Muckross House

Muckross House was built in Victorian or Tudor style. Extensive improvements were made in the 1850s in preparation for Queen Victoria's visit in 1861. It is said that these improvements for the Queen's visit were a factor in the financial difficulties that the Herbert family later encountered. They resulted in the sale of the estate. In 1899, it was purchased by Arthur Guinness, who wanted to preserve the dramatic landscape.
In August 1911, not long before World War I, Muckross House was sold again to William Bowers Bourn, a wealthy Californian mining magnate. He and his wife passed it on to their daughter Maud and her husband Arthur Rose Vincent as a wedding gift. The couple lived there until Maud's death in 1929. In 1932, her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Bourne and their son-in-law Arthur Vincent, decided to present Muckross House and its 11,000-acre estate to the Irish nation. It is called the "Bourne-Vincent Memorial Park." Thus, it became the first National Park in the Republic of Ireland and formed the basis of the current Killarney National Park. In later years, the park was significantly expanded by the purchase of land from the former Earl of Kenmare.

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