Irish National Heritage Park facts for kids
The Irish National Heritage Park is a special outdoor museum in Wexford, Ireland. It tells the amazing story of how people lived in Ireland a very long time ago. The park covers history from the Mesolithic period (Middle Stone Age) all the way up to the Norman Invasion in 1169. It first opened its doors to visitors in 1987.
This park has 16 different reconstructed homes and sites. You can see a Mesolithic camp, which was a simple home for early hunter-gatherers. There's also a Neolithic farmstead, showing how people lived when they started farming. You can explore a portal dolmen (an ancient tomb), a cyst grave, and a stone circle. The park also features a medieval ringfort (a circular fort), a monastic site (where monks lived), a crannóg (an island home in a lake), and even a Viking harbour. The park is huge, covering about 13.7 hectares (that's like 34 football fields!). It includes parkland, river trails, and wet forests. It's a nonprofit group, which means all the money from tickets, the restaurant, and the shop helps keep the park running.
Fun Activities and Learning
The Irish National Heritage Park offers many courses and events throughout the year. You can learn cool traditional skills like blacksmithing (working with metal), wood carving, and even stone masonry (building with stone). One of the park's main goals is to teach these old skills to new generations.
Adventures for Kids
For younger visitors, there are special activities called "The Trials of Tuan." These are fun challenges designed just for children.
Guided Tours
You can explore the park in different ways. There are guided tours led by people dressed in historical costumes. They will tell you all about the different sites. You can also use audio guides or explore on your own. The guided tour usually lasts about one and a half hours. It finishes at the reconstructed Viking harbour, which is a great place to imagine life long ago.
Digging Up History at Carrig
The newest exciting project at the park is an archaeological dig. This dig is happening at a place called Carrig. It's the site of the very first Norman fort built in Ireland. This fort is on a hill that looks over the river Slaney. The park is working with the Irish Archaeology Field School (IAFS) to dig up and study this important site. They have found parts of a circular fort, burnt wooden buildings, and later, a stone castle. A town grew around this castle and was active until the 1300s.
