A 35-acre open-air museum at Ferrycarrig where 16 full-scale reconstructions trace 9,000 years of life in Ireland, from a Stone Age farmstead to a Viking boatyard and a Norman castle.
The park is an outdoor museum of 16 sites, each built with the materials and skills of its period: Middle Stone Age campsite, New Stone Age farmstead, megalithic tomb, stone circle, ringfort, early Christian monastery, water mill, fulacht fiadh, crannóg, Viking boatyard, Norman castle and round tower. It sits on 35 acres of hillside, estuary, woodland and riverbank, and the site includes the remains of the first Anglo-Norman fortification in Ireland.
Guides in medieval dress run three separate tours covering the pre-historic, early Christian and invasion eras. Pre-Historic Ireland runs at 9:45, 12:30 and 15:30, Early Christian Ireland at 10:30, 13:15 and 16:15, and Age of Invasion at 11:30 and 14:30; tour times are subject to change.
The Falconry Centre on the Hill of Carrig houses owls, hawks, falcons and macaws, with master falconer Jim O'Connor. The 60-minute session costs €55 per person, runs for 2-8 people, and must be booked at least a week in advance.
A one-hour guided experience set in the Royal House of the Crannog where visitors dress in a Viking tunic, learn Viking customs, strike a coin to keep and march to the boatyard for a photo. €55 per person, 2-8 people.
The restaurant and café in the Visitor Centre has indoor and outdoor seating overlooking the crannóg, serving a hearty breakfast, lunchtime meals and home-baked cakes. Picnic tables sit at the front of the building, and the park is a Leave No Trace facility.
Paths and trails are kept as close to their natural state as possible, so expect uneven, unpaved surfaces and care around low dwellings, ringfort stairways and steps. Most visitors spend 90 minutes to two hours here. Service animals and pet dogs are welcome, with water bowls provided and dogs allowed on the café terrace but not inside the café or Falconry Centre.
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