Of the six hundred within the castles of Tralee three hundred died during the siege. They were reduced to eating bran, tallow, and raw hides.
The castles were burnt upon being surrendered.
The great castle was shortly afterwards restored, but in 1691 it was again burned, by Sir James Colter’s orders, and when the Royalists were defeated at Lixnaw the two Irish officers who carried out the order would have been hanged but for the intervention of Colonel Edward Denny. The famous “Denny Bible” in which this conflagration is recorded belongs to Tralee church, to which it was presented by the Denny family.
In 1698 the House of Commons decided to help in the rebuilding of the castle.
This fortress was of an L shape, but Sir Edward Denny, 3rd baronet, who succeeded to the title in 1795, added another wing in 1804, which contained several fine saloons, a large hall with a handsome circular staircase and other apartments. Soon after 1820 Sir Edward went to live in England.
A black coach, with headless horses and coachman, was formerly said to drive through Tralee upon the death of one of the Denny family, and if any one looked out at it, a basin of blood was thrown in his face. Of later years a banshee is said to have taken its place.
| Authorities Consulted. |
| C. Smith, “State of the County Kerry.” |
| M. A. Hickson, “Old Kerry Records.” |
| “The Antiquities of Tralee,” in Kerry Magazine. |
| J. J. Howard, “Miscellanea Genealogica.” |
| M. Hickson, “Ireland in the Seventeenth Century.” |
| Gilbert, “The Castle of Dublin,” in Dublin University Magazine. |
| Marquis of Kildare, “Earls of Kildare.” |
| Carew MSS. |
| Parliamentary Gazetteer. |
TRIM CASTLE
“What! rate—rebuke—and roughly send to prison
The immediate heir of England! Was this easy?
May this be washed in Lethe—and forgotten?”
Shakespeare.