Bunratty Castle () is a large 15th-century tower house in County Clare, Ireland. It is located in the centre of Bunratty village, by the N18 road between Limerick and Ennis, near Shannon Town and its airport. The castle and the adjoining folk park are run by Shannon Heritage as tourist attractions.

Name

The name Bunratty means "mouth of the Ratty River" in Irish. This is another name for the Owenogarney River, which empties into the Shannon Estuary after flowing past the village and castle.

Earlier structures

thumb|An [[Irish language plaque at Bunratty Castle]]

thumb|Bunratty Castle Plaque in English

The first recorded settlement at the site may have been a Norse trading camp reported in the Annals of the Four Masters to have been destroyed by Brian Boru in 977. According to local tradition, such a camp was located on a rise southwest of the current castle. Since no remains of this settlement have been found, its exact location is unknown and its existence is not proven.

Around 1250, King Henry III of England granted the cantred or district of Tradraighe (or Tradree) to Robert De Muscegros, who in 1251 cut down around 200 trees in the King's wood at Cratloe. These may have been used to construct a motte and bailey castle, which would have been the first castle at Bunratty, but again the exact position of this is unknown. A later reference in the state papers, dating to 1253 gives de Muscegros the right to hold markets and an annual fair at Bunratty. It has thus been assumed that the site was the centre of early Norman control in south-eastern Clare. Early 19th-century scholars put the structure to the north-west of the current castle. When a hotel was constructed there in 1959, John Hunt excavated the area and thought the remains to be that of a gun emplacement from the Confederate Wars (see below). This river, alongside the castle, flows into the nearby Shannon estuary.

The Studdert family left the castle (allowing it to fall into disrepair), to reside in the more comfortable and modern adjacent "Bunratty House" they had built in 1804.

For some time in the mid-19th century, the castle was used as a barracks by the Royal Irish Constabulary. In the late 19th century, the roof of the Great Hall collapsed. In 2024 a renewed investigation into his death was opened by An Garda Siochana.

In 2023 the ownership of the castle was transferred, with the transfer of Shannon Heritage DAC, a division of Shannon Group, to Clare County Council. This was part of larger transfer of the tourism sites that the company formerly operated, including the transfer of the nearby King John's Castle to Limerick City Council, owing to losses sustained at the sites during the COVID-19 pandemic. Other sites included in the transfer to Clare County Council were Craggaunowen Bronze Age Park, Knappogue Castle & Walled Garden, and a retail unit operated by Shannon Heritage at the Cliffs of Moher.

See also

  • List of tourist attractions in Ireland

References

Bibliography

  • Christopher Lynch, Bunratty Castle, Volume 41 of The Irish Heritage Series, Eason 1984, .
  • Shannon Heritage website
  • A picture showing the castle before its 1950s restoration
  • National Inventory of Architectural Heritage: Bunratty Castle
  • National Inventory of Architectural Heritage: Bunratty Bridge
  • National Inventory of Architectural Heritage: Bunratty House
  • National Inventory of Architectural Heritage: Bunratty Castle Hotel