FINAL preparations are underway this week to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the opening of Muckross House to visitors on June 14th 1964.
A special day to mark the occasion is organised by National Parks & Wildlife Service (NPWS) and the Board of Trustees of Muckross House, Killarney on this Friday, June 14. Staff at NPWS, Muckross House and Trustees will host several exhibitions, walks and guided tours in the vicinity of the house.
There will also be free admission to Muckross House and Muckross Traditional Farms throughout the weekend of June 14-16. Over six decades, thousands of people have collaborated to protect, preserve, and enjoy the special property.
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The weekend events feature: guided tours – history of the house, spinning wheel, bookbinding, pottery, crossroads dancing, nature walks, lakes ecology, Kerry cattle, deer, rhododendron, the white-tailed eagle restoration project and other events from 11am – 4pm.
A free shuttle bus will run from Mission Road to Muckross on Friday 14th from 10am – 4pm. That evening the local drama group Dochas will perform ‘An Evening with Joyce’ in Muckross House.
A programme of events and celebrations will continue throughout the summer months to commemorate one of Killarney’s most iconic locations.
Completed for the landlord Herbert family in 1843, Muckross House acquired new owners at the end of the 19th century being purchased by Lord Ardilaun.
It again changed hands, in 1911, being purchased by a wealthy American, William Bowers Bourn. The house and estate were presented to the Irish nation, in 1932, by the Bowers Bourn and Rose Vincent families. Muckross became Ireland’s first National Park, in 1933.
However, Muckross House remained closed for more than 30 years. Following a campaign by people in Killarney, the Government agreed to the use of the house as a folk museum and it was officially opened as such on June 14, 1964.
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THE race to fill those four remaining seats in the Tralee Municipal District of Kerry County Council is really hotting up now after the result of the tenth count was announced.
THERE’S still a way to go in the Tralee Electoral Area before the four remaining seats are filled in the Tralee Municipal District of Kerry County Council.
THE fourth count in the Tralee Electoral Area did not see any further candidates elected to the Tralee Municipal District of Kerry County Council this afternoon, but Sinn Féin candidate Cllr Deirdre Ferris could make it over the line on the next one.
David Moriarty reports on the game last night between Kerry FC and UCD at Belfield…
Our movie guy, James Finnegan, has a classic musical and true life drama among his choices for your viewing pleasure today…
Harrison plays Professor Higgins, a phonetics expert who makes a wager with his friend Colonel Pickering (Wilfred Hyde-White) that he can train a cockney flower girl, Eliza Doolittle (Audrey Hepburn) to pass herself off as a lady of High Society.
A different type of musical is Trolls World Tours (Saturday 7pm RTE1) where Poppy and Branch discover that there are different toll tribes scattered over six different lands, each devoted to a different kind of music.
Gerard shares a cell with Bobby Sands (John Lynch), the leader of the protests by the H-Block prisoners. Gerard also goes on hunger strike and Kathleen finds herself used as a political pawn by the various sides.
Ironically in the week of the D-Day Eightieth Anniversary, Dunkirk (Saturday 9.50pm RTE1) Director Christopher Nolan brings to life the astonishing true story of the evacuation of Allied soldiers during the Second World War.
Denzel Washington is impressive as Malcolm X (Saturday 10.30pm RTE2), the controversial militant activist who led the fight for civil rights in 1960’s America.
THE Kerry Homecoming Festival launches tomorrow, Saturday, at a reception in the Ireland Tent at the GAA Northern Community Games in Manchester.
THE Kerry ladies are back in action this weekend when they take on Donegal in the TG4 All Ireland Senior Championship.
THERE was a significant drop in new car sales in Kerry last month compared to May 2023, according to the latest statistics from the Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI).