Blennerville (, meaning "the seat/home of the Morans") is a small village near

Tralee Tralee ( ; , ; formerly , meaning 'strand of the River Lee') is the county town of County Kerry in the south-west of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The town is on the northern side of the neck of the Dingle Peninsula, and is the largest town in ...

County Kerry County Kerry () is a Counties of Ireland, county on the southwest coast of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. It is bordered by two other countie ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. It is approximately west of the town centre on the N86 road to

Dingle Dingle ( or ''Daingean Uí Chúis'', meaning "fort of Ó Cúis") is a town in County Kerry in the south-west of Ireland. The only town on the Dingle Peninsula (known in Irish as ''Corca Dhuibhne''), it sits on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coa ...

, where the

River Lee The River Lee () is a river in Ireland. It rises in the Shehy Mountains on the western border of County Cork and flows eastwards through Cork, where it splits in two for a short distance, creating an island on which Cork's city centre is b ...

enters

Tralee Bay Tralee Bay () is located in on the west coast of County Kerry, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is situated between Kerry Head on the north side and the Maharees on the west and extends eastwards as far as the bridge at Blennerville. Several ...

. The village was formerly Tralee's port, and is connected to the town centre by the

Tralee Ship Canal The Tralee Ship Canal () is a canal built for freight and passenger transportation from Tralee Bay to the town of Tralee in County Kerry, Ireland. The canal fell into disuse in the mid-20th century but has since been restored. History The ...

. Part of Blennerville

electoral division An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provid ...

falls within the area of Tralee Town Council, and at the 2011 census had a population of 141. The remaining portion, outside the urban boundaries, had a 2011 population of 556.

History

Blennerville was originally called ' (anglicised as ' or '),
Originally published and it has been speculated that it was the ancient site of the Tramore ford, the only escape route afforded to the 15th Earl of Desmond from Tralee towards the south, before his capture and execution in 1583. A bridge was built at the site in 1751, and in 1783 Sir Rowland Blennerhassett renamed it Blennerville after his family. Blennerville Windmill, Ireland's only commercially operating

windmill A windmill is a machine operated by the force of wind acting on vanes or sails to mill grain (gristmills), pump water, generate electricity, or drive other machinery. Windmills were used throughout the high medieval and early modern period ...

, was built in 1800. The port at Blennerville was used through most of the 19th century as a gateway from Kerry to

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

by emigrants wishing to cross the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

. The ''

Jeanie Johnston ''Jeanie Johnston'' is a replica of a three- masted barque that was originally built in Quebec, Canada, in 1847 by the Scottish-born shipbuilder John Munn. The replica ''Jeanie Johnston'' performs a number of functions: it is an ocean-going sai ...

'' was the most famous of these ships that transported emigrants, and throughout its service no passenger ever died. By 1846, however, the Tralee Ship Canal was opened, replacing Blennerville as Tralee's port and the village went into decline with the windmill falling into ruins and closing by the mid-19th century. In 1891 the

Tralee and Dingle Light Railway __NOTOC__ The Tralee and Dingle Light Railway and Tramway was a , narrow gauge railway running between Tralee and Dingle, with a branch from Castlegregory Junction to Castlegregory, in County Kerry on the west coast of Ireland. It operated bet ...

opened connecting Tralee with

along one of Europe's most western railway lines at the time. A station operated at Blennerville until the line closed in 1953. Blennerville National School was built in 1932, and according to its website has an enrolment of 168 students.

Recent times

In 1981 Blennerville Windmill was purchased by Tralee Urban District Council; restoration work began in June 1984 before the windmill was opened to the public by the

Taoiseach The Taoiseach (, ) is the head of government or prime minister of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The office is appointed by the President of Ireland upon nomination by Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legisl ...

Charles Haughey Charles James Haughey (; 16 September 1925 – 13 June 2006) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who led four governments as Taoiseach: December 1979 to June 1981, March to December 1982, March 1987 to June 1989, and June 1989 to February 1992 ...

in 1990. It is now impressively restored and open to the public with a visitor centre comprising a craft centre, exhibition gallery, audio-visual presentation and restaurant. A restoration project of the Tralee and Dingle Light Railway was undertaken in 1993 with a short replica of the original line opened between the Aquadome in Tralee to the restored station at Blennerville. As of 2014 the railway is no longer in operation. Blennerville Bridge was strengthened and enlarged in 1996. In the late 1980s an idea was conceived of building a replica of the ''Jeanie Johnston'' ship that sailed from Blennerville to North America during the 19th century. It did not become a reality until November 1993 when a feasibility study was completed, and in May 1995 The Jeanie Johnston (Ireland) Company Ltd. was incorporated. The ''Jeanie Johnston'' was constructed in a shipyard located only metres from where she sailed from Blennerville's original port. It was originally planned to launch the ship from her shipyard in Blennerville, but a 19th-century shipwreck was discovered by marine archaeologists while a channel was being dredged. To preserve the find, on 19 April 2000 the hull of the ''Jeanie Johnston'' was hauled to the shore and loaded onto a shallow-draft barge. There she was fitted with masts and sails, and on 4 May was transported to

Fenit Fenit () is a small village in County Kerry, Ireland, located on north side of Tralee Bay about west of Tralee town, just south of the Shannon Estuary. It is also a civil parish. The bay is enclosed from the Atlantic by the Maharee spit whi ...

, a short distance away. On 6 May the barge was submerged and the ''Jeanie Johnston'' took to the water for the first time. The next day she was officially christened by

President of Ireland The president of Ireland () is the head of state of Republic of Ireland, Ireland and the supreme commander of the Defence Forces (Ireland), Irish Defence Forces. The presidency is a predominantly figurehead, ceremonial institution, serving as ...

Mary McAleese Mary Patricia McAleese ( ; ; ; born 27 June 1951) is an Irish activist lawyer, academic, author, and former politician who served as the president of Ireland from November 1997 to November 2011. McAleese was first elected as president in 1997, ...

. Today the ''Jeanie Johnston'' is owned by the Dublin Docklands Development Authority and is located in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

. After a 20-year battle Blennerville finally got a new school, the old building been demolished after 84 years.

Sport

Blennerville has a

GAA Gaa may refer to: * Gaa language, a language of Nigeria * gaa, the ISO 639 code for the Ga language of Ghana GAA may stand for: Compounds * Glacial (water-free), acetic acid * Acid alpha-glucosidase, also known as glucosidase, alpha; acid, an e ...

club called St Patrick's, Blennerville. The club was founded in 1929. Emigration took its toll on the team and it ceased to operate on a competitive level. The team dissolved in 1957, but reformed in 1963.

Notable people

* Donal Walsh, anti-suicide activist

References

External links