Ducalla
Townland in the civil parish of Killemlagh, barony of Iveragh, Co. Kerry; in Irish Duichealla
- Area
- 167.9 ha
- 415 acres
- Land parcels
- 14
- registered freehold, median 3,666 m² (0.37 ha, 0.91 acres)
- Zoning
- —
- not in a zoned settlement
- Planning
- 1
- applications since 2010
Land parcels
Registered freehold land, Tailte Éireann
14 registered freehold parcels lie mostly in Ducalla, from 245 m² to 514,333 m² (51.43 ha, 127.09 acres). The dashed line is the townland's boundary; 3 neighbouring parcels touch it.
Download the townland: DXF, in Irish Transverse Mercator metres, with its boundary, parcels and buildings; GeoJSON or KML.
Zoning
Development plans, national zoning
No zone of a development plan covers Ducalla in the national zoning. Outside zoned towns and villages, the county development plan's rural policies apply to each application.
Source: Tailte Éireann and the Department of Housing (MyPlan), national zoning, CC BY 4.0.
Planning applications
Sites that touch the townland, newest first
28 Mar 2025Conditional
Permission to Construct a Dwellinghouse served by a Septic Tank and Polishing Filter at Duchalla, Ballinskelligs, Co. Kerry
Permission · Kerry County Council, 2560232
Source: National Planning Applications, Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, CC BY 4.0. Applicants are not shown.
Nature and heritage
Designated sites and recorded monuments
Designated sites
- Special Protection Area: Iveragh Peninsula SPA 004154
Recorded monuments
- KE096-015 Souterrain
Description
This souterrain, not marked on the OS maps, is located on a W facing slope above Ducalla Head. It was discovered in the 1940s during repair work to a field boundary. A 3m long section of the souterrain passage is visible, aligned E-W, and it is blocked with collapse at both ends. The side-walls are composed of upright slabs, c. .5m high, overlain by drystone walling which corbels slightly. Roofed with lintels, the passage is 1.15m wide and 1.1m high. The above description is derived from A. O'Sullivan and J. Sheehan (compilers), 'The Iveragh peninsula: an archaeological survey of South Kerry'. Cork University Press (1996), no. 875. In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 29 July 2013
- KE096-016 Hut site
Description
On a natural terrace on the W slopes of Bolus, overlooking Ducalla head to W. A pair of poorly preserved conjoined huts of drystone construction, built on the W edge of a stone revetted terrace. The better preserved S hut KE096-016---- is oval in plan. D: 3.5m x 2.4m. H: 1.5m. T: .7m. The collapsed circular N hut KE096-016001- features a 1.4m wide gap at E, probably the entrance. D: 3m x 2.9m. H: .6m. T: .6m. The above description is derived from A. O'Sullivan and J. Sheehan (compilers), 'The Iveragh peninsula: an archaeological survey of South Kerry'. Cork University Press (1996), no. 1262. In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 1 August 2013
- KE096-016001 Hut site
Description
On a natural terrace on the W slopes of Bolus, overlooking Ducalla head to W. A pair of poorly preserved conjoined huts of drystone construction, built on the W edge of a stone revetted terrace. The better preserved S hut KE096-016---- is oval in plan. D: 3.5m x 2.4m. H: 1.5m. T: .7m. The collapsed circular N hut KE096-016001- features a 1.4m wide gap at E, probably the entrance. D: 3m x 2.9m. H: .6m. T: .6m. The above description is derived from A. O'Sullivan and J. Sheehan (compilers), 'The Iveragh peninsula: an archaeological survey of South Kerry'. Cork University Press (1996), no. 1262. In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 1 August 2013
- KE096-017 Souterrain
Description
Located c. 400m SSW of KE096-015---- and not marked on the OS maps, this Y-shaped, stone-built souterrain is situated in rough pasture on a W facing slope overlooking Ducalla Head. The entrance leads into a passage 2.5m long and .8m wide, which is aligned WNW-ESE and is littered with collapse. Its side-walls are of drystone construction and only two roofing lintels survive in situ. A creepway in the WNW end-wall, .5m x .5m, leads into a second passage which is 1m high, .6m wide and extends to NNE for a distance of 3.3m. The well-constructed end-wall at NNE is neatly rounded, and a possible ventilation shaft occurs just below roof level. The side-walls are regularly coursed and incline slightly inwards towards the lintelled roof. A creepway, .5m x .5m, in the SW corner of this passage gives access to a third passage which curves to W for 3.7m. It is .8m wide, .6m high and is of similar construction to the second passage. A single slab closes its W end. The above description is derived from A. O'Sullivan and J. Sheehan (compilers), 'The Iveragh peninsula: an archaeological survey of South Kerry'. Cork University Press (1996), no. 876. In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 30 July 2013
- KE096-018 Megalithic structure
Description
This site, overlooking the Atlantic to W, is located in rough upland pasture on the SW slopes of Bolus mountain, just below the saddle that extends NE-SW. It consists of a raised rectangular area, 7m NW-SE x 5.3m NE-SW, which is delimited by a rough stone kerb. Most of the kerb stones are set on edge and they average .2m x .5m x .4m thick. The earthen interior is raised approximately .5m above surrounding ground level. The site is locally referred to as the 'Giant's Grave'. The above description is derived from A. O'Sullivan and J. Sheehan (compilers), 'The Iveragh peninsula: an archaeological survey of South Kerry'. Cork University Press (1996), no. 1471. In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 1 August 2013
- KE096-024 Signal tower
Description
Situated adjacent to steep sea cliffs adjacent to Bolus Point, and c. 1.1kms N of Bolus Head (c. 209m OD). Located on a small area of level ground with abrupt steep slopes to the W, NW and SW at the sea cliffs, and with an area of terrain that slopes away gradually to the E\ESE before rising again close to the enclosed barracks\signal station site (KE104-001----), which is located c. 600m away. The surrounding area consists of unenclosed blanket bog and rocky cliffs with areas of enclosed pasture further away to the NE and SE (c. 1km). The adjacent stations in the signal tower\station chain are found at Bray Head, Valentia Island (KE087-107----), located c. 11.5kms to the NNW, and at Hog’s Head enclosed barracks\signal station (KE105-004----), located c. 10.2kms to the E\ESE. A signal tower\station was planned for Hog Island (Scariff Island) but this may never have been built (Kerrigan 1995, 278). This signal tower site at Bolus Head is located c. 2.3kms W of an ecclesiastical enclosure (KE097-044001- to KE097-044014-) at Cill Rialaigh, and c. 2.5kms S of a coastal promontory fort (KE096-014----) located at Alachaí Mór. An early nineteenth-century (c. 1804-5) originally two-storey square-plan signal tower (ext. dims. c. 6m NE-SW x c. 6m NW-SE) built of randomly coursed rubble stone masonry. The walls of the signal tower face to the NE, SE, SW, and NW. The signal tower is now mostly collapsed, and consists only of a number of short upstanding sections of rubble stone walling that do not extend above the original ground floor level; rubble spreads mainly to the N indicating that the tower collapsed in this direction. It has been suggested that this signal tower pre-dates, and was later serviced by\superseded by, the nearby enclosed barracks\signal station (KE104-001----), located 600m to the E\ESE (Clements 2013, 99). Kerrigan established that this signal tower was almost completed by April 1806 (Kerrigan 1995, 278). It is possible that this signal tower site was never completed, and that the nearby enclosed barracks\signal station superseded it before it was ever in use. The signal tower is shown as a small rectangular-plan building on the Ordnance Survey first ed. six-inch map, surveyed 1841-2, and as a small square-plan building on the Ordnance Survey second and third eds. six-inch maps, surveyed 1894-8 and 1914-5 respectively. There is no indication of any surrounding enclosure indicated on any of the Ordnance Survey maps or on available aerial photographs. The site is connected to a field wall that runs away to the NE that is indicated on the Ordnance Survey second and third eds. six-inch maps, but not on the Ordnance Survey first ed. six-inch map. The signal tower was part of a system of over 80 signal stations constructed by the British Board of Ordnance in the first decade of the nineteenth century to warn of the approach of a French invasion fleet. Signalling between sites was accomplished using a naval signal post. The system formed a continuous chain from Dublin Bay running clockwise all the way around the coast to Malin Head in County Donegal. It was abandoned by the mid-1810s when the threat of a French invasion diminished (Kerrigan 1995, 157-66). Compiled by: Stuart Rathbone Uploaded on: 28/07/22
Architectural heritage
No building of the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage stands in the townland of Ducalla.
Designated sites: National Parks and Wildlife Service. Recorded monuments: Sites and Monuments Record, National Monuments Service. Buildings: National Inventory of Architectural Heritage. Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, CC BY 4.0. Works at or in relation to a recorded monument need two months' written notice to the National Monuments Service (National Monuments (Amendment) Act 1994, section 12).
Ground and risks
Radon, landslides, flooding
- Radon
- About 1 in 5 homes in this area is likely to have high radon levels. Testing a home
- Landslides
- Susceptibility high, moderately high, moderately low, low, on the 1:50,000 map.
- Terrain model
- No LiDAR survey of the Office of Public Works covers the centre of the townland of Ducalla.
- Flooding
- The flood maps of the Office of Public Works: floodinfo.ie.
Radon Risk Map of Ireland, Environmental Protection Agency; Landslide Susceptibility Classification, Geological Survey Ireland; both CC BY 4.0. LiDAR: contains Irish Public Sector Data (Geological Survey Ireland & the Office of Public Works) licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.
Homes sold
Property Price Register
No address of the register names Ducalla with five sales or more. The sales of the area are on the page of Co. Kerry.
The townland
- Name
- Ducalla · Duichealla
- Area
- 1,678,665 m² (167.87 ha, 414.81 acres)
- Civil parish
- Killemlagh, and its townlands
- Barony
- Iveragh
- Electoral division
- Ballinskelligs, the unit of the census
- Census 2022
- Ballinskelligs electoral division: 419 people in 172 households; 79% of households own their home; 24% of homes were built since 2001; 5% of dwellings stood vacant on census night, and 55% were holiday homes.
- Neighbouring townlands
- Allaghee More, Bolus, Canuig, Kildreelig
- Gaeltacht
- In an Irish-speaking area
- Placenames
- Ducalla on logainm.ie, the Placenames Database of Ireland
Townlands, civil parishes, baronies and electoral divisions, National Statutory Boundaries, Tailte Éireann, CC BY 4.0. Census 2022, Small Area Population Statistics by electoral division, Central Statistics Office, CC BY 4.0. A townland is the smallest land division of Ireland, and the unit of a rural address; old registers such as the 1901 and 1911 censuses file it under its civil parish and barony.