Killarney to Carlow

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Killarney to Carlow



Just outside Killarney are the Torc Falls surrounded by beautiful mature native trees in the first National Park of Ireland. Some 11,000 acres were donated in 1932 by the last owners of Muckross House and estate. We took a tour of the house (yes another one) and heard how the house was built in 1843, has 65 rooms and took three year to build (pretty good timing- no wonder we’re importing Irish builders). Anyway the Herberts’ manged to get the nod for a visit from Queen Vic. It was six years in the planning so as you do they decided to fix the old place up a bit,(Did you know Queen Vis was frightened of fire and asked for a bedroom on the ground floor). The trouble was that several months after the visit Prince Albert died she went into mourning and the title never eventuated. Turns out the improvements were a bit more than they could afford and eventually they were bankrupted and the house was sold to the Guinness family who used it as a hunting lodge. Then they sold it to a Californian mining magnate who gave it to his only daughter for a wedding present. When she died early they gave it to the state. Attached to the grounds is a traditional working farm where everything is done the old way with a dairy making butter the old way with farm houses constantly filled with smoke from the peat fires. Big contrast between the classes.



Nice little town Killarney. Lots of hotels and B & Bs, quite a tourist area. They are all golf mad and we were leaving on the last day of a 4 day horse racing carnival so the place was hopping. Next a long drive to Carlow with a detour to Castleisland, to look for some great great grandparents graves. Turned out to be a wild goose chase and we got lost and then soaking wet running around looking for cemeteries and then gravestones (Not enough research before leaving home). My great grandfather after serving in the army and going to Afghanistan of all places then packed up his family about the time of the famine and got a job on a convict ship to Australia as he was entitled to a land grant. He then moved onto NZ. All this made for a late arrival into our cute B and B in the little town of Carlow.

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