Blarney Castle and Cahir Castle

We had two more castles on our tour this last of my days in Ireland. Our next stop was Blarney castle. I have to admit I was a little ashamed of myself for choosing this tour, I mean, how corny is it to want to kiss the Blarney Stone? BUT, the castle and grounds were really worthwhile and I quite enjoyed this trip.

 

The current castle was built in 1646 by Cormac MacCarthy on the site where an earlier 13th century castle had stood.

It is a great big stone tower with an empty center.

The so-called Stone of Eloquence (Blarney stone) is actually a machicolation in the castle wall: a hole that allowed people to throw stones or oil down on people beneath who might be trying to gain entry.

There are several rooms that you can wander around (although no furnishings), but there are nice explanatory signs.

 

As you climb up to the Blarney Stone you get a very nice view of the grounds. The picture below is the poison garden.

 

Here is the interior of the castle as you climb higher up the stairs in the tower.

When you finally reach the top, there is a line (queue)  to kiss the stone. In the image below you can see the people lined up on the right side who are about to get their chance to kiss the stone.

 

There are two people on either side of the "kisser" who make sure you are safe (because you have to lie on your back and lean into a hole (that opens all the way to the ground.)

 

For short people like me that means basically hanging upside down and being grabbed by ones' legs to perform the feat. As you can see from the picture below, that would be quite  drop.  The Blarney stone is in the middle of that right side of the tower up at the top. There are two metal bars up there that mark the place.

Here is a view from below.

 

I blew it up a little so you can see it better.

The poison garden is a fun feature, full of all kinds of everyday plants that turn out to be toxic.

I was surprised by how many of them I have in my own garden.

 

There were other gardens too, a stone garden and a perennial garden.

 

It was the end of the season, but there were still some beautiful flowers.

There are other structures on the grounds too, that are interesting. This tower and a series of caves.

 

It was drk and damp in the caves.

 

There was also a nice river with a heron on the prowl.

Our last castle of the day was Cahir Castle.

 

This is a well-preserved thirteenth century castle built by Conor O'Brien.  Originally named Cathair (not for feline hirsuitness) because it meant stone fort.

 

This is quite a correct description, as you see.

 

We had a really excellent tour guide who told us all about the features of the castle, and she knew all the grisly details. (Like for instance about the Oubliette (or dungeon) where they would put people and basically "forget" about them until they starved. (Unless of course your family paid a ransom and then they would give you just enough food to keep you barely alive.))

Those slits were used for firing arrows out at possible intruders.

Here is a closer view.

 

The castle surrendered twice over its long history. The most interesting time was to Oliver Cromwell, who strangely spared it and its inhabitants.

There is a canon ball (still) imbeded in the wall on the left.

 

Here is a shot of the interior.

Look at the size of the horns in the shot above.

 

Here is a little model of the castle and its grounds.

 

There was very nice signage too.

 

Our time at Cahir castle was too short, but it was time to leave.

 

I think this is Oscar Wilde again.

So back we went to Dublin where I packed up and got ready to start on my way to Austria.