Author: Laurence Jones
Maynooth Studies in Local History
Fourcourts Press, 2023
The most respectable locality in Tralee
This book studies the occupants of Day Place, a terrace of ten Georgian townhouses in Tralee, Co. Kerry, over a 100-year period. The street was the most fashionable and sought-after address in the town and residents of the terrace were among the wealthiest and most influential individuals in the area. The economic and political transformation of Tralee – and Ireland – from 1830 to 1930 was reflected in the changing makeup of the local elite living in Day Place. The tenancy of the houses and the reins of government passed from a largely Protestant clique to a confident Catholic and nationalist middle class of entrepreneurs and professionals. This volume brings some of these colourful characters to life, uncovering their activities and attitudes and painting a picture of the rapidly changing religious and political landscape in which they lived.