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Ballyheigue
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"BALLYHEIGUE or BALLYHEIGH, a parish, in the barony of CLANMAURICE, county of KERRY, and province of MUNSTER 10 miles (N. N. W.) from Tralee; containing 3,766 inhabitants. This parish is situated on a bay of the same name on the western coast, and includes within its limits the promontory of Kerry Head; it comprises 8,100 statute acres.
The coast, for the greater part, is a long, low, and sandy strand, and very dangerous to vessels embayed near it. The bay of Ballyheigue or Kerry Head which latter is situated in lat. 52° 24´ 40" (N.), and lon. 9° 54´ (W.); it affords no shelter for vessels, and has been frequently mistaken for the Shannon, in consequence of the latitude of Loop Head being innacurately set down in the charts. A coast-guard station is placed here, forming one of the five which comprise the district of Listowel; and there is also a chalybeate spa. The scenery along the coast is bold and in some places strikingly grand; the bay is frequented during the summer months for seabathing; and in the neighbourhood is a remarkably good spa."
[From A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland by Samuel Lewis (1837)]
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| Ballyheigue Burial Ground |
Note: The Civil Parish of Ballyheigue ceased to be used for census purposes in the mid nineteenth century when District Electoral Divisions (DEDs) were introduced.
Ballyheigue comprises the DEDs of Ballyheigue and Kerryhead.
Ballyheigue DED Ballinclemesig, Ballyheige, Ballyronan, Booleenshere, Buncurrig, Caherulla, Castleshannon, Cloghanebane, Cloghaneleesh, Dirtane, Doonamontane, Dromgower, Glenlea, Heirhill, Knockane, Tiershanaghan, Toanreagh townlands.
Kerryhead DED Ballylongane, Dreenagh, Dromatoor, Glandahalin East and West, Glenderry, Maulin, Tiduff townlands
The household returns for the 1901 and 1911 censuses were photographed by the Church of Latter Day Saints and have been digitised by the National Archives of Ireland and are available to view online. They can be browsed from the following links:
| Ballyheigue Burial Ground |
| St Mary, Ballyheigue, Catholic |
The Church of Ireland took over the site of the old parish church. A new church (St James's) was built in 1814, deconsecrated in 1958 and demolished in 1961. There is some detail of its construction on the Irish Architectural Archive's Dictionary of Irish Architects here.
In the Roman Catholic church Ballyheigue was part of Causeway parish along with Killury and Rattoo until 1857, when it was re-established as a separate parish. The church, St Mary's, was built in 1827.
Most of the Church of Ireland parish registers were lost when the Public Record Office in Dublin was destroyed by fire in 1922. The following have been lodged at the Representative Church Body Library Braemor Park, Churchtown, Dublin 14, D14 N735:
- P.0457.02 Register of Baptisms 1879-1922
- P.0457.03 Register of Marriages 1822-1925
- P.0457.04 Register of Burials 1880-1916
The Roman Catholic registers for Causeway start in 1782 for Baptisms and 1809 for Marriages (Many pages illegible). See the Killury parish page for details.
Ballyheigue parish registers start in 1857. They have been photographed and digital scans are available at the National Library of Ireland's website:
From 1863 Ballyheigue was part of the Listowel Registration District. See the Registration Districts page.
Birth Marriage and Death civil records can be viewed on the Irish Government's Irish Genealogy site. As of November 2021 the following are available:
Births: 1864 to 1920
Marriages: 1845 (non Catholic) 1864 (Catholic) to 1945
Deaths: 1871 to 1970
Indexes up to 1958 are available on the commercial Ancestry and Findmypast sites. These can be used in conjunction with the records at the Search Room at the General Register Office (GRO) at Werburgh Street, Dublin where additional index searches can be made. There are fees for these services.
Books
- Ballyheigue by Bryan McMahon
Oidhreacht Baile Ui Thaidhg, 1994
ISBN 0951765825
The transcription of the section for this parish from the National Gazetteer (1868), provided by Colin Hinson.
- Ask for a calculation of the distance from Ballyheigue to another place.
A Map showing the Townlands of Ballyheigue from Rootsweb
You can see maps centred on OSI grid reference Q7344030060 (Lat/Lon: 52.40785, -9.860501), Ballyheigue which are provided by:
- OpenStreetMap
- Google Maps
- Bing (was Multimap)
- Copy
Ballyheigueand paste it along with the county name into the search box at Ordnance Survey Ireland. - GeoHack (Links to on-line maps and location specific services.)
- All places within the same township/parish shown on an Openstreetmap map.
- Nearby townships/parishes shown on an Openstreetmap map.
- Nearby places shown on an Openstreetmap map.