Bunratty Castle

Within the historic town of Bunratty (CL061-011----/CL062-001000*), the castle is situated on low ground immediately W of the Owenogarney River. Four castles are recorded at Bunratty, beginning in 1251 when the Anglo-Norman Robert de Muscegros erected a fortification, having been granted the area known as ‘Tradraighe’ in 1248 (Bradley 1988, 20). This may have been an earthen and wooden construction as there is reference to it acquiring a palisade of oaks in 1252 (Bradley et al. 1988, 22). The precise location of this fortification is unknown. In 1277 the settlement at Bunratty passed to Thomas de Clare who built the first stone castle (ibid., 23). This withstood attacks by the Irish in the 1290s but was burnt by 1306 and, according to the sources, finally destroyed in 1332 (Bradley 1988, 24). In 1353 the castle was refortified by Thomas de Rokeby but after only two years it was captured and again destroyed (Salter 2004, 22). The destruction appears to have been exaggerated as there is physical evidence, discussed below, of the 14th-century castle, probably a form of hall-house, surviving within the fabric of the present castle.

The castle, in its current manifestation, is attributed to Maccon MacNamara (Bradley et al. 1988, 25), and was constructed in the 15th century, incorporating the remains of the earlier structure. It passed into the hands of the O’Briens around 1500 (ibid, 25). Between 1583 and 1588 Donough O’Brien, the ‘Great Earl’, made Bunratty his headquarters (Ua Cróinín and Breen 1997, 7). He carried out several renovations including vaulting the corner towers with redbrick and applying elaborate plasterwork to the walls and ceilings (ibid.). Barnaby Uí Briain, the 6th Earl of Thomond, surrendered the castle to parliamentary forces in March 1646 (Sherlock 2011, 208). The Confederate army laid siege to the castle shortly afterwards and took possession (ibid.). In 1725 the Studdert family came to live in the castle, building a multi-storey house onto the external N face, flush with the corner towers and blocking the entrances at ground and first-floor level (Ua Cróinín and Breen 1997, 12-13). During the 18th century they also built a police station into the W external face (ibid.). It became an RIC barracks in the 19th century and was burned during the War of Independence (ibid.). In the mid 1870s they attempted to conserve the castle by putting in concrete floors, tarred felt roofs and, later on, lean-to roofs on either side of the Great Hall, unfortunately causing the 16th-century stucco work to be exposed to the elements (Ua Cróinín and Breen 1997, 13). Thomas Studdert handed over the ownership and preservation of the castle to the Board of Works around 1915 (ibid.). In 1954 the castle was purchased by Lord Gort, and with the advice of John Hunt and the Board of Works architect Percy Le Clerc, he set about restoring the castle, with the expenses divided between Gort, Bord Fáilte and the Board of Works (ibid.). Gort envisaged restoring the castle to something ‘faintly 14th century’ and most of the later additions to the building were stripped away in order to expose the earlier fabric (Scott 2011, 220-22). The 18th-century Studdert home and the RIC barracks were removed while fireplaces, wood panelling and furniture were inserted to create a medieval effect (Sherlock 2011, 211). Almost 100 panels of stained glass, heraldic and otherwise, dating from the 14th to the 19th century were acquired from many sources and installed and some rooms had windows widened to accommodate the glass panels (Scott 2011, 220). The stained glass includes material from England, Switzerland, Germany and the Low Countries (ibid.). The castle was opened to the public in 1960.

It is a large rectangular keep, consisting of a central block with four corner towers. The central block (ext. dims. 19.4m N-S; 13m E-W; wall T 3.3m) has three storeys while the corner towers are six storeys high. The masonry consists of roughly coursed rubble limestone with limestone quoins and jambs. There is good survival of external render, with windows and quoins accentuated by block and start plaster finish. Stylistically, the structure is of late 15th-century date with some remodelling in the late 16th and early 17th century. However, there are a number of elements within the main block which suggest that this section dates to the 13th/14th century. The stone vaults over the main ground-floor chamber and the first-floor chamber both have evidence of plank-centring. In the latter chamber the remains of a moulded cornice over a small surviving portion of a sloping hooded fireplace are visible above the later fireplace in the E wall. Also, during work which was carried out on the W wall of the main block, both in the 1950s and more recently, a sloping masonry joint was revealed which suggests that the outer section of the wall was built up against an earlier battered wall (Sherlock 2011, 209, 211). This suggests that the earlier external masonry is completely hidden by a later façade. Some of the lower windows have sandstone surrounds which are possibly reused from the earlier phase, when sandstone was preferred for architectural features.

A doorway has been broken through the N wall of the central block to give access to the ground floor chamber. The entrance lobby, in the thickness of the N wall, is protected by a murder-hole. The barrel-vaulted chamber was lit by three loops within deep embrasures in the E wall and one in the S wall. At some stage the centre embrasure in the E wall was blocked up and a chute was inserted to deliver goods from the exterior directly into the interior. The most southerly of the E embrasures and the S embrasure are currently not visible internally as they are behind cladding. A small mural chamber has been inserted at the E end of the S wall and another at the S end of the W wall. At this level there are windowless chambers, or oubliettes, in each of the corner towers which were accessible through trap-doors from first-floor level. The chamber in the SE, known as the ‘dungeon’ can be accessed from a stairs in the SE angle of the main first-floor chamber, accessed from the S splay of the S window embrasure in the E wall. The passage leading to the oubliette is protected by a small murder-hole.

It is likely that the 13th/14th-century castle was entered from first-floor level, however, this entrance does not survive. In the 15th century a pointed chamfered limestone doorway was inserted in the N wall of the main block with vertical recesses above to accommodate a drawbridge, evidence for which was discovered in the reconstruction. This opens into a lobby within the thickness of the wall which is protected by a murder-hole. There is access from this lobby to the NE and NW corner towers. The main chamber, known as the ‘paved hall’ (now used for medieval banquets), has a pointed vault which rises through two floors and is lit by two two-light ogee-headed windows in the E wall and one at the S end of the W wall and by a triple-light window in the S wall. Between the windows in the E wall there is an inserted 16th-century fireplace with moulded frame, above which on the S side are the remains of an earlier chimney-hood. In the NE angle there is a hatch opening to a mural chamber between the main keep and the NE tower. At this level the NE tower has a chamber, lit by a single-light window in the N and the E wall, which is completely cladded internally and currently used as a kitchen. There is a small mural garderobe chamber in the S wall.

In the E wall of the ‘paved hall’, there is a small mural chamber, lit by a single-light window, accessed from the N splay of the S window embrasure. There are two openings in the S splay of this window embrasure, one gives access to a garderobe chamber, lit by a SW angle loop, between the ‘hall’ and SE tower and to the SE tower via a short passage lit by a NE angle loop and a loop in the N wall. The other o