Bunratty Castle & Folk Village

It is another gorgeous summer day. After a night in a mediocre hotel in Limerick, we have come to nearby Bunratty Castle and Folk Village, for what becomes a fun-filled morning.

Posing in the tiny window of one of the Bunratty Folk Village dwellings. I had to kneel on the table to get my head out the window!

Bunratty Castle, like so many others, had fallen into ruin, but was restored between 1954 & 1960, apparently under the sponsorship of Viscount and Viscountess Gort. It has proven to be a major attraction for tourists arriving in Ireland through Shannon International Airport.

In 1646, Cardinal Rinnucini, Papal Nuncio to the Confederation of Kilkenny, wrote:

"Bunratty is the most beautiful place I have ever seen. In Italy there is nothing like the Palace and grounds of Lord Thomand with its ponds and parks and its three thousand head of deer."

The present castle, last of a series on the same site was built around 1425. During the 16th and 17th centuries it was an important stronghold of the O'Briens--kings and later earls of Thomond or North Munster. The castle is entered over a drawbridge to the Main Guard.

In style, the castle has four towers of six storey's each, with the main block consisting of three floors, each with a single, great room or hall.

I loved this great plank of a table, located in the basement or lower of the three central rooms. This one may have been used for storage or for stabling animals.

Here I am sitting in the Chair of the Estate, which is where the Earl would sit in judgement. I have no judgements to make, however, but I do enjoy the pretense.

The Earl's Kitchen, wherein was prepared the food for the Earl's guests. The turtle shells were used as dishes and covers.

The Great Hall was the banquet hall and audience chamber of the Earls of Thomond. The walls are hung with French, Brussels and Flemish tapestries.

The oak dower-cupboard is dated 1570.

The Earl's Bedroom, showing her ladyship's dress, on the bed.

The Earl's pantry.

The castle has been furnished with mostly 15th and 16th century furnishings in the style known to the Earl, and with appropriate artefacts.

The South Solar or private apartment. The ceiling is partially a replica, in Tudor style.

From a window of the castle one looks down at Durty Nelly's Pub.

Bunratty Castle is located near Shannon, at Bunratty. In Irish Bunratty Castle translates as Caisleán Bhun Raithe or Castle at the Mouth of the Ratty. The river flows into the Shannon Estuary.

Even better than seeing Bunratty Castle, is touring Bunratty Folk Village. The concept is common enough: the re-creation of an authentic town or village to allow us to see what life may have been like in earlier times, in this case, 19th-century rural and urban Irish life. Like other similar attractions, such as those in Nova Scotia I have seen, this one is done well.

This is called Loop Head House and represents a dwelling in which coastal fisher-farming folk lived. The thatch was tied down with ropes to protect it against Atlantic gales.

All over the world the blacksmith played a vital role. Even in the 1950s, as a small boy, I remember visiting the blacksmith's forge near the school I attended on Willow Street in Truro, Nova Scotia.

We were very early starting the tour, and several of the village buildings were not yet open, nor were the villagers in period costume in place yet. Here is the Weaver's Shed, apparently housing a working loom. With several weavers in my family, this would have been interesting to see. I think the operators of such attractions need to know that those who come early pay the same admission fee as those who arrive later; we are entitled to have the same experience as others and the "re-enactors" ought to be there when the village opens.

Posing outside Shannon Farmhouse, the first building reconstructed in the Folk Village. It originally stood on the site of the main runway at nearby Shannon Airport.

Bothan Scóir, a one-roomed dwelling for a poor landless labourer. During our stay in Ireland, we saw no references to the tragic lives and exploitation of the poorest Irish people. We saw no references to the Potato Famine, when tens of thousands starved to death. Tourism focuses on scenery, music, the heroes of republicanism and on the great cultural icons, like James Joyce and other writers.

The Golden Vale Farmhouse, from the Golden Vale of Counties Limerick and Tipperary.

Those who lived in this farmhouse were obviously able to manage a quite comfortable lifestyle.

In this kitchen, Irish farm women are baking bread and biscuits for selling in the Village Tea Room next door. (I went there to buy some, but sadly they were over-cooked.)

A worker brought a wheel-barrow full of newly cut peat to the farmhouse. I knew that peat was a primary fuel source in parts of Ireland. Later, I discovered that even modern homes sometimes still burn this fuel.

The farmyard illustrates an excellent way for drying hay.

The dwelling ahead is meant to be the doctor's house, with dispensary and surgery located in the front.

One of the few costumed workers up and early and at his job was the local policeman, with whom I had a wonderful conversation.

The schoolhouse, Belvoir National School, originally erected in 1835 in Belvoir, East Clare.

The Folk Village street. Right is a small building being used as an artisan's house, in this case as a potter's workshop.

The J. J. Corry Pub was typical of Ireland at the time. In the restored village, it was used as the Park's local pub for feeding visitors. That service has been moved to a larger establishment called Mac's, for Macnamara's Pub.

The constable in the snug of J. J. Corry's Pub. The snug was only used by women, who could not sit with the men in an Irish Pub.

McInerney & Sons is a restored hardware shop. With industrialization and the production of factory-made tools, there was less and less demand for local craftsmen to make utensils and tools.

This represents the typical town post office, found in all parts of the country by the end of the 19th century. This one is also a Postal Telegraph office and Bank.

The village church was originally in Ardcroney, from where it was moved stone-by-stone to be re-built here.

The interior of Ardcroney Church.

The village has its own red deer herd. This little sweetheart is both friendly and adorable.

Bunratty House was built in 1805, and is in the late Georgian style occupied by minor gentry in the 19th century.

Byre Dwelling is of the type from County Mayo, in which the family shared accommodations with the milch cows. The pigsty is across the pathway.

Inside Byre dwelling.

Inside Byre Dwelling; it may be that the lathes are exposed only to reveal the construction of the dwelling to visitors. Or perhaps the lathes were normally left exposed.

The village contains several other buildings or shops: Brown's Pawnbroker, Sean O'Farrell's Drapery, Foster's Printworks, Cahill's Grocery, and even terraced housing. There are domesticated animals, various mills, even a Regency Walled Garden. Somehow I missed Hazelbrook House, built in 1898, and the home of the Hughes Brothers who created a well-known Irish ice-cream brand, HB Ice Cream.

We were only here for the morning and missed the evening attractions at Bunratty. Every night in the Castle there is a Medieval Banquet, spread on long oak tables with candles and an open fire, accompanied by minstrels and singers. Friends have taken part and enjoyed it, but it cannot be scheduled. As well, every night in the Village they hold what they call the Traditional Irish Night; held in the Corn Barn it features traditional Irish singers and dancers and plenty of food.

The downside of places like Bunratty Folk Village is that it draws tourists--like us--from real Irish villages that are vibrant, living places with real people. This attraction is done well, but it is not alive. The only good thing is the absence of automobiles! There are dwellings and shops like those represented here all over Ireland. Still, it gives a good idea of what Ireland was like in the 19th century.

Next to Bunratty Castle is the famous pub known as Durty Nelly's.

Durty Nelly's Pub's fame comes presumably from the fact that it is so near to Shannon Airport and therefore, for many people, their first taste of an Irish pub. It is not old, even though it looks it. In its present incarnation it dates from the 1950s. Previously it was a ramshackle, stinking little pub whose only attraction for the locals was its charismatic but filthy owner Nelly. When it was restored to coincide with the restoration of Bunratty Castle and to attract traffic from the airport the new owners named it ‘Dirty Nelly’s’ in joking homage to their famous predecessor. She, now an old woman, was so offended by the name that she threatened to sue. In response the name was changed to the more loving and less offensive ‘Durty Nelly’s’ and it has been that way ever since.

Nelly’s Blessing
May the road rise up to meet you. May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face, the rains fall soft upon your fields
and until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of his hand.