<P> With sixty - five rooms, it was built in the Tudor style . 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 were a contributory factor in the financial difficulties suffered by the Herbert family which resulted in the sale of the estate . In 1899 it was bought by Arthur Guinness, 1st Baron Ardilaun who wanted to preserve the dramatic landscape . He did not live in the house himself, but rented it out to wealthy groups as a hunting lodge . </P> <P> In August 1911, not long before the First World War, Muckross House and its demesne were again sold to William Bowers Bourn, a wealthy Californian mining magnate . He and his wife passed it to their daughter Victoria and her husband Arthur Rose Vincent as a wedding present . The couple lived there until Victoria's death from pneumonia in 1929 . </P> <P> In 1932 her parents Mr and Mrs Bournes and their son - in - law Arthur Vincent decided to present Muckross House and its 11,000 acre estate to the Irish nation . Being called the" Bourne - Vincent Memorial Park", it thus became the first National Park in the Republic of Ireland and formed the basis of present - day Killarney National Park . In later years the park was substantially expanded by the acquisition of land from the former Earl of Kenmare's estate . </P> <P> The front entryway has a plethora of mounted trophy heads, including an enormous rack of antlers from the Irish Elk (extinct), found preserved in a local bog . </P>

Killarney national park and muckross house & gardens