Tralee Trá Lí
—  Town  —
Roses in Tralee's town park
Coat of arms
Motto: Vis Unita Fortior  (Latin) "United Strength is Stronger"
Tralee Location in Ireland
Coordinates: 52°16′03″N 9°41′46″W / 52.2675°N 9.6962°W / 52.2675; -9.6962Coordinates: 52°16′03″N 9°41′46″W / 52.2675°N 9.6962°W / 52.2675; -9.6962
Country	Ireland
Province	Munster
County	County Kerry
Kerry County Council LEA	Tralee
Dáil Éireann Constituency	Kerry North West Limerick
EU Parliament	South
Elevation	37 m (121 ft)
Population (2011)	23,693
Irish Grid Reference	Q828141
Website	tralee.ie

Tralee (Irish: Trá 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 23,693 in the 2011 census.

History[link]

Dominick Street, Tralee

Ashe Memorial Hall

Tralee Courthouse

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 a very 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. The Norman town was founded in the 13th century by Anglo-Normans and was a stronghold of the Earls of Desmond. A medieval castle and Dominican order Friary were located in the town. The mediaeval town was burnt in 1580 in retribution for the Desmond Rebellions against Elizabeth I. Tralee was granted to Edward Denny by Elizabeth I in 1587 and recognised by royal charter in 1613. Sir Edward was the first of the Dennys to settle in Tralee and we learn from a recent history of Tralee by Gerald O'Carroll that only in 1627 did the Dennys actually occupy the castle of the earls of Desmond. 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 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 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 married Ellen Barry, granddaughter of Richard Boyle who during his life held many land titles in West Kerry and who also claimed property in Tralee.

Sir Edward Denny, 4th Baronet was a notable landlord in his day: especially during the time of the Great Famine when instead of increasing his rents as so many landlords did at that time he maintained rents to suit his tenants. He was a notable Plymouth Brother.

A monument commemorating the 1798 rebellion – a statue of a Pikeman by Albert Power – stands in Denny Street.

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.

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 (1854–56) and the Indian Rebellion (1857).

The Ashe Memorial Hall sits at one end of Denny Street, dedicated to the memory of Thomas Ashe - an Irish Volunteers officer in the Easter Rising of 1916. The building is built of local sandstone and houses the Kerry County Museum and a reconstruction of early Tralee.

The Dominican church of the Holy Cross was designed by the English Gothic Revival architect Augustus Pugin in the 19th century

Tralee saw much violence during the Irish War of Independence and Irish Civil War in 1919–1923. In November 1920, the Black and Tans besieged Tralee in revenge for the IRA abduction and killing of two Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) men. The Tans closed all the businesses in the town and did not let any food in for a week. In addition they burned several houses and all businesses connected with Irish Republican Army (IRA) activists. In the course of the week, they shot dead three local people. The incident caused major international outcry when reported by the press, who wrote that near famine conditions were prevailing in Tralee by the end of the week.

In August 1922, during the Irish Civil War, Irish Free State troops landed at nearby Fenit and then took Tralee from its Anti-Treaty garrison. Nine pro-Treaty and three anti-Treaty soldiers were killed in fighting in the town before the anti-Treaty forces withdrew. However the republicans continued a guerrilla campaign in the surrounding area. In March 1923 an infamous atrocity was carried out by Free State troops near Tralee when nine anti-treaty IRA prisoners were taken from the prison in Tralee and blown up with a land mine at nearby Ballyseedy.

Local government[link]

• Tralee has a town council with twelve members.

Places of interest[link]

Blennerville Windmill

Tralee Priory

Tralee is a tourism destination and has seen some €55 million of tourism investment over the past several years. Tralee is also famous for the Rose of Tralee International Festival which is held annually in August.

The town has developed a range of all weather visitor attractions.

• Kerry County Museum: incorporating the theme park 'Kerry: The Kingdom' and an exhibit which depicts life in medieval Geraldine Tralee.
• Siamsa Tíre: Ireland's National Folk Theatre, offering traditional music and plays in Irish.
• Blennerville Windmill: located about 2 km outside the town, Ireland's largest functioning windmill.
• Tralee Aquadome: A large indoor water leisure facility with a mini-golf course.

Archaeological sites[link]

• Casement's Fort: an ancient Ring Fort where Roger Casement was hiding when arrested.
• Sheela na Gig: now located in the Christian Round Tower at Rattoo, a few km north of Tralee.
• Monument to Saint Brendan the Navigator at Fenit: with reproductions of ancient Irish structures.
• Caherconree: Iron Age Fort overlooking Tralee Bay

In addition to the above, a very considerable number of archaeological sites around Tralee and throughout the County of Kerry, especially ring-forts, are listed for preservation in the Kerry County Development Plan 2009–15.^[6]

Media[link]

• The town has two local newspapers, The Kerryman and The Kerry's Eye, published in Tralee.
• The town has a commercial radio station, Radio Kerry, which commenced operations in 1990.

Transport[link]

1798 Pikeman Monument

Road[link]

Tralee is served by National Primary and Secondary roads as well as local routes. National primary routes:

• N21 east/north-east to Limerick, connecting to N22 south-east to Killarney, Cork.

National secondary routes:

• N69 to Listowel, Foynes and Limerick
• N70 to Killorglin, Ring of Kerry on Iveragh Peninsula, Kenmare
• N86 to Dingle

Regional roads:

• R556 (north) to Ballybunion
• R558 (west) to Fenit Harbour

Bus[link]

The bus station in Tralee is a regional hub for Bus Éireann, who provide services to Dublin, Limerick, Galway, Cork, Killarney and Dingle.

Rail[link]

A train service to Killarney, Cork and Dublin is operated by the national railway operator Iarnród Éireann. Tralee railway station was opened on 18 July 1859.^[7]

Air[link]

Kerry Airport, located in Farranfore, provides air services to Dublin, London Luton, London Stansted, Frankfurt-Hahn and more recently, Alicante, Faro and Manchester.

Sea[link]

The local port for Tralee is Fenit, about 10 km west of the town on the north side of the estuary.

Catering for ships of up to 17,000 tonnes, the port is a picturesque mixed-use harbour with fishing boats and a thriving marina (136 berths).

Healthcare[link]

• Kerry General Hospital
• The Bon Secours Hospital

Education[link]

In common with all parts of Ireland, most schools at all levels in Tralee are managed and owned by the churches. Tralee Educate Together School is multidenominational, and is neither owned nor managed by any church. At secondary level most schools are explicitly Roman Catholic in ethos, except Gaelcholáiste Chiarraí.

Primary:

• CBS (Scoil na mBráithre), Clounalour (Roman Catholic)
• Gaelscoil Mhic Easmainn, Rath Rónáin (Irish language - Roman Catholic)
• Holy Family, Balloonagh (Roman Catholic)
• Presentation Primary School (Sacred Heart), Castle Street (Roman Catholic)
• St Ita's and St Joseph's, Balloonagh (Special Needs - Roman Catholic)
• St John's, Ashe Street (Church of Ireland)
• St John's, Balloonagh (Roman Catholic)
• St Mary's, Moyderwell (Roman Catholic)
• Tralee Educate Together, Killeen (Non-denominational)

Secondary:

• Brookfield College, Oak Park (Non-denominational)
• Gaelcholáiste Chiarraí, Tobar Mhaigh Dor (Irish language)
• Mercy Secondary School, Mounthawk (Roman Catholic)
• Presentation Secondary School, Castle Street (Roman Catholic)
• St Ita's and St Joseph's, Balloonagh (Special Needs - Roman Catholic)
• St Mary's CBS (The Green) (Roman Catholic)
• Tralee Community College, Clash (Vocational)

Third Level:

• Institute of Technology, Tralee

Sport[link]

• Na Gaeil GAA club is based in the Oakpark area of Tralee.
• John Mitchels GAA club is based in the Boherbee area of Tralee.
• Kerins O'Rahilly's GAA club are based in the Strand Road area of the town.
• Tralee Mitchels is a former GAA club.
• Austin Stacks GAA club is based at the top of the rock and is famous for players like Mikey Sheehy, Ger Power, John O'Keeffe and Kieran Donaghy.
• Tralee Harriers Athletics Club
• Tralee Triathlon Club was formed in 1999.
• Tralee Dynamos is Tralee's most senior soccer club, playing in the Newstalk A Championship.
• Park FC plays in the Kerry District and Schoolboy Leagues.
• Tralee Rugby Football Club ground is in Ballyard.
• Tralee Tennis Club is based on the Dan Spring Road.
• County Badminton Club meet in the Presentation Secondary School Gym.
• Tralee Greyhound Racing has a stadium on Brewery Road.
• Kingdom Swimming Club are based at the Sport Complex in Tralee.
• St. Brendan's Basketball Club play in the national leagues.
• Tralee Bicycle Club was founded in 1992.
• The Chain Gang Cycling Club is a Tralee based cycling club founded in 2008.
• Tralee Golf Club is based in Barrow and the Arnold Palmer designed course is consistently voted one of the top links in the world.
• Tralee Bay Sailing Club based in Fenit.
• Tralee Rowing Club was founded in 2004 and is located near the centre of the town.
• Tralee Bay Swimming Club based in Fenit

There is also a strong basketball tradition in the Tralee area with Tralee Tigers being the most well known although St. Brendan's have a bigger youth selection. Tigers play in the National League and Cup while St. Brendan's play in league 1.

Soccer teams other than Tralee Dynamos that play to a high standard include St Brendan's Park, Kingdom Boys and Tralee Celtic.

Notable people[link]

Notable Tralee people include:

Twinning[link]

Tralee is twinned with the following places:

• Westlake, Ohio, United States ^[9]

See also[link]

• List of abbeys and priories in Ireland (County Kerry)
• List of towns and villages in Ireland
• Market Houses in Ireland
• Tralee Bay

External links[link]

• Tralee – Official website

References[link]

v t e Places in County Kerry County town: Tralee Towns Ballybunion Cahersiveen Castleisland Dingle Kenmare Killarney Killorglin Listowel Tralee Parishes, Villages and Townlands Abbeydorney Annascaul Ardfert Ballynagall Ballinskelligs Ballyduff Ballyferriter Ballyheigue Ballylongford Ballymacelligott Ballyseedy Blennerville Brandon Creek Brandon Brosna Caherboshina Caherdaniel Castlecove Castlegregory Castlemaine Causeway Cloghane Coolgarriv Currans Currow Derrymore Derrynane Duagh Dunquin Fahamore Farranfore Fenit Feothanach Finuge Fossa Gneeveguilla Kilderry Kilflynn Kilgarvan Kilmoyley Knightstown Knocknagoshel Lispole Lisselton Lixnaw Milltown Moyvane Portmagee Rathmore Scraggane Sneem Tarbert Tarmon Templenoe Tuosist Valentia Island Ventry Waterville List of townlands in County Kerry Category:Geography of County Kerry

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (February 2011)

Roger Whittaker
Roger Whittaker playing live
Background information
Born	(1936-03-22) 22 March 1936 (age 76) Nairobi, Kenya, British Empire
Genres	Easy listening, pop
Occupations	Musician, singer-songwriter, teacher
Instruments	Guitar
Years active	1962–present
Website	www.rogerwhittaker.com

Roger Whittaker (born 22 March 1936) is an Anglo-Kenyan singer-songwriter and musician. His music can be described as easy listening. He is best known for his baritone singing voice and trademark whistling ability. American audiences are most familiar with his 1970 hit "New World in the Morning" and his 1975 hit "The Last Farewell," the latter of which is his only single to hit the Billboard Hot 100 (it made the Top 20) and also hit #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart.

Childhood and beginning[link]

Whittaker's parents, Edward and Viola, were originally from Staffordshire, England, where they owned and operated a grocery shop. His father had a motorcycle accident and the family moved to a farm near Thika, Kenya because of the warmer climate. His grandfather sang in various clubs and his father played the violin. Roger learned to play the guitar.

Whittaker was drafted into national service and spent two years in the Kenya Regiment. In 1956 he was demobilized and decided on a career in medicine. He enrolled at the University of Cape Town in South Africa.

He left the university after 18 months and joined the civil service education department to try teaching.

Recording and performing career[link]

To further his teaching career, Whittaker moved to Britain in September 1959. For the next three years, he studied zoology, biochemistry, and marine biology at the Bangor University and received a B.Sc. degree. He continued to sing in local clubs and released some of his songs on flexi-discs included with the campus newspaper, the Bangor University Rag. Shortly afterwards, he was signed to Fontana Records who released his first professional single, "The Charge of The Light Brigade", in 1962.

In the summer of 1962, he appeared at a professional gig in Portrush, Northern Ireland. He landed his first major breakthrough when he was signed to appear on an Ulster Television show called This And That. His second single was a cover version of "Steel Men", released in June 1962.

Whittaker met Natalie O'Brien in the spring of 1964 and they married on 15 August of that year. They have five children: Emily (b. 28 May 1968), Lauren (b. 4 June 1970), Jessica (b. 14 February 1973), Guy (b. 15 November 1974), and Alexander (b. 7 April 1978). They now have nine grandchildren.

In 1966, Whittaker switched from Fontana to EMI's Columbia label. His fourth single for the imprint was "Durham Town (The Leavin')", which in 1969 became Whittaker's first UK Top 20 hit. Whittaker's US label, RCA Victor, released the uptempo "New World In The Morning" in 1970, where it became a Top 20 hit in Billboard magazine's Easy Listening chart.

In the early 70's Whittaker took interest in the Nordic Countries when he recorded the single "Where the Angels Tread (Änglagård)" to the music of Evert Taube in 1972. In 1974 he partook in the Finnish Eurovision qualifications. The song "The Finnish Whistler" he performed in the qualifications later became famous in Finland as it was used as a title music for the popular Finnish YLE TV cooking program "Patakakkonen".

1975 saw EMI release "The Last Farewell", a track from his 1971 New World in The Morning album. It became his biggest hit and a signature song, selling more than 11 million copies worldwide. In 1979, Whittaker wrote the song "Call My Name" which reached the final of the UK Eurovision selection, A Song For Europe, performed by Eleanor Keenan and coming third. Whittaker recorded the song himself and the single charted in several European countries. Whittaker also established himself in country music with "I Love You Because" getting "into the lower reaches of the country chart"^[1] in late 1983. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Whittaker had success in Germany, with German language songs produced by Nick Munro. Unable to speak German, Whittaker sang the songs phonetically. He appeared on German and Danish TV several times,^[2] and was on the UK Top Of The Pops show 10 times in the early to mid 1970s.

In 1986, he published his autobiography, So Far, So Good, co-written with his wife.

In March 2006, Whittaker announced on his website that a 2007 Germany tour would be his last, and that he will limit future performances to "occasional concerts". Now more fluent in German, he was seen singing and was interviewed in German on Danish TV in November 2008.

In recent years he has been living in Eyrecourt, County Galway, Ireland, close to the River Shannon.

Tours[link]

In 1976, Whittaker undertook his first tour of the United States.

In 2003 he again toured Germany. After recovering from heart problems at the end of 2004, he started touring in Germany in 2005, and then in UK from May to July.

Awards[link]

In his career to date, Whittaker has earned over 250 silver, gold and platinum albums.

He was part of a successful British team that won the annual Knokke music festival in Belgium, and won the Press Prize as the personality of the festival.

Ivor Novello awards (twice) for songwriting in 1971-72 and for "The Last Farewell" in 1975-76 (?) (unconfirmed - e-mail query pending)

He was awarded a 'Gold Badge Award', from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors (BASCA) in 1988.^[3]

He earned a 'Golden Tuning Fork' (Goldene Stimmgabel in Germany) in 1986, based on record sales and TV viewer votes.

Discography[link]

Hit singles[link]

European albums[link]

a selection

• 1971 New World in the Morning
• 1979 Mein deutsches Album (in German)
• 1981 Zum Weinen ist immer noch Zeit
• 1982 Typisch Roger Whittaker
• 1983 Voyager
• 1984 Ein Glück, daß es Dich gibt
• 1987 Heut bin ich arm - Heut bin ich reich
• 1991 Frohe Weinacht - Die schonsten Weihnachtslieder
• 1991 Mein Herz schlägt nur für Dich
• 1992 Stimme des Herzens
• 1993 Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht
• 1994 Leben mit Dir
• 1994 Sehnsucht nach Liebe
• 1994 Geschenk des Himmels
• 1995 Ein schöner Tag mit Dir
• 1996 Alles Roger!
• 1996 Einfach leben
• 1997 Zurück zur Liebe
• 1999 Alles Roger 2
• 1999 Awakening
• 2000 Wunderbar geborgen
• 2002 Mehr denn je
• 2003 Alles Roger 3
• 2003 Der weihnachtliche Liedermarkt
• 2004 Live in Berlin
• 2004 Mein schönster Traum
• 2005 Moments in My Life
• 2007 The Danish collection

US albums[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• The Official German Fan Page
• Roger Whittaker at the Internet Movie Database