Kenmare House

Sir Valentine Browne made an agreement with MacCarty Mór for a lease on the lands of Coshmang and Ross in 1588, the year of the Armada.

Unlike most of the English settlers since the Reformation, the Brownes soon reverted to the old religion and the family continued to be given the royal title "Viscounts Kenmare" by King James II of England in 1689.

It was a grandiose structure with the characteristics of a French chateau, perhaps influenced by the Brownes' time spent in France with King James II in exile at Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye.

In the years that followed poets such as Tennyson and Wordsworth, and, writers such as Sir Walter Scott and Jane Austen all visited Killarney.

On 26 August 1861, Valentine, Lord Castlerosse played host to Queen Victoria and Prince Albert at Killarney.

The royal visit put Killarney on the map as a tourist resort and set the scene for the prosperity and popularity it enjoys today.