Muckross House

Dromyrourk, Killarney, County Kerry

Completed in 1843, for The Rt. Hon. Henry Arthur Herbert (1815-1866) M.P., P.C., Chief Secretary of Ireland, and his wife, the water-colourist Mary Balfour (1817-1893). It was designed by William Burn and extensive improvements were made in the late 1850s in preparation for Queen Victoria's stay here in 1861. After Mrs Herbert died, their heirs were unable to afford its upkeep and rather than see its magnificent gardens go to waste, it was purchased in 1899 by Arthur Guinness, 1st Lord Ardilaun, who maintained it through renting it out to wealthy hunting parties....

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This house is best associated with...

Maud Bowers Bourn

Mrs Maud Bowers (Bourn) Vincent

1883-1929

Arthur Rose Vincent

Arthur Rose Vincent, C.B.E., of Muckross House, Co. Kerry

1876-1956

In 1911, it was purchased by William Bowers Bourn II, of San Francisco, the owner of the Empire Gold Mine among other enterprises. He gave it to his only daughter, Maud, as a wedding present on the occasion of her marriage to Arthur Rose Vincent. They lived here until 1929 when Maud died of pneumonia and in 1932 Arthur and her parents gifted the house and 11,000-acre estate to the nation, becoming Ireland's first National Park.