Experience Village Street | Bunratty Castle & Folk Park

Prepare to experience village life in 19th century Ireland!

The village houses and shops in the Folk Park have been chosen from many different areas, to form a collection of typical 19th century urban Irish buildings including the School, Doctor’s house, Pawnbrokers, Drapery, Printworks, Grocery, Hardware shop, Pottery and a Post Office.

The village is set at a time of fundamental change in Irish society, and as such illustrates the growing money-orientated lifestyle of many of the villagers alongside the traditional, self-sufficient rural culture.

The Public House

MacNamara and Sons is designed to reflect the lifestyle of the time. In the early 1900s, publicans not only sold drinks but also typically traded in groceries and hardware.

Please Take Note:

Mac’s Pub is now reopened as a museum pub, dedicated to preserving and celebrating the traditions of the Irish pub through music, storytelling, and atmosphere.

Please be advised that alcohol is not served during this museum period.

We appreciate your support as we move forward in this new chapter.

Thatched Farmhouses

Loop Head Farmhouse The house of small fisher – farming folk. The thatch is roped down to protect it against the Atlantic Gales. Here you will observe the Bean a Ti (woman of the House) baking bread in the traditional way.

Cashen Fisherman’s House A simple two roomed home of a North Kerry Salmon Fisherman. Much of the timber used in this house would have been salvaged from the sea. The floor is of rammed clay.

Mountain Farmhouse A poor farmers house of a type found on the borders of Limerick and Kerry. It has a loft for extra sleeping space.

Shannon Farmhouse The first farmhouse to be reconstructed on the site and which marked the beginning of the development of Bunratty Folk Park. The house was removed from where it originally stood on the site of a runway at Shannon Airport.

Bothan Scóir Farmhouse A one roomed dwelling of a poor landless labourer. Many of these fell into disrepair or were destroyed during the time of the great famine 1845-1847.

Golden Vale Farmhouse A prosperous farmers home, from the rich lands in the Golden Vale of counties Limerick and Tipperary. It has stables, byres and a corn barn. Here, Bean a Ti's bake brown bread, porter cake, apple tart, and griddle bread.

North Clare Farmhouse Reflects the building style and materials of Moher area of North Clare. This house was from an area near the Cliffs of Moher in Co. Clare. The local stone, a thick flagstone is used as a multi-purpose building material for houses, out buildings, etc.

Byre Dwelling An example from County Mayo of a dwelling occupied by both humans and their milking cows. There is a pigsty nearby.

Irish Wolfhounds

Irish Wolfhounds have inhabited Ireland long before the arrival of Christianity and the written word. They are known for being gentle, friendly and very intelligent, and our two resident Irish Wolfhounds, Míde and Rían, are proof of this, and are much loved by all who visit!

Music

From our Traditional Irish Musicians to our Medieval Banquet, Bunratty has world-class musicians who play everything from the fiddle to the harp, and who are sure to entertain! You may also be lucky enough to hear them play Traditional Irish music in the Folk Park throughout the day!

Baking at Bunratty

Join our Bean an Ti’s in the Golden Vale Farmhouse to watch them as they prepare Irish Traditional Soda Bread, which is cooked at the hearth, on the griddle or in the ‘Bastible’ (covered pot), in which embers are raked under and over to create a pot-oven.

Please be advised: This is not for consumption.

The Village Street

Thatched Farmhouses

Irish Wolfhounds

Music

Baking at Bunratty