that many families lived there until 1804. Then it lay vacant until 1954, during which time the roof caved in during the 1880s. Viscount Lord Gort bought the castle in 1954 and started to restore it. Since the castle was in ruins for so long most of the original pieces are gone, so when they were restoring it, they had to find pieces that fit the time.
The castle has many defensive features to protect it from invaders. The first mode of defense was the wooden draw bridge that they could pull up at any point to stop people from coming in. If they got past that then there was the murder hole which was right after the Main Guard. To work the murder hole, they would open the door from above and pour something on the invader, which included boiling water, pitch, and other things of the sorts.
door. This was right before the stairs and was a trap door that dropped an invader 18-20 feet onto spikes. If that fails, the staircase is circular going around to the right. This was easier to defend because most people were right-handed and the invaders would have to fight with their left hands as they were being pushed down the stairs, and the final step was bigger than the rest.
hit the invader and stop them. These were all their defensive measures they took to protect their castle. When we entered the castle the first room was the Main Guard. This was the barracks, where the soldiers lived. A line of demarcation in the floor divided where soldiers lived, officers were given the side closest to the fireplace and the rest of the soldiers lived in the other part of the hall.
We went up a spiral staircase and right above the Main Guard is the Great Hall. This is where the earl sat to have the people come pay taxes, have hearings and banquets. One of the features of the Great Hall was the spy hole, where the Earl would make one of his best soldiers listen and watch in the opposite corner of the Earl to make sure that he would know who was plotting against him.
Another feature was a window looking down at the Grand Hall from the Lady’s Chambers. The Sheela na Gig hung in the north-west window of the hall which is a pre–Christian Celtic fertility symbol. High up on the wall were the antlers of the Great Irish Elk, the antlers were up to 12 feet long and are estimated to be around 11,000 years old because they went extinct 10,000 years ago.
The Earl’s Kitchen was at one end of the room. This room was used for the Earl’s private household. To cook for larger banquets, we believe food would’ve been prepared and cooked in the courtyard. After going up a few steps of the next spiral staircase was the Private Chapel which contained several valuable items, one of which included a 15th century Spanish silver-gilt processional cross.
Then going up some more steps was the Earl’s bedroom. The room contained a carved 15th century English double bed, a canopy with scenes from the childhood of Christ, a baby’s cradle from 1657, and a spinning wheel. Walking into the next room was the North Solar, the private apartment of the Earl’s family. This room could overlook the Great Hall. Then we walked up a few stairs to the Earl’s Pantry.
Walking all the way up the spiral staircase got to the Battlements. This looked over the castle grounds and County Clare. After coming down the stairs into the Grand Hall again the Public Chapel was in the back corner. This room was decorated with a 16th century stucco ceiling and several artifacts. The chaplain’s bed chamber was above this room with the robing room across the hall. Walking up the rest of the stairs got to another Battlement which also overlooked castle grounds and County Clare.
After walking down that staircase we went to the back left corner to the last staircase. At the top of those stairs was the South Solar which was restored as a tribute to the Lord and Lady Gort. It is furnished with things from the 16th and 17th centuries. Then we walked all the way down and out of the castle. Behind the castle were the gardens with many beautiful flowers.
- Jordan Munro
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