Tralee Castle-Herrenhaus 1824 by Sarah Harnett

Tralee Castle was a medieval strategic

castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

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

Kerry Kerry or Kerri may refer to: * Kerry (name), a given name and surname of Gaelic origin (including a list of people with the name) Places * Kerry, Queensland, Australia * County Kerry, Ireland ** Kerry Airport, an international airport in County ...

, owned by the

Denny family Denny or Dennie may refer to: People *Denny (given name), a list of people named Denny or Dennie *Denny (surname), a list of people surnamed Denny or Dennie *Denny (hybrid hominin) Places * Denny, California, a ghost town *Denny, Falkirk, a town ...

from 1586. It is now a ruin. The castle was built by the Desmond family, likely in the mid-thirteenth century at a similar time to the constriction of the nearby Castle Maine. It became a seat of the

Earls of Desmond Earl of Desmond is a title in the peerage of Ireland () created four times. When the powerful Earl of Desmond took arms against Queen Elizabeth Tudor, around 1578, along with the King of Spain and the Pope, he was confiscated from his estates, ...

and was damaged in 1580 during the

Second Desmond Rebellion The Second Desmond Rebellion (1579–1583) was the more widespread and bloody of the two Desmond Rebellions in Ireland launched by the FitzGerald Dynasty of Desmond in Munster against English rule. The second rebellion began in July 1579 when ...

. In 1586 the castle and town were granted to Sir Edward Denny, and restored by his son, Sir Edward Denny, in 1627. The castle was besieged during the

Irish Rebellion of 1641 The Irish Rebellion of 1641 ( ga, Éirí Amach 1641) was an uprising by Irish Catholics in the Kingdom of Ireland, who wanted an end to anti-Catholic discrimination, greater Irish self-governance, and to partially or fully reverse the plantat ...

and burnt by Irish rebels in 1642. In 1653 the castle was restored by Sir Arthur Denny. In 1691 the castle was again damaged in the

Williamite War in Ireland The Williamite War in Ireland (1688–1691; ga, Cogadh an Dá Rí, "war of the two kings"), was a conflict between Jacobite supporters of deposed monarch James II and Williamite supporters of his successor, William III. It is also called the ...

and then rebuilt as a manor house by Colonel Edward Denny. In 1804, Sir Edward Denny, 3rd Baronet undertook work to modernise the manor, but these were unsuccessful and he directed the demolition of the remaining structure in 1826.Tralee Castle and Abbey
''Kerry Archaeological Magazine'', Vol. 2, No. 11 (October 1913), pp. 141-150.

References

Castles in County Kerry {{Ireland-castle-stub