THE mural at Milk Market Lane currently being completed by Kerry College of Further Education students is just part of bigger plans for that area of town to recognise its historical importance.

As we reported earlier this week, the laneway has received a facelift through an initiative led by Kerry County Council and supported by the Kerry College of Further Education, Dulux Paints and Tidy Tralee Together as well as local property owners.

The work to the laneway which connects the Mall and the Market Place/Maine Street area includes the painting of all the properties in the laneway, upgrading of the lighting, improvements to the entrance and the painting of a number of murals.

The next step is painting the old Irish names over the doorways of each building so expect to see Ó Connaill, Mac Domhnaill, Ó Cróinín, Uí Chonchúir and more adorning buildings all the way around to corner down to Maddens over the coming weeks.

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The laneway itself has survived turbulent times over the years, including being razed to the ground by Cromwell’s forces in the 17th century.

The buildings today were small shops in the 1800s which catered for the small farmers who brought their produce to market.

Two figures in the mural are taken from a photo of Mrs Young and her daughter taken in the 1890s. They lived in Milk Market Lane and were well known for their mutton pies.

Paul Hanrahan of the ‘That’s Perfect’ shop nearby has done much research on the area and said he approached the Council about doing something to mark its historical importance.

He is hoping in the coming months that there will be information on each family installed on the walls outside each house along the laneway.

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Following a proposal by the Tralee Municipal District members and with their financial support, the revamp of the laneway was undertaken as a pilot project to revitalise laneways/streets around the town.

The project, under the leadership of Jean Foley, Tralee Municipal District Officer, was also supported by Dulux Paints who kindly sponsored the colour scheme for the laneway.

Joe Moynihan and his team of volunteers from Tidy Tralee Together have been busy painting all the buildings over the last few weeks.

In the past week, the students of the Kerry College of Further Education with their teacher, Mary Kirby have been painting the mural, giving the streetscape a new lease of life.

Mayor of Tralee, Cllr Norma Foley commended the project as a real community-driven initiative which brought young and old together to benefit the area.

“There is so much positivity in Tralee at the moment with all public bodies and agencies, business, community groups and ordinary members of the public getting involved in initiatives like this. Already the redevelopment in the Mall and Denny Street are spilling over into the surrounding areas. The Tralee Municipal District staff, the volunteers from Tidy Tralee Together and the students from the KCFE are doing a wonderful job in enhancing the streetscape and I hope this could be replicated in other parts of the town,” said Cllr Foley.

Tralee Municipal District Officer, Jean Foley said: “I commend all those who are contributing to transforming this laneway including the business community in the locality that have supported the project from the beginning. It is hoped that these minor works will lead to further growth and redevelopment in the laneway and surrounding streets.”

“Watch this laneway as it continues to transform over the coming weeks with a more formal cutting of the ribbon to take place when works are fully completed,” she added.