Muckross House and Gardens, a brief history – Part 1
Posted: 30 September 2013
Muckross House is a Victorian mansion in an unrivalled setting that is a world-class attraction in its own right. Built for the Herbert family, who nearly bankrupted themselves to prepare a home fit for Queen Victoria to visit in 1861, it is now a celebration not just of its own history, but also of the wider Kerry region.
Muckross House sits on the shores of Muckross Lake, the middle of the three Lakes of Killarney and makes for an ideal destination for a family break. Much of the estate was donated to the nation and formed the basis of Killarney National Park, the first landscape in the country to receive such a designation and now home to some of Ireland’s most endangered and beguiling inhabitants.
The Herbert family have Kerry roots much older than the great house they bequeathed to the county. They were originally from Wales, coming to Ireland in 1665, and not long after arriving, they had control of lands around the current Muckross estate.
The area is now famed as a traditional agricultural heartland, but it was dirty old mining that made the Herbert family wealthy. As the 18th century saw the industrialisation of the British Isles, the copper deposits on the Muckross Peninsula became very valuable. The Herberts reaped the rewards, and by 1770 owned rather than leased the Muckross lands.
The Herberts had a big role in local life, something they embraced with relish. Arthur Young, the great innovator of the agricultural revolution, came to Muckross in 1776, and found a man after his own heart in Thomas Herbert, its reforming owner. The forests on Torc Mountain were the work of Thomas’s son Arthur, who was also Kerry’s T.D. (government representative) from 1806 to 1813.
For a while, the family left their beloved Muckross, when Henry Arthur Herbert died in 1823, he left a widow with six children to support, and she – Louisa – returned to England.
The house that stands today was the work of the next generation of Herberts. Henry Arthur Herbert had the typical upbringing of his class and period. Eton, Trinity College, Cambridge, and a European tour to complete his education and that provided him with a wife. He met Mary Balfour in Rome. His wife was also of aristocratic blood, but her chief fame now is as an accomplished watercolour artist.
The couple married in 1837 and returned to their family’s lands in Kerry to build a home. They lived in Torc Cottage, under the mountain of the same name while plans were formulated to build their great country mansion. Works started in 1839 and were to last until 1843.
Two years after their dream home was completed, disaster struck Ireland. The Great Irish Famine is a tragedy that is still raw. The Herberts moved to England, but had a good reputation for what they did for their tenants.
Henry Arthur followed the family footsteps to Parliament in 1847 and by 1853 was Lord Lieutenant of Kerry. He was made Colonel of the Kerry Militia the next year. His appointment, in 1857, as Chief Secretary for Ireland, was short lived, but as Lord Lieutenant, he was the monarch’s on-the-ground representative in his territory.
In 1861, Queen Victoria came to Killarney, her third visit to Ireland and her first to its far southwest. The visit was the cause of much improvement work at Muckross House, and the money invested may even have cost the Herberts their home.
Even today, a visit from British royalty can cause quite a stir, but in the middle of the nineteenth century, it was of a different order. Victoria – who gave her name to the age – was more than just a figurehead, in many ways she was the most powerful woman on earth.