Tralee (Co. Kerry) & Environs
Tralee (pop. 23,500), probably most famous for the cringe-inducing annual Rose of Tralee Festival, is a friendly commercial town situated at the confluence of Kerry’s river Lee and several other small rivers and adjacent to marshy ground at the head of Tralee Bay. The name is said to come from Trá Lí or Trá Laoi meaning ’strand of the Lee‘, although some believe it comes from Trá Liath, meaning ‘grey strand’.
The capital of “The Kingdom” of Co. Kerry, It has excellent shopping facilities, some good pubs, a couple of decent restaurants, an architecturally futuristic Institute of Technology and exceptionally scenic hinterland.
Tralee is located on a very ancient roadway over the Slieve Mish Mountains.
John Thomas FitzGerald founded Tralee’s Great Castle and a Dominican Friary in the C13th, and Tralee developed as a stronghold of the Earls of Desmond. The mediaeval town was burnt in 1580 in retribution for the Desmond Rebellions. In 1587 Queen Elizabeth I granted Tralee Castle and huge tracts of land to Sir Edward Denny and his charming wife Lady Margaret Denny, whose descendants dominated the area for much of the next 300 years. The town received its Royal Charter in 1613.
The Great Castle gave way to Denny Street, a wide Georgian thoroughfare completed in 1826, at around the same time as the modern layout of Tralee was established. The street’s most striking monument is Albert Power’s Croppy Boy, a statue of a Pikeman commemorating the 1798 Rebellion, although Tralee played no part in the events of that year.
Kerry County Museum, incorporating the theme park ‘Kerry: The Kingdom‘ and an exhibit which depicts life in medieval Geraldine Tralee, is based in the Ashe Memorial Hall at one end of Denny Street. The 1928 sandstone building, dedicated to the memory of Thomas Ashe, housed local authority offices until 1992.
Tralee Town Park surrounds the Hall on three sides, containing a surprisingly quantity of subtropical plants; even bananas grow here. It is particularly beautiful in July and August when the famous Rose Garden is in full bloom. A new feature of the park is the recently created “garden of the senses”.
The Siamsa National Folk Theatre of Ireland, also located in the Park, celebrates Ireland’s Gaelic cultural heritage through expert performances including music, song, dance and drama.
The Grand Hotel Tralee in the centre of the town retains old world charm with open fires, ornate ceilings and mahogany furnishings. The Samuel Restaurant, said to be one of the best restaurants in Kerry, was once the office of Samuel Hussey.
The Georgian Visitor Centre in Day Place is the restored home of Sir Robert Day, a prominent jurist whose family connections with the Denny estate were very useful to all concerned
Tralee courthouse was designed by Sir Richard Morrison and built in 1835. It has a monument of two cannons commemorating those Kerrymen who died in the Crimean War (1854-1856) and the Indian Rebellion (1857). Other historic landmarks on the recently restored and partially pedestrianised Ashe St. are the old Mill and the unfortunately now unused Market.
The recently redeveloped Square is now used as the central market- and event place. The Mall, Bridge Street, Castle Street and some of the less obvious streets and lanes also repay browsing.
In November 1920, during the Irish War of Independence, the Black and Tans closed the town down in revenge for the IRA’s abduction and murder of two RIC men, burned houses and businesses connected with IRA activists, shot three local people dead and did not let any food into Tralee for seven days. Near famine conditions prevailed by the end of the week, and the incident caused an international outcry.
In August 1922, during the Irish Civil War, Irish Free State troops landed at nearby Fenit and then took Tralee from its Republican garrison. Nine attackers and three defenders were killed in fighting in the town. The anti-Treaty forces withdrew, only to continue a guerrilla campaign in the surrounding area.
East
The east of Tralee features some of the oldest town landmarks.
Ratass Church dates from early Christian times, and the incorporated Ogham Stone suggests the area had significance from an even earlier period. The C11th stone church is unusual, and was briefly important after it was included in the list of Sees drawn up by the Synod of Rathbreasail in 1111, which marked the transition of the Irish Church from a monastic to a diocesan and parish-based organisation: however, its jurisdiction was transferred to Ardfert in 1117.
The Old Tralee Workhouse was where thousands perished during the Great Famine.
The Ballyseedy Memorial commemorates an infamous atrocity carried out by Free State troops in 1923 when nine IRA prisoners were taken from the prison in Tralee and blown up with a land mine. The sculpture is by the WWII Nazi collaborator Yann “Renard” Goulet.
Ballyseede Castle was granted as a perpetual lease in 1584 to Robert Blennerhassett, the rent being one red rose to be presented each year on Midsummer’s Day. His descendants occupied Ballyseede until 1966. It is now an upmarket hotel located in its own thirty acres of gardens and woodland. Inside the impressive lobby, Doric columns frame an elegant wooden bifurcating staircase of fine oak joinery, almost unique in Ireland. In the library bar there is a great-carved oak chimneypiece over-mantle dated 1627. There is also a splendid Banqueting Hall. The castle is widely believed to be haunted by the ghosts of Landlords past, known to walk the long corridors in the basement level. One, fondly called Hilda by castle habitués, is known to make her presence felt on 24th March each year.
South
Several tourist-orientated attractions have been developed south of Tralee in an attempt to attract more visitors.
The Aquadome, resembling a cross between an ancient castle and glass spaceship, provides splashy excitement for all of the family.
The Tralee and Dingle Light Rail system has been partially restored for a stream train to run between Tralee and Blennerville.
The Tralee Ship Canal stretches from about half a mile beyond Blennerville Quay to Prince’s Quay, right on the edge of Tralee town, and was once very important. Blennerville’s port, established in the mid-C18th, silted up rapidly, and local merchants soon became very discontented. In 1828 a petition on behalf of the gentry and merchants of Tralee was made to the House of Commons by Maurice Fitzgerald, the Knight of Kerry, and in 1829 a Local Act of Parliament sanctioned the completion of a ship canal from the town to the sea. Work began during the 1830s and was completed in 1846.
For many years the canal brought ships of up to 300 tons right up to the town to discharge their cargoes. Gradually, however, the problem that had beset Blennerville, silt deposit build-up, also occurred in the canal. Over a period of time the canal became impossible to navigate and fell into disuse, gradually replaced in importance by Fenit and the railway. It has only recently been restored.
Blennerville is best known for its 200 year old working windmill, Ireland’s largest, and also the tallest of its kind in Europe at 21.3m high. This striking landmark is now the centrepiece of a major craft complex that includes a multi-lingual audio-visual presentation on the history of the area and an exhibition on C19th emigration from Co. Kerry.
Blennerville House was the residence of the Blennerville’s founder, Sir Rowland Blennerhassett, who is known to have lived here in 1783; however, the building probably dates from the late C17th. It was acquired by the Chute family in the mid-C19th, and sold by Capt. Richard Chute in 1919. It is now the home of the Johnson family.
Jeanie Johnston, a three-masted barque built in Quebec in 1847, traded out of Tralee, transporting emigrants from the Great Famine and its aftermath to North America and timber back to Europe. In 2000 the construction of a replica of the C19th ship was undertaken by young volunteers from all over the world under the supervision of master shipwrights; the work began in Fenit Harbour, and continued later in Blennerville’s shipyard. In 2002 she sailed to Canada and the USA. She has taken part in the Tall Ships Race and currently operates out of Dublin as a sail training ship.
West
Fenit (An Fhianait – “The Wild Place”) (pop. 450) is a village with a mixed function seaport: fishing, freight import and export, and a 130-berth marina account for the main areas of business. Fenit Harbour, located in Tralee Bay, includes Fenit Pier and Marina, and is connected to the land by a long causeway and viaduct, where many visitors fish. Tralee Bay Sea Angling Club, the largest angling club in Ireland, have their clubhouse on the marina breakwater in the harbour. The local fishing industry has all but ceased due to EU quota limits and competition from larger fleets from Spain and France. Until 2006, French companies still used the port to land fish, which was then transported, directly to the European mainland. There are plans to further increase the size of the marina and develope the pier.
In the disastrous aftermath of the Spanish Armada in 1588, the sloop Nuestra Señora del Socorro (75 tons) anchored at Fenit, where it surrendered to Crown officers. The 24 men on board were taken into custody and marched to Tralee castle where, on the orders of Lady Margaret Denny, they were all hanged from a gibbet.
In April 1916, in an ill-fated plan arranged by Sir Roger Casement, the village was the intended landing place for arms and ammunition from Germany. The ship Aud was scuttled in Cork Harbour by the captain to prevent the British forces from seizing the cache.
On 8th August 1922, during the Irish Civil War, Fenit was the scene of a major landing by 450 Free State troops from the Lady Wicklow, as part of an offensive to re-take Republican held Tralee. The republican forces had intended to blow-up the pier if an attack was launched but the charges were rendered inoperable by unknown persons in an attempt to minimise damage to the port.
In 1984, a Fenit registered boat, the Marita-Ann, attempted to import arms bought clandestinely in the USA on behalf of the IRA, but was intercepted by the Irish Navy vessels LE Emer and LE Aisling along with members of the Garda Síochána and its crew arrested. The present Sinn Fein TD for North Kerry, Martin Ferris was one of several convicted of possession of explosive substances for unlawful purposes and possession of firearms and ammunition with intent to endanger life. He served 10 years in prison.
Fenit House and its grounds dominate the village on the shore-side of the main road into the village. Formerly the Fuller / Hurley estate, it was built in 1910. Other notable buildings include the Customs House, now derelict; the redbrick RIC Barracks, now private houses; and the stone built Lifeboat House, now disused.
Fenit Island is a populated island connected to the mainland by a sandbar. Located in Tralee Bay, the island encloses Barrow Harbour. Historically, the area was called ‘Fenit Within’, it is adjacent to the areas of ‘Tawlacht’ and ‘Fenit Without’ on the mainland. The terms within/without refer to the walled protection that protected the island from attackers from the landward side. The island is accessible by car at low tide, by driving on the beach. Saint Brendan the Navigator was born on Fenit Island.
Fenit Castle, a late 16th or early C17th tower house, was built by the FitzMaurice family the to protect the entrance to Barrow Harbour.
Barrow Harbour is a tidal inlet off Tralee Bay. It was once the major port for the region, servicing the monastic settlement of Ardfert and the general area of Tralee.
Barrow House is located at the old quayside.
North
Sporting grounds dominate the northern area of the town.
The Austin Stack GAA grounds offer great facilities for both players and supporters.
The Tralee Sports Centre with an impressive gym, pool, and sport fields.
Tralee Race Course is the venue for the bi-annual Tralee Races.
The Kingdom Greyhound Stadium offers racing several times a week.
