Annascaul 4.59

Annascaul or Anascaul is a village on the Dingle Peninsula in County Kerry, Ireland. It is situated 32.9 kilometres west of Tralee on the N86 Tralee - Dingle national secondary road near its junction with the R561 regional road to Castlemaine and Farranfore leading to nearby Inch Strand. The village was recorded as having a population of 299 at the time of the 2011 census.PlacenameDifferent suggestions as to the original meaning of the name include "Scáil's River", "River of the Shadows", or "Ford of the Heroes".The late Tadhg Kennedy gave this explanation of the origin of the name in his submission to the Bureau of Military History of Ireland: 'The name of the village, Annascaul, is derived from the ford at that point where the road to Dingle leads across the river Scál and is a corruption of the word, Átha-na-Scáil, meaning, in English, the River of the Hero, and the hero being Cuchulainn whose grave is reputed to be on the side of the mountain above Droumavalla, north of Annascaul... There was a controversy in the "Leader" years ago about the meaning of the word Annascaul and I remember Dr. Douglas Hyde,"Beirt Fhear" and Mr. D.P. Moran, editor of the "Leader", visited Annascaul to carry out investigations locally into it. My grandmother determined it for them as Átha-an-scáil by the way in which she pronounced the word and her traditional knowledge that the lake, about two miles north of the village, is known as Loch-an-Scáil, and is traditionally associated with Cuchulainn, the legendary hero.'