Kilkeel

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. 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 Irish '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.

The fishing vessel, the Mary Joseph, 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.

As of the early 21st century, Collins Aerospace (previously known as BE Aerospace and Rockwell Collins) had become the largest employer in the area. As of 2014, its Kilkeel facility, which manufactures aircraft seats for a worldwide customer base, employed over 800 people.

People
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.

2011 census
On census day 2011, 27 March 2011, there were 6,541 people living in Kilkeel (2,557 households), 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 as Protestants and 40.99% belong to or were brought up as Catholics;
 * 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 (respondents could indicate more than one national identity);
 * 35 years was the average (median) age of the population;
 * 8.93% had some knowledge of Ulster-Scots and 8.82% had some knowledge of Irish.

In 2011, 44.31% of persons in the administrative area indicated that they had an Irish national identity, 30.39% had a Northern Irish national identity and 28.53% had a British national identity.

2021 census
On census day in 2021, 21 March 2021, there were 6,633 people living in Kilkeel. Of these:


 * 50.82% belong to or were brought up as Protestants and 40.60% belong to or were brought up as Catholics.
 * 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).

Religion
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.

Education

 * St Colman's Primary School
 * Brackenagh West Primary School
 * Grange Primary School
 * Holy Cross Primary School
 * Gaelscoil na mBeann is a bilingual primary school that uses the Irish language as its primary medium of instruction while English is introduced at Primary 3. The school teaches the Northern Ireland curriculum. It was established in 2010 by a group of local people and parents who wanted Gaelic-medium education for their children. The school gained recognition and funding from the Department of Education in 2012.
 * Kilkeel High School
 * Kilkeel Primary School
 * St. Louis High School
 * Mourne Grange Village School
 * Mourne Independent Christian School
 * St Colombans Primary School

Sport
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, Dunnaman FC 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.

Peerage title
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. The full title and designation of the barony is "Baron Kilkeel, of Kilkeel in the County of Down".