Bunratty Castle & Folk Park

Bunratty Castle & Folk Park sits at Bunratty in County Clare, just off the N18 between Limerick and Ennis and a short distance from Shannon Airport. It brings together a restored medieval tower house and a 26-acre open-air folk museum, so a single visit takes in both the fortified world of Ireland’s Gaelic lords and the everyday life of the countryside in later centuries.

Bunratty Castle is a fifteenth-century tower house, generally dated to around 1425 and built by the MacNamara family, later becoming a stronghold of the O’Briens, Earls of Thomond. It stands on a site with a much longer history of settlement stretching back to Viking and Norman times. By the twentieth century the castle had fallen into disrepair, and from 1954 it was bought and restored by the 7th Viscount Gort, working with the Office of Public Works. He furnished the interior with a collection of medieval and later furniture, tapestries and works of art, and the restored castle opened to the public in 1960. Visitors can climb through its rooms and stairways to get a sense of how such a fortress was lived in and defended.

The adjoining Folk Park is a living-history village of around 30 buildings, ranging from modest rural cottages to shops, a village street and Bunratty House, a Georgian residence. The buildings are furnished to reflect different periods and levels of society, and the grounds also include features such as a walled garden and areas aimed at younger visitors. In the evenings the castle hosts its long-running medieval banquets, a four-course meal in the Great Hall accompanied by music and song from the resident Bunratty Castle Entertainers.

Free parking is available on site throughout the year. As opening hours, banquet times and admission prices change seasonally, it is worth checking the official website before travelling.