Ross Castle was built in the late 15th century by one of the O'Donoghue Ross chieftains, a Gaelic clan who controlled the Killarney lake district until Cromwellian forces besieged it in 1652. It remains the last castle in Munster to surrender to Cromwell's army, falling only after artillery was floated across Lough Leane on makeshift pontoons. The tower house stands on a limestone outcrop at the edge of the lake, its four-storey rectangular keep flanked by circular corner towers and a defensive bawn wall pierced by musket loops. The jaunting car tradition in Killarney dates to the mid-19th century when the town emerged as a tourist destination for Victorian travelers seeking picturesque scenery. These two-wheeled horse-drawn carriages, with passengers seated back-to-back on elevated benches, became the primary means of navigating the national park's narrow woodland trails. The drivers, known as jarveys, developed a reputation for storytelling and local knowledge, weaving folklore with topography as they guided visitors through the Gap of Dunloe and along the lakeshore to Ross Castle. Today fewer than 100 licensed jaunting cars operate in Killarney, maintaining a transport method that predates the motor car by decades. Inside Ross Castle, the guided tour reveals oak-beamed ceilings, spiral stone staircases worn concave by centuries of footfall, and reconstructed 16th- and 17th-century furnishings based on household inventories from similar tower houses. The great hall on the second floor retains its original fireplace with a massive stone lintel. Arrow loops in the corner towers offer sightlines across Lough Leane toward the MacGillycuddy's Reeks, Ireland's highest mountain range. The castle's strategic position controlled water access to the lakes, a military advantage that made it a focal point during the Desmond Rebellions and later the Confederate Wars. Horse-drawn access to Ross Castle departs from Killarney town center, following routes through Killarney National Park that motor vehicles cannot traverse. The 25,000-acre park, Ireland's first national park established in 1932, shelters native oak and yew woodlands, red deer herds, and a fragment of the ancient forest that once blanketed post-glacial Ireland. The jaunting car approach allows visitors to arrive as travelers did in the 19th century, when the castle ruins were already a Romantic-era attraction celebrated in paintings and guidebooks.