XPW043508 IRELAND (1933). Distant View, Killarney, Kerry, Ireland, 1933. Oblique aerial photograph taken facing South/West.

Killarney has been the deserved centre of tourism in Ireland since the mid-18th century. The name is probably derived from Cill Airne or "Church of Sloes", as there were many sloe woods in the locality.

The growth and development of the town was tied up to a great extent with the fortunes of the local landlords, the Earls of Kenmare, particularly from around 1747, when the 4th Earl possessed a mansion and there were several slated houses and thatched cabins providing accommodation for about 500 folk. At this stage, Lord Kenmare gave free leases to encourage the building of more inns and houses to encourage further tourism. It is said that Killarney is the cradle or birthplace of Irish tourism.

The town received a boost in 1853 with the construction of a substantial railway station on the east side of the town. The Mallow-Killarney section was built in stages between May and July 1853 and it was linked to Tralee six years later. The fine stone railway buildings were erected from locally quarried rock. The Killarney Junction Railway was the first railway company to operate its own hotel, the Great Southern, which opened in July 1854 at a cost of £50,000. The station resulted directly in the doubling of large hotels in the town and the visit of Queen Victoria and her family in 1861 further boosted the bed & breakfast trade in the town. By now, the resident population was well in excess of 7,000 and Killarney's links with the outside world were enhanced with a road building scheme (to Cork, Kenmare and Limerick).

Killarney's importance as a manufacturing centre and local market town was subordinate to its growing influence as an international tourist centre. Just before this photo was taken, Muckross Estate was donated to the Irish Free State and the area became the first National Park on the island of Ireland. Killarney had more hotel beds than any other tourist centre in the Free State apart from Dublin. In 1936, the town's population was 5,609, a figure which increased slowly over the next three decades to 6,887 in 1966. It is currently approaching 10,000 in total.

The writer of these notes first visited this enchanting spot in June 1964 and was not disappointed in any way, even allowing for the commercial aspects of tourism in the area. It remains a popular destination for world travellers, especially from the USA, Britain, Germany and western Europe, with increasing numbers arriving from south and east Asia.