Ard na Caithne

The area's official and common Irish language name, Ard na Caithne, means "height of the arbutus" or "height of the strawberry tree". Ard na Caithne (formerly anglicised as "Ardnaconnia") was also known in Irish as Iorras Tuaiscirt ("north peninsula") and Gall-Iorras ("peninsula of the strangers"). The area's former English language name, Smerwick, is believed to derive from the Norse (Viking) words smoer and wick meaning "butter harbour". ==History==

Early Christian history The early Christian Gallarus Oratory and Mainistir Riaisc monastic site nearby are central archeological and tourist attractions. Desmond rebellions After the Holy See pronounced that Elizabeth was not Ireland's legitimate queen, James FitzMaurice FitzGerald and other Irish clan chiefs raised their clansmen in what became known as the Second Desmond Rebellion. While FitzGerald himself was killed in August 1579, in September 1580, a force of 600 Italian- and Spanish-origin mercenaries, combined with some Irish and English Catholics, landed with arms for several thousand men to support the rebellion. Charges for these killings were later brought against Sir Walter Raleigh; he avoided conviction by pleading that he only followed orders from a superior officer. Harbour The harbour where Fitzmaurice's invasion force landed was also the landfall of the returning transatlantic expedition of Sir Martin Frobisher in 1578. ==Notable people==

In the nearby Caisleán an Fheirtéaraigh lived the 17th-century Irish language bard and Irish clan chief Piaras Feiritéar. He was executed by a Cromwellian general at Killarney in 1653, for having led his clansmen in resistance against the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland. Feiritéar continues to be a folk hero and his poetry remains popular as oral literature among the people of the Dingle peninsula. ==Gallery==

File:An Triúr Deirféar1.JPG|View from An Triúr Deirféar File:Slí go Trá Béal Bán.JPG|Entrance to Béal Bán Strand, Ard na Caithne File:Dún an Óir10.JPG|Smerwick massacre memorial File:DúnanÓir30.JPG|Dún an Óir File:Caislean an Fheirtéaraigh1.JPG|Remains of Caisleán an Fheirtéaraigh, castle of the poet Piaras Feiritéar ==See also==