We were on the way to Bunratty Castle, but first we had to find a rubbish bin like nearly every day, a difficult task in Ireland, as there are no public bins. The bins marked on Park4Night are often only for recycling (glass, cans, clothes), but up to now we always managed somehow.
Before we reached Limerick, we stopped in Adare, a village with thatched houses along the main street close to the castle and Adare Manor of the Earl of Dunraven.
The Trinitarian Order established their only monastery in Ireland in Adare in 1230. It is believed that the Trinitarian monks may have come from Scotland. The Abbey was restored in 1811 by the first Earl of Dunraven as the Catholic Parish church.
The thatched cottages near the entrance to Adare Manor, today a luxury hotel, were part of the Dunraven estate village, built by the Earl as overlord for his vassals.
A castle or fortress next to the important ford is said to have first been built by the O’Donovans, rulers of the region into the 12th century, and afterwards to have passed into the possession of the Kildare branch of the FitzGerald dynasty, responsible for the majority of the remains of the present fortress.
From Adare we passed Limerick and continued to Bunratty Castle.
The present castle was built in 1425 and became the stronghold of the O’Briens, kings and later Earls of Thomond. The centre has 3 floors, each consisting of a great room or hall. The four towers have 6 stories each, everything connected by very narrow staircases.
In 1956, the castle was already in disrepair and the roof had collapsed, when it was purchased and restored by the 7th Viscount Gort, with assistance from the Office of Public Works. He installed a new roof and saved the castle from ruin. It was opened to the public in 1960, with furniture, tapestries and works of art dating to around the 1600s.
We had really enjoyed our visit to Bunratty Castle and the Folk Park. It was interesting to see this type of castle in such a good state of preservation and decorated in a way that gave us the impression the Earl and his men had just walked out.
We will try to find a nice spot at the river Shannon and will make our plans for tomorrow according to the weather – more soon!