A NEW book chronicling two centuries of Kilkeel Harbour has been officially launched. Roy Teggarty’s ‘The History of Kilkeel Harbour’ was released at a special event at the town’s Nautilus Centre on Friday, and all proceeds from sales will go to the Fishermen’s Mission and the RNLI.
Speaking to the Mourne Observer, the Kilkeel author said that, having accumulated a significant amount of historic material on the local harbour in recent years, the suggestion was made to him that he should write a book about it. “Eventually, I decided to go ahead with it, to try to sort out what I had, in a meaningful way, and put it together in a book,” he added. “Someone once suggested that I should do it, I eventually got round to doing it, and it is done now – it was a labour of love.”
The retired teacher, whose father Samuel and grandfather Samuel John both fished out of the harbour, explained that his book covers the period from the early 19th century to the present day. “The idea of a harbour in Kilkeel was mentioned about 200 years ago,” he continued. “They talked about a Kilkeel harbour in the 1820s, but nothing happened. “My book covers from the early 1800s, all the discussions from that time, right through to getting a bit of the harbour built, and on through to the present day. “The first infrastructure would’ve been built in the 1850s and 1860s – what used to be called the basin. “The basin is still there, and that was the original harbour.”
Mr Teggarty said that he had wanted to continue the family tradition and become a fisherman, and, whilst he never took it up as a career after qualifying as a teacher, he spent summers on his father’s boat in his teens and into adulthood. He has also been involved in various bodies – including the Northern Ireland Fishery Harbour Authority, the RNLI, and the Carlingford Lough Commission – and, alongside local fishermen Gerry Doyle and Howard Forsythe and boat builder Bill Quinn, was on the Kilkeel Development Association sub-committee that set up the Maritime Visitors’ Centre in the Nautilus Centre. “I was born and bred in Kilkeel – my father was a fisherman, my grandfather was a fisherman, and we go back generations as far as the harbour is concerned,” he said. “It is nice to have been able to do the book on it. “Fishing was a very important thing for Kilkeel. “Farming and fishing were probably the two main activities, right through from the 1900s to the present day. “In my father’s day, the fishing industry was a big thing. “There were 50, 60, 70 boats, all crewed and owned by local people. “My whole family fished at one