simulator, opened in 2023.

Baron Kilkeel is a title in the peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 19 May 2018 by Queen Elizabeth II as a substantive title for her grandson Prince Harry on the occasion of his marriage to Meghan Markle. It is named after the town of Kilkeel.