ArticleThe Naming Of Cats

…is a difficult matter - if you trust T.S. Eliot, that is. Naming castles seems to be much easier, as most of them are named after the area (for instance, Blarney Castle is located in the village of Blarney). That principle produced a lot of alliteration in the Loire Valley, where quite a few town names start with “ch” - and all of them have a castle! Considering that the French word for “castle” is “chateau”, a rather unique “ch” song echoes throughout the area - Chateau de Chambord, Chateau de Chaumont, Chateau de Chenonceau, Chateau de Chantilly… Occasional castles bear the names of their hereditary owners or the architects who built them - Baynard's Castle in London would be one such prominent example. A castle named after someone who never lived there or even visited would be an oddity - Ireland, of all places, can boast such a wonderful oddity.

King John ordered a castle to be built in Limerick because of the strategic importance of the Shannon river. Wikipedia advises that “…the castle…was built to protect the city from the Gaelic kingdoms to the West and from any rebellion by Norman lords to the East and South”. In other words, that particular castle served to command the area rather than provide safety for its inhabitants. It was a military outpost, not a home - there might have been some “captains' rooms” there but hardly any “young ladies'” ones! Almost five centuries later the castle played its part in the crucial War of Two Kings, as it became one of the main strongholds of Jacobite forces resisting the multinational army led by James' son-in-law William of Orange (among other things, the outcome of the war determined that Ireland would remain under firm English control for additional 200+ years). Fast forward several centuries, and King John's castle faced the same challenges as its counterparts in Blarney, Bunratty and other places: how to remain historical without becoming history. Built on an island, it could hardly find space for a folk park or an enchanted forest - and modern technology combined with medieval authenticity came to rescue instead.

The nature of warfare might have changed dramatically over time but medieval soldiers needed to practice, just like modern ones do. So, the castle had a large training area where soldiers would use swords, shields and helmets, bows and arrows. Human nature never changes, and every now and then medieval humans needed to unwind, just like their grand-grand-grand-sons do - and part of the training area would be temporarily converted into a playground where servicemen played hopscotch, tug-of-war or board games. Much of the equipment is still there waiting for the visitors to try their hand at.

Even before trying their hands at various medieval activities, castle visitors are encouraged to lay those hands on interactive touch-screens, quite literally. When they do, history comes… well, not exactly alive but very much animated, and in more ways than one. For instance, a very lively - and obviously proud of his status and skills - master-builder offers a three-minutes' lecture on how masons should claim their daily earnings by leaving their personal “signature” (usually, it would be a picture of the tool associated with that particular mason) on every stone they cut and placed during that day…