Bunratty Castle and Medieval Banquet

We spent the day going through Bunratty Castle. The castle was originally built in 1425, and as you can see, it was very much a defense structure. There is an outer curtain wall and an inner bailey, with a courtyard. You can almost imagine the soldiers practicing here, or the folk going about their daily lives. When you enter the castle, there is a modern wooden staircase that was built as an entrance, but it wasn’t there centuries ago. Here is a cutaway view of what it might have looked like. You can see that the bedrooms would have been on the upper floors, while the banquet hall was above the entrance level. Lower levels were used for food storage, and/or imprisonment.

One of the things that struck me was the difficulty of the stairs. There are hundreds of them, winding up a narrow path to the battlements. Thighmaster has nothing on Bunratty Castle. My quads were burning by the time I reached the top, and I consider myself in average shape. The stairs were so narrow, and triangular-shaped, only one person at a time could ascend. Let’s just say that there would not be any hunky Irish warriors hefting their women up the stairs. If they tried, they’d knock her unconscious going around the corner, because her head would whack the center support of the stairs. Not very romantic.
But you know what was really amazing? The furniture. When a baby girl was born, her father would commission a bride’s chest for her. Over the duration of her life until she married, the woodcarver would work on the chest and it became part of her dowry. The amount of detailed work on the chest was just incredible.

When we arrived for our banquet, ladies of the castle presented us with cups of mead in pottery mugs. Mead is a fermented drink made from honey, and you can really taste its sweetness. In the meantime, one of the castle ladies played the Irish harp. Another appetizer was fresh bread served with salt. You had to sprinkle the salt on the bread, after taking it from a small wooden bowl. A man and woman were chosen to be the Earl and Lady of Thomond, and they were given crowns as well.

The castle “steward” called us into dinner and we were led to long wooden tables. The first course was parsnip soup with brown bread, which was delicious, except that we had no silverware at all. The soup had to be drunk directly from the bowl. Then the second course of pork spare ribs was served. During the meal, a man was selected to be cast into the dungeon. His penalty was to sing an Irish song, which he led with gusto. Next, we ate a chicken with mead sauce, potatoes, julienned carrots and turnips, and for dessert, a raspberry mousse. Red and white wine were offered, along with water. All in all, we had a great time at the banquet.

Have you ever been to a medieval banquet yourself?