Dingle Bay (''Bá an Daingin'' in

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

) is a bay located in County Kerry, western

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. The outer parts of the

Dingle Peninsula The Dingle Peninsula ( ga, Corca Dhuibhne; anglicised as Corkaguiny, the name of the corresponding barony) is the northernmost of the major peninsulas in County Kerry. It ends beyond the town of Dingle at Dunmore Head, the westernmost point ...

and Dingle Bay mark one of the westernmost points of mainland Ireland. The harbour town of

Dingle Dingle ( Irish: ''An Daingean'' or ''Daingean Uí Chúis'', meaning "fort of Ó Cúis") is a town in County Kerry, Ireland. The only town on the Dingle Peninsula, it sits on the Atlantic coast, about southwest of Tralee and northwest of Kill ...

lies on the north side of the bay.

Geography

The bay runs approximately from northeast to southwest into the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

. It is approximately wide at the head, and wide at the entrance. It is flanked on the north by the

, and on the south by the

Iveragh Peninsula The Iveragh Peninsula () is located in County Kerry in Ireland. It is the largest peninsula in southwestern Ireland. A mountain range, the MacGillycuddy's Reeks, lies in the centre of the peninsula. Carrauntoohil, its highest mountain, is als ...

. The River Maine enters the bay at its head. The harbour town of

lies on the north side of the bay. Other settlements overlooking the bay include

Ventry Ventry (), officially ''Ceann Trá'',Ventry/Ceann Trá

Ballymeentrant,

Beenbane Beenbane is an ancient site and National Monument located in County Kerry, Ireland. Beenbane is located on the Iveragh Peninsula, to the west of Lough Currane. Beenbane contains a calluragh, hut sites, cross slab, enclosure Enclosure ...

, and Kinard, and Annascaul and

Glenbeigh Glenbeigh or Glanbehy () is a town and civil parish on the Iveragh peninsula in County Kerry, Ireland. The parish includes Rossbeigh beach, Coomasahran Lake and a number of important rock art sites. Owing to its natural heritage, history and i ...

lie near the bay.

Killorglin Killorglin () is a town in County Kerry, Ireland. As of the 2016 CSO census, the town's population was 2,199. Killorglin is on the Ring of Kerry tourist route, and annual events include the August Puck Fair festival, which starts with the crow ...

lies at the head of the bay at the mouth of the

River Laune The River Laune (; Irish: ''An Leamhain'') is a river in County Kerry, Ireland, which flows from Lough Leane (sometimes written as Lough Lein), one of the Lakes of Killarney, through Beaufort, past Ballymalis Castle, through the town of Killo ...

. There are no notable islands within the bay, but towards the head, several peninsulas, in particular Inch Strand, extend a significant distance across its width. Part of the bay is a protected lowland estuary with tidal flats. On the south side of the bay, on the Iveragh Peninsula, there is a bird sanctuary which is an important breeding site for the

red-billed chough The red-billed chough, Cornish chough or simply chough ( ; ''Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax''), is a bird in the crow family, one of only two species in the genus '' Pyrrhocorax''. Its eight subspecies breed on mountains and coastal cliffs from the w ...

. This area has cliffs, topped with grassland and heathland.

History

In the 19th century, Dingle Bay was rich in fish stocks and

had a competent and efficient workforce. This was largely due to the efforts of the "Society for bettering the condition of the poor of Ireland", and the improvements they made in coastal fisheries in Kerry. The bay was said to abound in

pilchard "Sardine" and "pilchard" are common names for various species of small, oily forage fish in the herring family Clupeidae. The term "sardine" was first used in English during the early 15th century, a folk etymology says it comes from the ...

, herring,

cod Cod is the common name for the demersal fish genus '' Gadus'', belonging to the family Gadidae. Cod is also used as part of the common name for a number of other fish species, and one species that belongs to genus ''Gadus'' is commonly not call ...

hake The term hake refers to fish in the: * Family Merlucciidae of northern and southern oceans * Family Phycidae (sometimes considered the subfamily Phycinae in the family Gadidae) of the northern oceans Hake Hake is in the same taxonomic order ( ...

and

ling Ling may refer to: Fictional characters * Ling, an ally of James Bond's from the film ''You Only Live Twice'' * Ling, a character in the ''Mulan'' franchise * Ling, a playable character from the mobile game '' Mobile Legends: Bang Bang'' * Ling ...

, and the boats often landed exotic fish that were more associated with the Mediterranean region, Portugal and Spain. Dingle Bay was the first feature of Europe that aviator

Charles Lindbergh Charles Augustus Lindbergh (February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974) was an American aviator, military officer, author, inventor, and activist. On May 20–21, 1927, Lindbergh made the first nonstop flight from New York City to Paris, a distance o ...

encountered in 1927 during his pioneering 33-hour

transatlantic flight A transatlantic flight is the flight of an aircraft across the Atlantic Ocean from Europe, Africa, South Asia, or the Middle East to North America, Central America, or South America, or ''vice versa''. Such flights have been made by fixed-wing air ...

in the ''

Spirit of St. Louis The ''Spirit of St. Louis'' (formally the Ryan NYP, registration: N-X-211) is the custom-built, single-engine, single-seat, high-wing monoplane that was flown by Charles Lindbergh on May 20–21, 1927, on the first solo nonstop transatlant ...

'' monoplane from New York to Paris. It is enacted in the 1957 film ''

The Spirit of St. Louis The ''Spirit of St. Louis'' (formally the Ryan NYP, registration: N-X-211) is the custom-built, single-engine, single-seat, high-wing monoplane that was flown by Charles Lindbergh on May 20–21, 1927, on the first solo nonstop transatlanti ...

'', in which Lindbergh was portrayed by

Jimmy Stewart James Maitland Stewart (May 20, 1908 – July 2, 1997) was an American actor and military pilot. Known for his distinctive drawl and everyman screen persona, Stewart's film career spanned 80 films from 1935 to 1991. With the strong morality h ...

who waves to the villagers of Dingle Bay as he flies over it in jubilation.

References

{{Authority control Bays of County Kerry