Bunratty Information

It's hard to believe, looking at the quiet little village of Bunratty, that under it, the surrounding fields, roads and houses, lie buried the remains of a once flourishing town, centuries of settlement, battles, deeds and stories.

Of the glory of those far-off days, what remains is Bunratty Castle, one of the finest tower houses still standing in Ireland, built in 1425 and was authentically restored in 1954. The castle has had a dramatic and bloody history. Its strategic position on the river Shannon always attracted interest and envy from unfriendly quarters. It changed hands many times, usually violently during the periods of friction between the native Irish of Thomond and the Norman and Norman-Irish intruders. The castle has been destroyed at least eight or nine times and it has seen many bloody murders.

Today, however, there is little evidence of all this death and destruction . The castle stands peacefully in delightful grounds, the houses and cottages of Bunratty Folk Park spread out at the foot of its massive walls, much in the way that cottages and crofts of old would have clustered around its base. The modern visitor to Bunratty Castle, once the residence of the O'Briens of Thomond, approaches along a section of ancient paved road, across the remains of a moat which once surrounded the castle, and through a door in the 'bawn' wall into the courtyard, before mounting steps to a drawbridge.

To explore this Norman castle for yourself, why not attend one of its weekly medieval banquets or take a stroll through its Folk Park - a 19th century reconstruction of what this town once looked like!