Muckross House & Gardens – completed in 1843 for Henry Arthur Herbert and his wife Mary Balfour. Purchased by Lord Ardilaun of the Guinness family in 1899. Purchased by William & Agnes Bowers Bourn as a wedding present for their daughter Maud in 1911. Presented to the Irish People in memory of Maud by her parents and husband, Arthur Rose Vincent in 1932.
Ross Castle was built for the O’Donoghue Chieftains during the first half of the 15th century. It has a typical tower house layout, with a banqueting hall and minstrels gallery on the top floor. It was battlemented in the Irish fashion and was surrounded by a bawn wall with flanking towers at each corner, two of which remain today.
St. Mary’s (Assumption) Cathedral was designed by Augustus Welby Pugin. The foundation stone was laid in 1842 by Bishop Cornelius Egan (d. 1856). In May 1848 work ceased for 5 years because of the Great Famine. Bishop David Moriarty (d. 1877) consecrated the still unfinished structure on August 22, 1855. It was dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin Mary.
Although successive Bishops continued to add to the Cathedral, it was Bishop John Mangan (d. 1917) who finally completed it. Between 1908 and 1912, he built the spire, extended the nave and aisles and constructed a new sacristy and mortuary. In 1972, Bishop Eamonn Casey undertook a major program of renovation to meet the needs of the new liturgy.
