Blennerville Windmill & Visitor Centre

About the museum

Blennerville Windmill was built around 1800 by Sir Rowland Blennerhassett, who founded the village of Blennerville and developed its port on Tralee Bay. It worked as a flour mill for only a few decades, and its sails stopped for good after the Napoleonic Wars, when government grain subsidies ended. Later the building served as a store and was briefly fitted with steam-driven millstones, and it was used again during construction of the Tralee and Dingle Light Railway. After that it fell into ruin.

Tralee Urban District Council bought the derelict shell in 1981, and a volunteer committee restored it between 1984 and 1989 under the guidance of an industrial archaeologist. Today it is described as the largest working windmill in Ireland and the only one along the Atlantic Way. The visitor centre opened in 1992 and the Kerry Model Railway exhibition was added in 2012.

Blennerville was also a major emigration port during the Great Famine, and the centre explains this through a short film and an exhibition with ship models, including the emigrant barque Jeanie Johnston. A guided tour leads up the windmill to show how grain was ground into flour with the old quern stones. The complex also holds a display of vintage farm and household equipment, a gift shop and a bird-watching platform over the estuary.

Highlights

• Guided tour of the largest working windmill in Ireland
• Exhibition on Famine-era emigration and the Jeanie Johnston ship
• Kerry Model Railway, including a model of the Tralee and Dingle Light Railway
• Display of vintage farm, trade and household equipment
• Short film available in English, German and French

Permanent exhibitions

• Emigration display and Jeanie Johnston – An exhibition on the Famine-era emigration from Blennerville, with ship models including replicas of emigrant vessels and the story of the Jeanie Johnston.
• Kerry Model Railway – A model railway exhibition including a model of the Tralee and Dingle narrow-gauge railway.
• Vintage equipment display – Nineteenth- and early twentieth-century tools and household items used in farming, trade, transport and homes.

Founded

1992

Admission & discounts

The admission rates on the website are labelled as the 2023 rates.

Accessibility

• Partially wheelchair accessible
• Elevator: no information
• Accessible restroom: no information
• Accessible parking: no information
• Service dogs welcome: no information
• Tactile models & exhibits: no information
• Sign language tours: no information
• Easy-to-read materials: no information
• Audio description: no information

Because of the historic structure, wheelchair access is limited to the ground floor of the windmill and to the visitor centre. The windmill tour involves climbing four flights of steep stairs.

Kids & families

Great for kids & families

• Family tours & workshops
• Hands-on stations

Children can help turn the old quern stone to make flour, and the model railway is popular with younger visitors. The centre also offers educational activities for school groups.

Getting there & parking

The windmill is about 3.8 km from Tralee town centre along the N86 towards Dingle, and about 35.6 km from Killarney along the N22.

Amenities & dining

• Museum shop

The gift shop sells local crafts, books and flour ground in the windmill. There are five outdoor picnic benches for visitors who bring their own food.

Events & venue rental

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

Plan your visit