Map - Tralee

Tralee (Trá Lí, ; formerly Tráigh Lí, 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 County Kerry. The town's population (including suburbs) was 23,691 census, thus making it the eighth largest town, and 14th largest urban settlement, in Ireland. Tralee is well known for the Rose of Tralee International Festival, which has been held annually in August since 1959.

Situated at the confluence of some small rivers and adjacent to marshy ground at the head of Tralee Bay, Tralee is located at the base of an ancient roadway that heads south over the Slieve Mish Mountains. On this old track is located a large boulder sometimes called Scotia's Grave, reputedly the burial place of an Egyptian Pharaoh's daughter.

Anglo-Normans founded the town in the 13th century, which became a stronghold of the Earls of Desmond, who built Tralee Castle. John Fitz-Thomas FitzGerald founded the monastery of the Dominican order and was buried there in 1260. The medieval town was burnt in 1580 in retribution for the Desmond Rebellions against Elizabeth I.

Elizabeth I in 1587 granted Tralee to Edward Denny and it was recognised in 1613 by Royal Charter. Sir Edward was the first of the Dennys to settle in Tralee; the Dennys did not occupy the castle of the Earls of Desmond until 1627 but lived instead at Carrignafeela Castle. Sir Edward's son was Arthur Denny, in whose lifetime the town's charter was granted by King James, containing the right to elect two members of parliament. The third English settler, another Sir Edward, married Ruth Roper, whose father Thomas Roper was the lease holder of the Herbert estate centred on Castleisland. This Sir Edward was a royalist. He fought for the King in the wars of 1641. He died in 1646, before the triumph of Oliver Cromwell over affairs in England and Ireland.

He granted "the circuit of the Abbey" to the corporation set up under the charter, in return for the fees of the town clerk. His son Arthur Denny married Ellen Barry, granddaughter of Richard Boyle. The latter held many land titles in West Kerry and also claimed property in Tralee. Sir Edward Denny, 4th Baronet was a notable landlord in his day: during the time of the Great Famine, he maintained rents to suit his tenants, when other landowners increased them. He was a notable Plymouth Brother.

The modern layout of Tralee was created in the 19th century. Denny Street, a wide Georgian street, was completed in 1826 on the site of the old castle. A monument commemorating the 1798 rebellion plus the rebellions of 1803, 1848 and 1867 – a statue of a Pikeman – stands in Denny Street. First unveiled in 1905, the original Pikeman stood until the Irish War of Independence. In 1921 the Black and Tans dragged it from its pedestal and destroyed it. In June 1939 a replacement Pikeman was installed, created by renowned Dublin sculptor Albert Power and unveiled by Maud Gonne.

Tralee Courthouse was designed by William Vitruvius Morrison and built in 1834. It has a monument of two cannons commemorating those Kerrymen who died in the Crimean War (1854–56) and the Indian Rebellion (1857). Ballymullen Barracks was the depot of the Royal Munster Fusiliers.

The Tralee Ship Canal was built to accommodate larger ships sailing into Tralee, as the existing quay in Blennerville was becoming blocked due to silting. The House of Commons authorised an Act of Parliament in June 1829 for the canal, with work beginning in 1832. Issues with funding meant that the canal was not completed until 1846 when it was opened. The canal was 2 miles long with a new canal basin built in Tralee, and lock gates and a wooden swing bridge constructed in Blennerville. However, not long after the canal opened, it too began to suffer from silting.

By the 1880s, Fenit Harbour was built as a deepwater harbour; it did not suffer from silting. A railway line was constructed between the harbour and Tralee to carry cargo and freight from ships moored there. The canal fell into disuse and neglect, and was finally closed by the mid-20th century. Following the restoration of Blennerville Windmill in the early 1990s, local authorities planned restoration of the canal for use as a tourist attraction. In 1999 the Office of Public Works (OPW) started a restoration project of the canal at a cost of IR£650,000. The basin area of the canal was subsequently redeveloped with apartments blocks built as part of a proposed marina. The towpath along the canal was upgraded and is now used by people as an enjoyable amenity as part of the Dingle Way.

The Dominican church of the Holy Cross was designed by the Irish Gothic Revival architect George Ashlin in 1866 and built by 1871.