KILLARNEY NATIONAL PARK
Páirc Náisiúnta Chill Airne
Killarney, County Kerry

There has been a human presence in the Killarney area from at least the Bronze Age when copper was being mined on Ross Island. Christian times saw the building of monastic settlements, the most important of these on Innisfallen Island, founded by St Finian the Leper. The Annals of Innisfallen were written here between the 11th and 13th centuries, and have been a major source of information on Ireland's early history.

After landing in Wexford in 1169, the Norman's eventually made it southwest to the Killarney region. At that time, the lands were held by McCarthy Mór and the O'Donoghue's of Ross.

Muckross Abbey, one of Ireland's many Franciscan friaries, was founded in 1448 by Donal McCarthy Mór, who built Blarney Castle just two years previously. The ruins of the abbey are well-preserved and the burial place of many of the local

chieftains, and in the 17th and 18th centuries of local poets Aodhgan O'Raithaile, Eoghan Rua O' Sullivan, Piaras Feiriteir and Seafraidh O' Donoghue.

In the 18th century, the lands were divided into two great estates, owned by the Herbert's of Muckross and the Browne's (Earls of Kenmare). At this time, the lands were primarily used for local industries, which included cooperage, tanning and charcoal production. The largest cause of oakwood destruction was the production of charcoal to fire smelters used in the local cast iron industry. It took 25 tons of oak to produce just one ton of cast iron. In the late 18th century, Derrycunihy Wood was described as “a great sweep of mountain, covered partly in wood, hanging in a very noble manner, but part cut down, much of it mangled, and the rest inhabited by coopers, boat-builders, carpenters and turners...”

The exploitation of these woods accounted for the exorbitant cost of oakwood at the time, as the woodlands were destroyed. It was about this time that replanting and woodland management was first promoted. It was due to this replanting that we can enjoy native woodlands in the region today.

The Herbert's gained much of their wealth from copper mines. With some of that wealth, they set about to build Muckross House, which was completed in 1843 in the Elizabethen style. By 1899, the Herbert's financial situation became precarious and they were forced to sell the estate, which was purchased by Lord Ardilaun of the Guinness Brewing family, and who also owned Macroom Castle and other estates.

It was in 1910 that the Muckross Estate was bought by American tycoon, William Bowers Bourn, who gave it to his daughter Maud on her marriage to Arthur Vincent. £100,000 was then spent improving the estate between 1911 and 1932, which including the building of the Sunken Garden, the Stream Garden and a rock garden on a limestone outcrop behind the house.

Arthur pined when Maud died from pneumonia in 1929. By 1932, he and his in-laws donated Muckross Estate to the Irish State in Maud's memory. The estate was 43.3km² (10,700 acres) and renamed the Bourne Vincent Memorial Park. The Irish Government created the national park by passing the Bourn Vincent Memorial Park Act in the same year. The Act required that Commissioners of Public Works, today the Office of Public Works, to "maintain and manage the Park as a National Park for the purpose of the recreation and enjoyment of the public."

Initially, the Irish government could not afford to support the memorial park, so the original working farm was restored then opened to the public. The house remained closed until 1964, but it were the funds generated from the working farm that paid to restore the estate.

Then there was public unrest about the future of the Bourne Vincent Memorial Park. The State was forced to look at international practices in classifying and managing national parks. It was then that the memorial park was expanded and redesignated as a national park that corresponded to the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources designations. The IUCN is an international organization based in the Lake Geneva region of Switzerland which is dedicated to natural resource conservation. Today, there are 83 states involved, 108 government agencies, 766 non-governmental agencies, 81 international organizations and over 10,000 experts and scientists from around the world.

Today, the memorial park is the core of today's Killarney National Park, which is now 102.36km² (25,300 acres), nearly double its original size in 1932, and encompasses Muckross Estate, the three famous Killarney Lakes, Torc Waterfall and Cascades, Ladies' View, Moll's Gap, Black Valley, Lord Brandon's Cottage, Gap of Dunloe, the Kenmare Demesne (Killarney house and gardens and Knockreer House), Ross Castle and Island, Innisfallen Abbey and Island, MacGillycuddy's Reeks, the Purple Mountains and the townlands of Glenda, Ullauns and Poulagower.

~ Park is a free attraction
~ Pay at Muckross House, Traditional Farms, and Torc Waterfall
~ Free car parking available
~ Easy access through the park by car, limited access to hill walking and hiking

http://www.killarneynationalpark.ie

http://www.opw.ie