What is the Muckross House about? Who? When?
The Muckross House was built in
1843 for the Herbert Family. The Herberts fell into financial difficulty in
1899 and sold the house to Lord Ardilaun. In 1911, the house was sold to Mr.
William Bowers Bourn, a wealthy American. He bought the house for his daughter,
Maud, and her Irish husband as a wedding gift. The estate was approximately
40,000 acres. Following Maud’s death in 1929, the family decided to present the
estate to the Irish people. In 1933, the Muckross House and the surrounding
acreage became Ireland’s first National Park. The house was opened to the
public in 1964.
(A view of Muckross House from a distance. Credit: Kelly)
What does it look like?
The house exemplifies the elegant
lifestyle of the 19th century land-owning class. There are
sixty-five rooms in the house. Several hunting trophies hang upon the walls
from the house’s days as a hunting lodge in the years before it came to Maud.
They even had recovered the skull and antlers of a prehistoric giant Irish deer,
which is now extinct. In 1861, renovations began for Queen Victoria’s stay. The
renovations took three years, yet Victoria only stayed for two nights. Her
private suite was a combination of three rooms on the ground floor. They even
built a fire escape outside the queen’s window because she was afraid of fire.
The house contains luxuries such as a giant, hand-carved walnut counter surface
with the Queen’s crest. There are several crystal chandeliers, two of which are
Waterford crystal. In the separate billiards room, they recovered the remains
of the old Chinese silk wallpaper. The pool table weighs two tons.
We eventually made our way below
the first floor to explore the servant’s workspace. Our group was amazed by the
system of thirty-two bells used to summon the servants. Each bell was connected
to a different room and had a unique pitch, which was impeccable technology for
the time. Near the bells was the wine cellar. The only person the owner of
Muckross House trusted with the key to the wine cellar was his butler. The next
incredible technology involves the kitchen, which secluded from the main part
of the house to prevent potential fires from reaching the main house as well as
dampening the noise of the kitchen. Since the kitchen was so far away, a
special platter was filled with boiling water to keep the food warm during the
journey from the kitchen, up the stairs, through the house, to the dining room.
(Frontal view of the Muckross House. Credit: Kelly)
What does the Muckross House mean to Ireland in the past and today?
The house is a fantastic example of
the changing style of homes through history. We are able to see what life was
like back then and the technologies that they used. The luxuries of the house
show us the drastic difference between social classes in Ireland at the time. Soon
after the house was built, the Irish Potato Famine started; the extravagance of
the wealthy stood out amidst the backdrop of the famine. The owners of the
estate enjoyed ice imported from Norway as luxury while some struggled for
food. The house shows us the value of being connected to the land, especially
in Ireland.
(A view of the Muckross House with some surrounding hills. Credit: Kelly)
What did our group think?
Our group was struck by how modern
the technologies were at the time and how concerned the homeowners were with
even the smallest luxuries. One aspect in particular was the use of Asian fire
shields, a wooden fan that would prevent the women’s wax make-up from melting
as they sat by the fire. Outside of the house, the beauty of the surrounding
wilderness, grassy fields, open waters, and the roaring waterfall blew us away.
The Torc waterfall was a picturesque natural beauty tucked away in the woods. We’ve
already discussed pooling our money to purchase the estate.
(The beautiful Torc Falls that took everyone's breath away. Credit: Kelly)
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