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Dingle, (formerly
Dingle-i-Couch). parish, market town (Saturdays), and
seaport on the north side of Dingle Bay, Corkaguiny barony, West
county Kerry, Ireland, 31 miles SW of Tralee ; acreage of parish
9,097, of town 85. The town, which is the most westerly in the
United Kingdom, is situated on a slope at the northern extremity of
a fine harbour, almost cut off from Dingle Bay by a tongue of land,
which shelters it from south-western gales, but at the same time
renders it difficult of access. On the other three sides Dingle is
enclosed by mountains. It is said to have been founded - at least,
in part - by the Spaniards, who resorted much to the fisheries off
the coast, and carried on a considerable trade with the natives ;
many of the inhabitants have a decidedly Spanish cast of
countenance, and some of the older houses bear a striking
resemblance to those of a Spanish town. Dingle received a charter
from James I., vestingthe government in a "sovereign, burgesses,
and commonalty." Prior to the Union it was represented by two
members in the Irish Parliament. The Protestant church (1807)
stands on the site of an older one, which is said to have been
founded by the Spaniards. Of the other buildings, the most
conspicuous are the handsome Roman Catholic church and the
workhouse. The ruins of the ancient castle founded by the Husseys,
which afterwards belonged to the Knights of Kerry, are 8 miles SE
of the town ; the monastery, a cell of Killagh Abbey, has
disappeared. Dingle is a head-station of the coastguard and also of
the Royal Irish Constabulary. The town has lost much of its former
prosperity, and its linen manufacture no longer exists, but the
fisheries are still important ; butter and fish are largely
exported, and mackerel-curing is on the increase. The chief seat is
Burnham, the residence of Loard Ventry, on the west side of
the harbour.
Dingle Bay, West county Kerry, runs in
an east-north-easterly direction, the upper portion consisting of
Castlemaine harbour, which is the most completely separated from
the rest of the bay by a peninsula called the Inch. The bay is 18
miles wide at its entrance, between Bray and Dunmore Heads, and
2¼ miles long to Castlemaine harbour, where the width is 7
miles. Ventry and Dingle harbours are on the north, and Valentia
harbour on the south side of the bay. The cliff scenery on either
coast, with mountain ranges rising behind, is in many places very
grand.
Population (parish) : 3143.
Population (market town) : 1764.
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Dingle - T&DR