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Blennerville House

Blennerville House, Main St, Blennerville, Co.Kerry.
As you go from Dingle through Blennerville towards Tralee, this is on LHS near the bend in the road, behind handsome gates.

References:
- BLENNERVILLE HOUSE in [Houses of Kerry]
- Deed of 17 Mar 1740. Registered 8 May 1741. Arthur Herbert and Lucy Brewster of Brewsterfield, Co.Kerry, to Nathaniel Bland of Dublin. [LR] vol.103 p.234 no.71318.

The gates of Blennerville House.
Click to rotate.
From Google Street View.

Origins

Blennerville House is in Curragraigue townland, Annagh par, Co.Kerry. SW of Tralee town.
It originally stood alone, with no village.
The house may be as old as the 17th century, with later additions.
The house has three sections:

E end. Seems the oldest section. Could easily be 17th century. Very old brickwork and stone work on outside. Very old-fashioned staircase. Old flagstones on the floor. Old doors. A half-door into the farmyard. This end has a bricked up window visible from outside.
The centre. This has an old still used by some former occupier. Maybe for house use and not necessarily for sale.
W end. This has a newer staircase. This has two bricked up windows in the drawing room, visible from outside. This seems very unusual.

[Houses of Kerry] says there are many features dating to early 18th century or even late 17th century. It seems clear the house pre-dates Blennerhassett.
[Houses of Kerry] wondered if the bricked up windows suggested the house was built before the window tax in 1696.
However the 1696 law was for England. The window tax in Ireland did not come in until 1799 (and lasted until 1851).
The bricked up windows could be in response to the later tax. But this does not really help us date the building.

Blennerhassett did not arrive here until after 1772. But the E end of the house does look older than that.
The question is, if it is older, who lived here?
It may be called "Curragraigue" house or "Cahermoraun" house or some variant.
[Deed of 1740] refers to various lands in Co.Kerry as part of a large estate, including "Curragraige" or "Curraghraige" (both spellings used) in Trughanacmy barony. But it is unclear if there is any house there.

Blennerhassett

Blennerville House became the residence of Sir Rowland Blennerhassett, 1st Baronet (born 1740 or 1741, created Baronet 1809). He renamed the location "Blennerville" and he founded Blennerville town.
Rowland arrived at this location in 1772 to 1774.
He is listed at "Corgrage", Co.Kerry, in [Deed, May 1774]. This would be Curragraigue townland (Blennerville).
He is listed as of "Blennerville" in [Deed, Mar 1781].
[Houses of Kerry] says Rowland Blennerhassett was living at Blennerville House as at 1783. He probably re-built it rather than built it.
He is listed at "Blennerville" in various deeds from [Deed, Oct 1783] to [Deeds, Feb 1788].

Rowland lived 1788 to 1798 at Churchtown near Killarney, but leasing property at Blennerville to various tenants.
He returns to live at Blennerville in [Deed, Oct 1798].
He is listed there consistently from then until his death in 1821. (He became Baronet in 1809.)
Blennerville village grew around the house.
Sir Rowland died 1821.

Blennerville House was inherited by Arthur Blennerhassett. He died 1839.

Chute

Blennerville House was inherited through Arthur Blennerhassett's daughter by the Chute family.
A model at Blennerville Windmill shows Blennerville as it would have looked in 1852.

Chute lived elsewhere and rented it out.
It seems Slattery rented it for some years.
See 1901 census for Curragraigue. Blennerville House is clearly the largest house, house no.10, home of Michael Slattery, farmer.
See 1911 census for Curragraigue. Blennerville House is clearly the largest house, house no.1, home of Michael Slattery, farmer.

Slattery

Blennerville House was sold by Major Richard Chute to Jerome P. Slattery in 1919.
See papers in SL/B/5.

A letter of 14 Mar 1919 says a "Mr. Dinan" is in occupation at Blennerville House. Major Chute the owner lives at Chute Hall. [SL/B/5(34)]
A letter of 21 Mar 1919 on behalf of Slattery, the prospective buyer, says Blennerville House is in a very bad state and will cost a lot of money to repair. He also says the roads in the town are in a very poor state. Though note that he is haggling for a lower price. [SL/B/5(34)]
A letter of 24 Apr 1919 says: "A tremendous lot of work requires to be done to the premises, and the gardens and grounds have suffered very much from trespass". [SL/B/5(31)]
A letter of 15 May 1919 refers to the old still embedded in the house: "This Still was embedded in the wall and could not be removed without injury to the structure." The still was causing trouble for Slattery the new owner: "the Revenue authorities have got wind that the Still is out there and have announced their intention of seizing and destroying it". [SL/B/5(23)]

Johnson

Blennerville House was bought in 1958 by Richard Johnson.
The house stands today.

Richard Chute listed at Blennerville House under TRALEE in [Slater's Directory, 1846].

Blennerville House (red cross) on 1887 to 1913 map.

The gates of Blennerville House.
Photo 2003. See full size.
See other shot and other shot.

Blennerville House.
The front (S side).
Photo 2022. See larger and full size.
See 2003 photo and 2003 photo.

Exterior wall of drawing room (SW corner, past the porch).
Has two bricked up windows. Hard to see here. But close-up shows them.
Photo 2022. See larger and full size.
See close-up of LHS window and RHS window.

Gate into garden.
Photo 2022. See larger and full size.

Interior shot of the old (E) end of the house.
[Houses of Kerry] says features of the house look early 18th century or even late 17th century.
And certainly the E end looks that old.
Photo 2022. See larger and full size.

Blennerville House (rear and garden)