Village · Co. Mayo
“The mottled church” — the village north of Ballina, historically associated with Saint Patrick, with the 12th-century round tower and the 17th-century Cathedral Church of St Patrick.
Killala (Cill Ala in Irish, meaning “the mottled church”) is a village in County Mayo in Ireland, north of Ballina. The railway line from Dublin to Ballina once extended to Killala, and the old line is the village’s connection to the town to the south. To the west of Killala is the townland of Townsplots West (known locally as Enagh Beg), which contains a number of ancient forts. As of the 2016 census of Ireland, the village had a population of 562, and the village is in a civil parish of the same name.
Killala is historically associated with Saint Patrick, and it was the seat of an episcopal see for several centuries. Evidence of Killala’s ecclesiastical past includes a 12th-century round tower and the 17th-century Cathedral Church of St Patrick — the stones of the village, and the walk through it is the walk that passes the tower and the cathedral on the way to the bay. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Killala (Alladenis in Latin) is one of the five suffragan sees of the ecclesiastical Province of Tuam, comprising the north-western part of County Mayo with the Barony of Tireragh in County Sligo — the diocese is the village’s wider country, and the see is the older history of the place.
Killala sits at the head of Killala Bay, where the River Moy runs out to the Atlantic, and the village is the place where the bay country meets the town country. The water is the village’s front garden: the bay, the river and the headlands, and the light on the water is best in the evening. The village works as the base for the bay and the Moy valley — the walk in the morning, the bay in the afternoon.
Killala is north of Ballina, at the head of Killala Bay; the round tower and the cathedral are in the village. The village works as the base for the bay and the Moy valley — the church country in the morning, the bay in the afternoon.
Where to stay
Killala puts the tower, the cathedral and the bay all within a walk — the water is the point.
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The largest island off the west coast, linked to the mainland by a bridge over Achill Sound since 1887 — wild Atlantic headlands, black-pebble bays, a lighthouse with a story, and a landscape that has shaped Irish life for a thousand years.
The 764-metre mountain near Murrisk, traditionally the place where St Patrick fasted — a broad, windswept summit and one of the great walking and pilgrimage places in the country.
“Mouth of the ford” — the town at the mouth of the River Moy near Killala Bay, with the Ox Mountains to the east and the Nephin Mountains to the west, and the Bronze Age Dolmen of the Four Maols behind the station.
“Mouth of the Mullet” — the coastal Gaeltacht town at the isthmus, with the two bays of Blacksod and Broadhaven linked by Carter’s Canal running through the town, and half the population able to speak Irish.