Ballyferriter
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| Ballyferriter Baile an Fheirtéaraigh |
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WGS-84 (GPS) Coordinates:
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| Irish grid reference Q352044 |
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| Statistics | ||
| Province: | Munster | |
| County: | County Kerry | |
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Ballyferriter (official name: Baile an Fheirtéaraigh and sometimes also referred to in Irish as An Buailtín) is a village in County Kerry, Ireland. It is located in the west of the Corca Dhuibhne (Dingle) peninsula which is a Gaeltacht and according to the 2002 census, about 75% of the town's population speaks the Irish language on a daily basis. The village is named after the Norman-Irish Feiritéar family who settled in Ard na Caithne in the late medieval period and of whom the seventeenth century poet and executed leader, Piaras Feiritéar, remains the most famous member. The older Irish name for the village An Buailtín "the little dairy place" is still used locally.
The village lies at the base of Croaghmarhin hill near Cuan Ard na Caithne (formerly also called Smerwick harbour) on the Dingle peninsula, on regional road R559 which loops around the west of the peninsula, beginning and ending in An Daingean Town. It has three pubs: Tigh Uí Chatháin, Tigh Uí Mhurchú, Tigh an tSaorsaigh, and one hotel, Óstán Cheann Sibéal (formerly Tigh Peig's). It also has a school, church, museum, and a Garda station. The village is alive with Irish students throughout the summer as courses are held in the local national school, with UCC owning a house there that facilitates year-long study for students at a higher level.
Between Baile an Fheirtéaraigh and Cuan Ard na Caithne is Dún an Óir (the Fort of Gold), and Iron Age promontory fort, which was the location of the Siege of Smerwick, an infamous massacre in 1580. The 600-strong Spanish and Italian papal invasion force who had come as part of the Second Desmond Rebellion of James Fitzmaurice Fitzgerald were besieged and massacred by the English crown forces of Arthur Grey, 14th Baron Grey de Wilton.
Under a placennames order in 2004, the Minister for the Gaeltacht, Éamon Ó Cuiv declared that on maps and signage the Irish name, Baile an Fheirtéaraigh, must be used.
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