Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-08-12
Observation-Disclosures
The Earl of Kenmare With All
This Vast Estate Is Hard Up.
A VERITABLE PARADISE
Has Sold Farm Lands to Tenants
Who Cannot Pay.
BEAUTY OF BRIDES GARDEN
A Man With Nearly Million Acres
of Mountains, Lakes and Forests
Is Charles Vernon Browne.
BEAUTY OF BRIDES GARDEN

| BY WILLIAM F.. CURTIS.
Special Correspondence of The Star and the
| Chicago Record Herald
| KILLARNEY, August 3, 1908.
| Valentine Charles Browne, Earl OF Ken
mare owns all the Lakes of Killarney, all
| the land that surrounds them and' ac-
cording to the grant of James l, FEBRUARY
| 16. 1922. "all the islands of, or In the
same and the fisheries Of said lake, and
| the soil and bottom thereof lie owns
| all the mountains round about ana one OF
his stewards told me they comprised "o9'-
900 acres He owns the village and every
thing within it, even the ground on which
the railway station stands. All or the
hotels and even the insane asylum with
it's six hundred patients, and the poor
house for County Kerry, with four num-
dred friendless and destitute creatures
within it's walls, occupy his soil under
| lease.
Sir Valentine Scooped Them All.
Sir Valentine Browe. Knight Of Tote
ridge. Lincolnshire. England. was consta-
BILE warden. victualer and treasurer OF
Berwick in the reign of Queen Elizabeth
and she sent him, with Sir Henry Wailop
| in 1881 to survey escheated lands in Ire
land. He remained there, was subse-
ouently sworn of the prlvy COUNCIL repre-
scented the County of Sligo in parliament
| in 1888 and in June Of the same year puf-
| chased from MacCarthy More. Earl OF
Glencare, certain lands. manors. etc, IN
Counties Kerry and Cork and optalneo py
| Datepts from Queen Elizabeth all the re-
| mafnder of the Glencare estate. He was
| al terward quite useful to her majesty. as
his posterity has been to her successors.
| Sir Valentine Browne. his grandson, was
created baronet of Kenmare in 1877 and
received a grant, from which l have quot
| ed. of all the lakes and all the LANDS ana
mountains round about them. to the very
| bottom thereof. In 1859 these estates
were forfeited by his son because or ms
fidelity to the unfortunate James II, but
were restored to the family In 17HD and IN
1874 Valentine, the fifth viscount, was
made an earl. The late earl was one OF
the most devoted councillors and cOnnden-
tial advisers of the late queen vlctor,a;
She was very much attached to him. ana
| he had charge of her household as vice
chamberlain and lord chamberlain from
| 1872 to 1885, and was one OF her lords IN
waiting until her death. His mother was
| Gertrude Thyme, niece of the Earl OF
Bath. She is still living. The father died
three years ago at the age of eighty, after
a useful and honorable career
The Earl Of Kenmare.
| Tho nresent earl was educated at Eton
and oxford, served for time in the
army. went to Australia as aid-de-camp
to the governor general of Victoria. was
state steward to the Earl of Aberdeen
during the first term of the latter as
lord lieutenant of Ireland. and married
| Elizabeth Barring daughter Of Lord Ra-
| yelstoke of the famous firm of Barring
Brothers. bankers. London; He has
brother-in-law in New York The Earl
| Of Kenmare is the most prominent and
influential Roman Catholic in the Irish
| peerage. He is devoted to the interests
of the church. is devout IN his habits.
maintains a private chapel in his London
| residence and at his mansion here. and
a family chaplain in the old-fashioned
| way. He never leaves his house in the
morning without prayers at which all the
household and guests are present. and to
| which the servants are called in from
their tasks. There is large cathedral OF
pretentious architecture upon his grounds
in the village, to which his father con-
tributed a quarter of million dollars.
years by Bishop Mangan OF this diocese.
and is already being enlarged. although
to a stranger it seems to be big enough
as it is:
| The earl is forty-seven years of age
and has led a very active life. He is a
man of spotless integrity and enjoys the
confidence of all classes. His reputation
NAV be recognized from the fact that he
is chairman of the association organized
by the Irish landlords to protect their in
terests in dealing with the government,
| although he was the representative of the
landholders during the negotiations with
the Irish national party in parliament
| which led to the passage of the Wynd-
ham land act Of 1903.
The Kenmare Estate.
! Kenmare House has 100 rooms The
grand reception salon is 135 feet in length
and AZ feet in width, with a deep re-
cessed fireplace and a massive oak man.
tel. The library is 4s by AZ feet: the
state dining room. SO by 30 feet; the
drawing room. SO by "a feet: the smoking
room, % by II feet; the family dining
room. q by 16 feet; the earls study, "a
by 16 feet; her ladyship's boudoir, 10 by
30 feet; the state bedroom. 80 by "a feet,
and there are nine other state apartments
| of similar dimensions. There are sixteen
family bed rooms, each with a bath at
ltached on the second floor. and twenty
six double and single rooms on the third
floor. with bachelors wing of fifteen
rooms entirely separate from the rest of
the house and reached by a long corridor.
There is a nursery and school room. SO
by 10 feet; servants hail. 30 by 20 feet
and fifteen bedrooms for servants. Alto
gether there are eighty living rooms, am
Div furnished. besides the kitchens, bak-
cry, storerooms, pantries and servants
quarters. There is a garage and stabling
for seventeen horses. a dairy, fish
hatchery which stocks the brooks with
trout and the lakes with salmon; 1000
acres of forest preserve, with deer and
other game, and. altogether, more than
| 100 600 acres Of shooting upon the hills
and mountains and the boys and forests
surrounding the Lakes of Killarney Last
year the game bag included 300 rabbits,
40 pheasant. 400 woodcock. 200 grouse,
$50 hares. 100 snipe and 40 teal ducks IA
stays, 6 binds and does. No account
was taken Of the trout and the salmon
which abound in the lake and in the sew
eral rivers and brooks which feed 1t. 1t
! is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful