Craggaunowen

Craggaunowen was created by John Hunt, the antiquarian behind the Hunt Museum in Limerick, around a fifteenth-century MacNamara tower house he restored in the 1960s. Around it he built full-scale reconstructions: a crannog, an artificial island dwelling with a wattle palisade standing in the lake, a ring fort with a souterrain, a Neolithic-style farmstead, an outdoor cooking site and a section of togher, the oak plank road across bog. Rare-breed Soay sheep and wild boar of the kinds kept in early Ireland graze the site. The other holding is the Brendan: the leather-hulled boat Tim Severin built to the specification described in the medieval Navigatio Sancti Brendani and sailed from Kerry to Newfoundland in 1976 and 1977, demonstrating that the voyage described in the text was at least physically possible. The boat is displayed under cover. Opening is seasonal and the site is outdoors.

Highlights

• The Brendan - Severin's leather boat, sailed to Newfoundland in 1976 and 77.
• The crannog - a reconstructed island dwelling standing in the lake.
• The tower house - the fifteenth-century MacNamara castle Hunt restored.
• The early breeds - Soay sheep and wild boar on the site.

When to go

April to September; the park closes for winter. It is outdoors apart from the castle and boat shelter, so weather matters. Two to three hours covers it.

What to expect

Seasonal opening only. The dwellings are modern reconstructions, not excavated remains. Outdoors on rough paths, poor in rain. Minor roads in with modest signposting.

Nearby

Quin Abbey and Knappogue Castle are close; Bunratty is south-east.

Key facts