Killala, County Mayo, Ireland

Killala County Mayo

Location

The beautiful town of Killala and the Killala Bay are is situated just 15 minutes north of Ballina in County Mayo. Its a very small, peaceful and beautiful spot for a stop off an a quick wander. Steeped in history and a perfect location for fishing

A Brief History

Killala has rich and interesting history which once saw the first invasion by the French in the 1798 rebellion. August 1798, an expedition of 1,000 French men lead by General Humbert landed just north of Killala to help liberate Ireland.

More recently in 1981 the town was used for the multi million pound television series ” The Year Of The French”

In 1998 Killala celebrated the bicentenary of the French Rebellion by twinning with the commune of Chauvé in France.

Our Trip To Killala County Mayo

We were on our way to Eniscrone beach for the day, but our young son had fallen asleep in the car so we decided to visit Killala to kill some time.

Killala Bay is a estuary for the River Moy and lies a perfect spot for fishing trips.

As you can see from the two pictures below its a beautiful and big bay.

Round Tower

Killala Bay centre which is very small is situated up a little hill and at the top of this hill is the tall round tower. Made up solely from limestone and standing at 25m tall. The tower was built in the 12th century and it is known to be the best of 5 towers in the County Mayo region. Many years ago, the towers were used as a watch tower. The door to this tower was placed at 13m from the ground to warn off possible invaders.

Now the Round Tower is a focal point a good little attraction for this village.

Here below is a little bit of information from the tower itself, its history and when it came about.

The Village

The Killala center is a small but very quaint little village with real old style shops like this little butchers below. Traditional newsagents and a pub and restaurant also line this lovely street.

It had a great feel as everyone who we came across was so friendly and went out there way to say hello. It seemed to be run by locals for locals with no big chain businesses around.

Killala Fishing

Killala is known for its fishing and is a prime fishing location in Ireland. The deep waters just off sure are known for great places to catch Hake and John Dory. With species closer to the shore including coalfish, cod, grey gurnard, red gurnard, pollack, ray, conger, skate, tope and turbot.

The ever famous river Moy is only a mere 8km away and is known for its abundance of top quality trout and salmon.

Some Final Information

After a little wander around we headed back to the car down at the bay and took in the final views of this stunning little town.

We then even took a few minutes to read a bit about the bay and the area from these signs below.

Thanks for stopping by just a small post today but we felt this lovely little town Killala in County Mayo deserved a little write up.

This would be a great stop off for anyone on a trip exploirng the Wild Atlantic Way, one of the most beautiful drives on earth. Find places like Doolin on these drives a perfect fishing village near the Cliffs of Moher

Fancy learning a bit more about the emerald island of Ireland. A few we have enjoyed have been Lough Key Forest Park in County Roscommon a park for al the family with endless fun to be had.

Otherwise a couple of noteworthy stops would be the impressive Roscommon Castle or the stunning Glencar Waterfall, a couple of favourites from this part of Ireland.