Blarney Castle Things to Do

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The estate surrounding Blarney Castle and Blarney House extends to over 1,000 acres so there's obviously lots of 'garden' to enjoy. The area immediately surrounding the castle is beautifully landscaped with many large trees and banks of shrubs and flowers edging the paths. A small river, called the Martin runs through the estate and under most of the bridges 'gold', in the form of coins thrown by visitors, appears to glint under the water. Immediately in front of the south face of the castle is the Rock Close, a landscaped garden, with many rocks and steps, laid out by the Jeffreys family in the 16th century. The two buildings here, basically a large thin tower and a smaller squat tower, are rather fancifully described as a witch and her hat. This, I think is pushing the blarney thing a little too far, but that said the Rock Close is a very lovely part of the gardens. Off in the distance towards Blarney House, herds of cattle graze and the lake comes into view. For the really energetic there are several long walking routes through the woodland and around the lake but even the terminally lazy, can get off the beaten track by just carrying on past the Badger's cave. From here you can take a small path through dense foliage and come out on the castle battlements. A nice way to avoid the crowds and get a real countryside feel.

Forgetting about the whole Blarney issue, this castle is well worth a visit. You can see from this picture of the North Wall, how it is built on a solid 8-metre deep rock cliff and how imposingly it rears up towards the sky. This is the third building on the site and was completed by Cormac McCarthy in 1446. Though captured by Cromwell in 1646 it was returned to the McCarthys in 1661 but then confiscated again after the battle of the Boyne in 1690. At this point it ceased to be the stronghold of the McCarthys of Munster and was sold to the Governor of Cork Sir Thomas Jeffreys. This brief history of the castle is in part a mini version of the history of Ireland and the systematic destruction by Britain of the old Gaelic way of life dominated by clans and chieftans.

This photo also tells a lot about the construction of the castle and the seams indicate that it was built in two stages, the right hand side incorporatating the tower whose gatehouse we will see in the next tip.

OPENING TIMES :

May: 9.00-6.30, Mon- Sat

June, July, August: 9.00-7.00, Mon - Sat

September: 9.00-6.30, Mon -Sat

October - April : 9.00- Sundown, Mon-Sat

SUNDAYS

Summer: 9.30-5.30

Winter: 9.30 - Sundown

Blarney House and Garden are also open to the public during the summer months from Monday to Saturday.

ADMISSION PRICE 2012: Since writing this page in 2007 the cost of visiting Blarney Castle has now gone up from EUR 8 to EUR 12. This cost includes the gardens, the castle and kissing the stone.

Check curent prices, times etc on the webpage: www.blarneycastle.ie

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Inside the castle is the part of the visit you will probably enjoy most. The entrance hall has a purpose built wooden staircase to bring you to the first floor, but after that it's fairly authentic and interesting. Apart from the great hall there are many small rooms you can wander freely in and out of. The Earls Bedroom is the one with the 16th century casemented Oriel Window, which looks so good from the outside. This is the largest and most imposing of the 'bedchambers' and while it's very hard to imagine anyone ever having slept there, the views are superb. The staircases wind round and round and everywhere there are tiny slits of windows offering up different slices of rolling green fields and the lake in the distance.

One of the points of interest before you actually reach the castle, Badger's cave penetrates under the rock cliff on which Blarney Castle is built. It's dark and smelly (like most caves ) but a little scary and hence enjoyable, especially for children. If you are travelling with children, I think they would find a visit here great fun and quite exciting.

Legend has it that this cave was used as an escape route for the castle's inhabitants during the raid by Cromwell's army. That same 'legend' tells us that there are 'reputedly ' many secret passges around here: one to Cork, one to the nearby lake and one all the way to Kerry . Whether you believe all this or not will depend on how much you are prepared to enter into the spirit of the visit .

This was the gatehouse area of the original castle and the little information plaque here is called 'Kennel, Sentry and Dungeon'. It tells us that the three openings, seen here in the photo, were all concerned with defence: the area for the sentries, the dogs and further in, the chambers which were believed to be the castle prison. This immediately translates to DUNGEONS especially for children and they were swarming in and out daring each other to go further and further in. It's exceedingly dark and dank and I didn't go beyond the entrance to the staircase that leads to the site of the castle well. From here , the story goes ( and remember that everything in Blarney Castle contains a certain element of fiction) there is a 16 m long tunnel which leads to a cave in the rock.

Blarney Castle was originally a timber hunting lodge built in the 10th century, which was replaced by a stone castle in 1210. The present day construction was completed by Dermot McCarthy, King of Munster in 1446. Most parts of the castle is now ruin except for the main tower.

The spiral staircases are narrow and steep and were used to protect the inhabitants because only one invader at a time could come up the spiral staircase. The narrow windows should also be noted because they were also used to defend the castle. Arrows could easily be shot out the narrow windows at invaders, but it would almost be impossible to shoot an arrow in from outside.

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I did walk far enough up to take photos of the castle - over the path which crossed the river. The website says

There are numerous woodland walks on the grounds of the Blarney Castle estate, through which winds the River Martin. In the arboretum you will find colorful displays of copper beech, ornamental pear, southern beech, nothofagus and evergreen oaks. Adjacent to the arboretum, one finds the Belgian Beds planted with hybrid azaleas, and a western red cedar tree from British Columbia.

Even if you think the stone is unhygienic or are afraid of heights or (like me) don't have good enough knees to do the steps, you can walk around the grounds.

Our admission was included with our tour, but Blarney Castle Visitor Rates are

Adult Admission: Euro 10
Student / Seniors: Euro 8
Children (8-14 years): Euro 3.50

Family (2 Adults, 2 Children): Euro 23.50

The Castle, Rock Close Gardens and Lakeland Walk are open all year, except Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.