Day Place, Co. Kerry

“The most respectable locality in Tralee”

Laurence Jones

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.

Laurence Jones is an English artist and historian who has lived in County Kerry for over thirty years. He holds a post graduate diploma in adult education from the University of Limerick. He has been a member of the Dingle Peninsula Tourism Committee. He received a Diploma in Genealogy and a Masters Degree in Local History from University College Cork in 2018 and 2022 respectively, with his research centred on nineteenth century Tralee. He is chairman of the Annascaul History Society and has contributed articles to The Irish Genealogist.