Third Class Trip to Kilkenny

Kilkenny Adventures

We have been learning about the Normans. Our school booked a trip for us to go see a Norman Castle.

On Monday 7th April, when the bell rang, we lined up and collected our lunches.

First we walked to the Town Square and hopped on a fancy bus. The journey took about an hour.

When we arrived, we quickly ate our snack outside the castle before going in to meet our guide Nano.

She showed us around the castle which was beautiful. Our minds were blown several times by the beauty of everything she showed us.

We started off with the dry moat which was in the oldest part of the castle. We moved into the turret which had a wattle and daub ceiling. It was a small, circular room with walls 12 feet thick! We noticed the narrow slit windows called Arrow Loops.

Next we time travelled to Victorian times to explore the rest of the castle. Nano brought us through the ladies tea room, the dining room and the entrance hall before going upstairs.

The tea room had beautiful hand-painted wallpaper. The ladies would go here after dinner while the men stayed at the table talking.

The dining room was very fancy, there was a huge table and large paintings on the walls. We saw the big silver cloches used to help keep the food warm as the kitchens were so far away.

The entrance hall had lots of paintings and swords on the wall. There was also the skull of a Great Irish Elk, it was enormous! This was most people’s favourite sight. The large table was used for wakes.

Next we went up the Grand Staircase. The steps were shallow to allow the ladies to walk down in their huge dresses.

Upstairs we visited the tapestry room, the nursery, the bathroom and the King and Queen’s bedroom.

In the tapestry room we saw a chair that the Butler’s were allowed to bring back from the coronation of King Charles. It had a secret passage for the servants.

In the nursery we saw a toy boat. It was a wooden Noah’s Ark and it was the only toy the children were allowed to play with on Sundays as it was a religious toy. The children also loved the doll’s house. There was also a rocking horse, crib and a few dolls. There was even a Victorian potty!!

The king and Queen had separate bedrooms. We noticed that the Queen’s room was bigger.

Once the tour was ended we thanked Nano and then collected our bags. We enjoyed our lunch as a picnic in the park.

Soon after, we hopped back on the bus to drive to Dunmore Caves.

When we arrived we met our guide Andrei. He gave us a tour of the cave starting with the 350 steps down. As we walked down it got colder and darker. Andrei told us the temperature is always 10 degrees Celsius so in the winter you can go down to warm up and in the summer you can go down to cool down.

We tried to spot some of the six types of bats living in the cave but they were all sleeping.

Next Andrei showed us the fairy floor where the fairies dance at night-time. He also pointed out some stalagmites and stalactites. They grow at the rate of 1cm per 100 years! Our favourite was called Mr Drippy.

Andrei told us that there were two Viking skeletons found in the cave, curled up with their shields and swords. He also showed us the fool’s gold and the graffiti. There was even some ogham on the rocks.

Our favourite and most scary part of the tour was when Andrei turned off all the lights. It was pitch black and very spooky. We really understood how the Vikings felt when they visited the cave.

Finally, it was time to get back on the fancy bus and go back to school. It was a brilliant experience. We really enjoyed our Kilkenny Adventure.