The Bunratty Castle and the Folk Park stand on 26 acres of land in County Clare, Ireland. The site was originally a Viking trading camp in the 10th century. The Bunratty Castle was the last of the four castles to be built here. It was built as a defensive fortress and a watchtower. The Castle was the official residence of the powerful MacNamara and (later) the O’Brien families in the 15th century. The O’Briens professed loyalty to the King of England. The Studdart family (a plantation family) was the last to have lived in the castle. The Castle was in complete disrepair after they left in the early 1800s, but was later restored in 1956.
Highlights You Can’t Miss
Experience the unspoiled beauty of the area on your visit as you also get to step back in time and revisit Irish society, its culture, traditions, and lifestyle as they were during 19th-century Ireland. Village life and the rural settings have been brought alive and recreated in the Folk Park to give visitors an idea of how the residents of the place lived during the Georgian era. The Folk Park is a reconstruction but gives visitors a very authentic feel; there isn’t a single dull moment here.
It is perfectly okay to be confused; in fact, the veterans at the Park feel delighted to answer all visitor queries in detail and enrich you with gems of knowledge from the historic past. The staff and the actors are so real at the Folk Park as they present everything from the sights, sounds, and actions from the 19th-century Bunratty with downright perfection. They demonstrate the ways of housekeeping, cooking, baking in the fireplace, sewing, pottery, yarn-making on the wheel, animal feeding, and more, as they were practiced during those times.
Students and lovers of history have much to discover here. There are miscellaneous activities for every age bracket — everyone has something to take away from the place. While the young can learn more about the countryside and rejoice in the open lands and breathe in the fresh air of the Bunratty Village, the older ones can gather more from the enriching conversations they strike up with the natives.
The Folk Park or the Village Street is a perfect replica of the 19th-century Bunratty Village; it is a museum per se that traces Irish cultural and social history from medieval times through the 19th century. The Park is a collection of village dwellings, and the village colony represents life as lived by everyone — from the poorest of the poor to the rich and affluent; whilst the former lived in one-room cottages sometimes accommodating as many as 12 or even 14 members, the latter lived lavishly in sprawling castles only a few yards away. What a contrast!
The time travel at the Folk Park is a refreshing change and a happy deviation from the cacophony of 21st-century city life.
Tourists revel in the fact that they get to live an immersive and rare experience at the Village Park replete with rural farmhouses with an array of heritage animals like pigs, ponies, poultry, sheep, cows, dogs, pygmy goats, highland cattle, etc. The tuck shops, thatched cottages, costumed characters who share interesting tales of the yore, traditional craft exhibition, musicians playing their instruments and regaling the tourists with their lively folk songs, and vast stretches of greenery surrounding the pastoral area are some unmissable attractions at the place.
The highlights are of course the live characters who play the village school teacher, the doctor, and the policeman who enthrall all visitors at the Park. The Park has been judiciously designed to replicate the village neighborhood during the 18th and 19th century Bunratty with a Pub, Drapery, Grocery, Hardware shop, Post Office, and a Printing place alongside the village houses.
Little visitors (children) can freely run around the trail in the Park and play with wild abandon at the Viking Playground. Swings, slides, sandpit, rope walks, belt bridges, picnic benches to sit on and relish the ice creams from the Ice Cream Hut — your kids will love you for everything they see and experience here at the Park.
And yes, there’s a one-stop shopping and dining destination too, just in case you were wondering if you’d go hungry where would you head nearby!
Info on Timings and Tickets
At the time of writing in 2023, the Bunratty Castle and the Folk Park will remain open to the public all days in the week the year round, but the last admission will be at 4 pm.
It is always a good idea to have your tickets pre-booked online. Tickets include full access to the castle, farmhouses, village street, the Viking Playground, the fairy trail, the walled gardens, and much more. Online bookings are always given preference over walk-ins. Members must carry their IDs and membership cards.
The car park is free of charge. The admission fee is as follows — Adult: 15 euros; Child: 9 euros; and Family Ticket of 2 Adults and 2 Children: 33.60 euros.
How to Contact
The Bunratty Castle and the Folk Park are located in County Clare, Ireland, in the center of Bunratty village by the N18 road between Limerick and Ennis, near Shannon Town. It is a popular tourist spot that is hard to miss and can easily be accessed by any mode of travel – train, bus, or car. The area has a free parking facility. For reservations or queries, you can call 00353 (0) 61-711222 or write to reservations@shannonheritage.com.
