Perhaps the best stately Victorian home you’ll see in the Republic of Ireland, Muckross House (built in 1843) is magnificently set at the edge of Killarney National Park.
A visit to the house takes you back to the Victorian period – the 19th-century boom time when the sun never set on the British Empire and the Industrial Revolution (born in England) was chugging the world into the modern age. Of course, Ireland was a colony back then, with big-shot English landlords.
During the Great Potato Famine of 1845 – 1849, most English gentry lived very well – profiting off the export of their handsome crops to lands with greater buying power – while a third of Ireland’s population starved.
Muckross House feels lived in (and it was, until 1933). Its fine Victorian furniture is arranged around the fireplace under Waterford crystal chandeliers and lots of antlers.
The bedroom prepared for Queen Victoria was on the ground floor – with an additional fire escape installed outside her window, since she was afraid of house fires. The owners of the house spent a couple of years preparing for the royal visit in 1861, eager to gain coveted titles and nearly bankrupting themselves in the process.
The queen stayed only three nights and her beloved Prince Albert died soon after the visit. The depressed queen never granted the titles that the grand house’s owners had so hoped for.
The garden is a hit for those with a green thumb. A bright, modern cafeteria faces the garden. The adjacent crafts shop shows weaving and potterymaking in action.
