Fast growing town near Cork city close to the Southern coast of Ireland. The name derives from the Gaelic Baile an Chollaig (town of the boars) and was a tiny farming hamlet until the British built a gunpowder mill there in the early nineteenth century.
The Gunpowder mill was the third largest in the British empire and employed a majority of people in the town. Poor safety standards led to the gruesome deaths of many mill workers. A Quaker supervisor took the step of installing the management within blast distance of the gunpowder and standards improved markedly.
There is also a medieval Castle outside the town built by Norman vassals.
In order to afford protection from the Irish tendency to rebel, an army barrack was built adjacent to the mill. The powder was stored in a magazine in Cork City, six miles away. Recently, the Irish armed forces have sold the barrack.
The population of Ballincollig has increased four-fold in the last twenty years as a more affluent and urbanised Ireland flock to the suburbs. The once rural nature of the town has been replaced by a rash of suburban estates. Most people commute to work in Cork City.
The town is graced by several public houses, the largest being the Darby. One of the pubs is known locally as Hitler's altough no former world war II leaders have ever been seen enjoying a pint of Guinness there.