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The sturdy 15th-century stronghold of the O’Briens, Earls of Thomond, has become the top venue for mock medieval banquets and other entertainment. The five-storey structure was fully restored by Viscount Gort in 1954. Behind the castle, Bunratty Folk Park gives insight into traditional rural culture.

This quiet country town is dominated by the awesome Rock of Cashel, topped by stone structures known in pre-Christian times as Cashel of Kings (from Gaelic caiseal , a stone fortress). Sensing the rising power of the church, in 1101 the Kings of Munster redefined themselves as a dynasty of royal archbishops and built great ecclesiastical buildings. Most were destroyed by the English in 1647, but highlights of what survives are 12th-century Cormac’s Chapel, the earliest Romanesque church in Ireland; the roofless 13th-century cathedral; and the 15th-century Vicars’ Choral, the residential quarters of the cathedral cantors.

This was the first example of Palladianism to be constructed in Ireland (1722–32) and remains the largest and most significant of its kind in the country. Architects Alessandro Galilei and Sir Edward Lovett Pearce built the house for William Conolly, the Speaker of the Irish Parliament. The fine interiors were commissioned in the second half of the 18th century by Lady Louisa Lennox, the wife of Conolly’s great-nephew Tom, who took up residence here in 1758. The house remained in the family until 1965 and, after a period of ownership by the Georgian Society, is now run by the state.

One of the city’s two great cathedrals, illustrating the importance religion has always played in Dublin life, Christ Church was the first to be built, in 1038. Although nothing of the original wooden church now stands, there are plenty of beautiful medieval features and decorations to appreciate, including floor tiles and stone carvings. The “Treasures of Christ Church” exhibition, housed in the 12th-century crypt, includes a gilt plate donated by William III in 1697.

Thomas Cooley built this stately building between 1769 and 1779. He had won the commission as a result of a competition, beating his better-known contemporary James Gandon who designed the Four Courts and Custom House. Cooley made a fine job of City Hall, which was originally built as the city’s Royal Exchange. City bureaucrats latterly used it for various purposes but, having undergone extensive restoration, it is now open to the public. There is an excellent permanent exhibition in the reconstructed vaults entitled “The Story of the Capital”, covering 1,000 years of Dublin’s fascinating history.