Bunratty is worth the price of admission! It was the priciest thing we paid to see, but as with all the paid admission things we did - we were surprised at how inexpensive it was for all you got - this was 18euro per adult, and this was a "living museum" styled castle and surrounding town - there are paid actors/employees dressed in character and playing a character to show you/educate you on life in that time. It was really fun, and we learned a lot. Comparing it to a Colonial Williamsburg kind of thing (where tickets are $32+ per adult). We left sweet Adare, and came here for the morning, before leaving to catch a boat to one of the Aran Islands, so we had about 3 hours here.
This is the first Castle we visited - well, technically no - Dublin Castle was - but it was newer in many places (it had some of the old towers still, but not as old as this). This was a 15th century Castle, similar to the Tower Houses (also called Castles, but they are only 1 tower, whereas this one had 4, and the space in the middle also occupied, so much much larger. This was for a "whole town" not just a family. So there were things like a courtroom, a war room, a library etc - things that Tower Houses didn't have the extra space for - or really need since they were servicing a family and entourage, not a village.
Bunratty was built where a Viking trading camp was established in 970. The present structure of Bunratty was the last of 4 castles to be built on the site in the 15th century. It is the most complete, and most authentic castle in all of Ireland.
A garderobe - toilet
This is one of those extinct Irish Deer that were massively huge. Antlers found around the property when building the castle.
They had 3 sets! The scope of their size is difficult to portray. But this room is HUGE and 3 of them about span it! Maaaaaaaaassive antlers!!!
As we learned in our previous tours, all furniture was built in place, because the doors and stairways are very very narrow.
This tapestry is from the 1500s. Mindblowing!!!
This one too - it's torn in places, but I mean, how much can one expect from a piece of fabric over 600 years old?!
This was a war planning room
Beds - they were shorter, not because the people were short, but because they slept sitting/propped up. They were covered for style I suppose in these cases, and for privacy to hang curtains around, as many many people all shared 1 room, even the wealthiest didn't get their own room, just a nicer bed. But also, the canopy covers served a practical purpose in many/most homes the rooves were thatched, (not a castle which would be wood or stone ceilings) and things could fall through on you while you were sleeping, or people could attack from above, so they provided extra protection. We were told that this is where the saying "it's raining cats and dogs" came from. Because with barnyard animals and "pets" running about at night - chasing each other, and falling through the roof...Haha. Having an animal land on you while sleeping would be less than fun. And also like, uuuugh, now I have to rethatch my roof!
I believe this was a cloakroom
When you are up on top of one of the 4 towers, you can look into the middle/center of the square
and see the top roofline of the center section.
See that door on the right side at the bottom of the next tower? You could get back and forth between them from up here without going inside through the castle.
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