killarney.html

Killarney is one of the most beautiful areas of Ireland. It has been said that human occupation of the Killarney area dates back to the early Bronze age.In early Christian times, there were monastic settlements in the area. Following the Norman invasion, the lands around the lakes were held by displaced Gaelic chieftains. Later the lands came into the possession of the Herberts of Muckross and the Earls of Kenmare.

South and west of the town of Killarney, are the Lakes of Killarney. Killarney National Park includes the mountains and the forests surrounding the Lakes as well as the Lakes themselves.

A great part of the National Park consists of the Muckross Estate. It was presented to the State of Ireland in 1932 by the Bourn family. The Park has been designated by UNESCO as a Biosphere Reserve, part of a world network of natural areas.

"I will arise and go now, for always night and day

I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;

While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,

I hear it in the deep heart's core."

-----William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)

Upper Lake from Ladies View, July 1999

Another view of Upper Lake.

From Ladies View on a summer afternoon.