Muckross is a Tudor 65-room mansion built in 1843 for Henry and Mary Balfour Herbert. Extensive improvements were undertaken in the 1850s in preparation for the visit of Queen Victoria in 1861. It is said that these improvements for the Queen’s visit contributed to the financial difficulties suffered by the Herbert family, resulting in the sale of the estate. In 1899 it was bought Arthur Guinness to preserve the natural landscape. He never lived here, but rented it out as a hunting lodge to wealthy hunters. In 1911, Muckross House was sold to William Bowers Bourn, a wealthy California mining magnate. In 1932, the family presented Muckross House and its 11,000-acre estate to the Republic of Ireland, and it became Ireland’s first national park, Killarney National Park.
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