estate was purchased by Lord Ardilaun of the Guinness brewing family in 1899. Creation of the park In 1910, the American William Bowers Bourn bought Muckross Estate as a wedding present for his daughter Maud on her marriage to Arthur Vincent. They spent £110,000 improving the estate between 1911 and 1932, building the Sunken Garden, the Stream Garden, and a rock garden on an outcrop of limestone. Maud Vincent died from pneumonia in 1929. In 1932, Arthur Vincent and his parents-in-law donated Muckross Estate to the Irish state in her memory. The estate was renamed as the Bourn Vincent Memorial Park. The Irish government created the national park by passing the Bourn Vincent Memorial Park Act in 1932. The Act required the Commissioners of Public Works to "maintain and manage the Park as a National Park for the purpose of the recreation and enjoyment of the public." The memorial park is the core of today's enlarged national park. Initially the Irish Government was unable to provide much financial support to the park, so it operated primarily as a working farm that was open to the public. Muckross House was closed to the public until 1964. Around 1970 there was public disquiet about threats to the Bourn Vincent Memorial Park. The Irish authorities looked at international practices in classifying and managing of national parks. It was decided to expand and re-designate the park as a national park that corresponded broadly to IUCN Category II. A decision was also made to establish other national parks in Ireland. Almost has been added to the original park, including the three lakes, Knockreer Estate, Ross Island, Innisfallen, and the townlands of Glena, Ullauns, and Poulagower. The park is now more than double the size it was in 1932. As the Irish economy became wealthier and the perception of the role of national parks changed, much more money was made available to the park. Lakes of Killarney The Lakes of Killarney are Lough Leane (the lower lake), Muckross Lake (the middle lake), and the Upper Lake. These lakes are interlinked and together make up almost a quarter of the park's area. Despite being interlinked, each lake has a unique ecosystem. The lakes join at the Meeting of the Waters, a popular tourist area. Sport angling on the lakes has been a pastime in the area for some time, in particular of the lakes' brown trout and