The Tralee Ship Canal () is a canal built for freight and passenger transportation from

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 ...

to the town of

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 ...

. The canal fell into disuse in the mid-20th century but has since been restored.

History

The Tralee Ship Canal was built to accommodate larger ships sailing into Tralee since the existing quay in Blennerville was becoming unpractical to use due to

silting Siltation is water pollution caused by particulate Terrestrial ecoregion, terrestrial Clastic rock, clastic material, with a particle size dominated by silt or clay. It refers both to the increased concentration of suspended sediments and to the i ...

. Merchants in Tralee were not satisfied with its facilities and petitioned the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

to authorise an act of Parliament in June 1829 for the construction of a canal. Work on the canal began in 1832 but issues with funding meant the canal was not completed until 1846 when it was finally opened to ships. The canal was in length with a new

canal basin A canal basin is (particularly in the United Kingdom) an expanse of waterway alongside or at the end of a canal, and wider than the canal, constructed to allow boats to moor or unload cargo without impeding the progress of other traffic, and to al ...

built in Tralee, lock gates and a wooden

swing bridge A swing bridge (or swing span bridge) is a movable bridge that can be rotated horizontally around a vertical axis. It has as its primary structural support a vertical locating pin and support ring, usually at or near to its center of gravit ...

constructed in Blennerville. Large ships of up to 300 tonnes could navigate the canal but not long after the canal opened it too began to suffer from silting. By the 1880s

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 ...

harbour was built which was a deep water harbour and did not suffer from silting. Soon afterwards a railway was constructed between Fenit and Tralee which allowed for the transport of cargo and freight from ships moored there. Due to continued silting of the canal and the increased use of Fenit the canal fell into disuse and was subsequently closed in 1951.

Restoration

Following the restoration of Blennerville Windmill in the early 1990s it was envisaged that the canal could be restored as a tourist attraction. In 1999 the

Office of Public Works The Office of Public Works (OPW) (; legally the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland) is a major Government of Ireland, Irish Government agency, which manages most of the Irish State's property portfolio, including hundreds of owned and ren ...

(OPW) started a restoration project of the canal at a cost of IR£650,000. It involved the excavation of the basin, a new swing bridge constructed at Blennerville, the lock gates being restored and the canal being dredged of silt. The basin area of the canal was subsequently redeveloped with apartment blocks built as part of a proposed marina while the

towpath A towpath is a road or trail on the bank of a river, canal, or other inland waterway. The purpose of a towpath is to allow a land vehicle, Working animal, beasts of burden, or a team of human pullers to tow a boat, often a barge. This mod ...

along the canal was upgraded and is now used by people as an enjoyable amenity as part of the

Dingle Way The Dingle Way () is a long-distance trail around the Dingle Peninsula in County Kerry, Ireland. It is a long circular route that begins and ends in Tralee and is typically completed in eight days. It is designated as a National Waymarked Tr ...

. Tralee Rowing Club use the canal and have a boathouse at the basin. File:Tralee Ship Canal - geograph.org.uk - 268382.jpg, The Basin at the end of the Tralee Ship Canal File:Tralee Ship Canal, Blennerville - geograph.org.uk - 521348.jpg, Looking towards Tralee Bay from the swing bridge at Blennerville File:Sea lock, Tralee Canal - geograph.org.uk - 1415873.jpg, Lock Gate towards Tralee Bay

References

{{Reflist Canals in Ireland Transport in County Kerry Canals opened in 1846