Schooltour to a courtyard?

bonerm

I just had a flashback that I was hoping someone could help me with.

I remember twice going on school tour what I could only describe as a "courtyard". Imagine a big cobbledyard surrounded by buildings with lots of oldstyle grey bricks and heavy wooden doors. A building like something that you'd probably see in some sort of Thomas Hardy novel.

The place had a basic sort of restaurant where we were served lunch and a small giftshop where I remember buy a strange sort of 3-armed frisbee ... but that's neigther here nor there. I can't even remember what the attraction of the place was. All else I remember is there was that there was a big green field beside the yard and we had a game of football out there.

Sorry for the vagueness of this post but I don't even know the correct name for the type of setting I'm trying to describe. Maybe it was a farmyard but I have no memory of there being animals there. Basically a big square open area surrounded by buildings that must have been 100s of years old? Does this ring a bell with anyone from one of their own school tours.

Did anyone else ever go on a school tour that might have matched this description? I don't know where the place was except that I would have gone to it in around 1989-90 and I was travelling from Swords so I can't imagine it was too far from that starting point? I'm guessing if it was as old then as it looks then it's prob still around today. TBH I'm not expecting much respone to this due to the vagueness but I'm just dying to find out what this place was and will be eternally grateful to anyone who can help me.

xzanti

Wasn't Kilmainham Gaol was it?

bonerm

Hi Xzanti. Thanks for the reply but no that's not it. Right idea tho with the wooden doors and grey brick walls tho. I'm guessin it wasn't in the vicinity of Dublin city either ... but I could be wrong about that too as I was just a kid.

If it's any help I think the place was all single storey in height so not as big as somewhere like the Goal.

Overature

what a sucky school trip you had

bonerm

Tell me about it! So boring that I can't even remember what it was anymore.

Still, would like to know what this place was if it rings a bell for anyone?

Morlar

bonerm wrote: »

... what I could only describe as a "courtyard". Imagine a big cobbledyard surrounded by buildings with lots of oldstyle grey bricks and heavy wooden doors. A building like something that you'd probably see in some sort of Thomas Hardy novel.

The place had a basic sort of restaurant where we were served lunch and a small giftshop where I remember buy a strange sort of 3-armed frisbee ... .

That wouldn't be Dublin castle by any chance ? It has the courtyard surrounded by low buildings, the giftshop and restaurant also a green area out beside the chester beatty. There is a lot of stuff there schoolkids would miss like the garda museum, customs museum etc etc.

bonerm

Nope nothing as grand as Dublin castle. Actually I'm starting to think courtyard was the wrong word to use. Perhaps, some sort of grand farmyard? I've tried google images but I can't really find anything close to what this place looked like.

Was there any stately farms in Ireland that have were turned into tourist attractions in the 80s perhaps? This place had the vibe that maybe some rich landowner owned it way back when. Defo had the vibe that it was someones private residence back in the day.

Lex_Diamonds

Funnily enough I have almost the very same memory, of a courtyard type area. I also remember converted stable type buildings, although that could be a red herring. When you refer to "funny three armed frisbees", you're not perchance misremembering a St. Bridgets Cross are you? Not being smart, but I remember most of my school trips somehow involving St. Bridgets Crosses in a gift shop...

That was no help! Good luck though.:D

bonerm

Lex_Diamonds wrote: »

Funnily enough I have almost the very same memory, of a courtyard type area. I also remember converted stable type buildings, although that could be a red herring. When you refer to "funny three armed frisbees", you're not perchance misremembering a St. Bridgets Cross are you? Not being smart, but I remember most of my school trips somehow involving St. Bridgets Crosses in a gift shop...

That was no help! Good luck though.:D

Haha , no I'm not that much of a heathen to not know a Brigids Cross.

I think they're called "flyers"/"flying discs" . The frisbees looked something like this.
http://www.promo-wholesale.com/china/Flying-Discs/2/Three-Armed-Flyer-82232.htm
except that the there was no hollow areas and if you can imagine the body of a robot/transformer style character with his arms outstretched was drawn onto the surface.

bonerm

Check out this clip from 3:40 onwards.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yW32S9lV838&feature=related

Now that's the kind of place it resembled (tho obviously with diff layout - just trying to give you an idea of the walls , ground etc).

uch

Royal Hospital Kilmainham

Lex_Diamonds

Love that vid: "Was brought up a Hay-Trusser and Hay is what I understand best!"

The type of architecture would suggest some kind of church/castle to me all right. Of those, there are many which could fit the bill (waterford castle, kilkenny castle, malahide castle, etc etc). Also many of those have yards, with fields beside them for playing football.

Those flyers are definitely festering in the recesses of my mind, however I thought they came with cereals or something....

Back to square 1 we go!

bonerm

uch wrote: »

Royal Hospital Kilmainham

Hi, no that place looks too grand to be what I'm talking about. Guessing now it must have been some sort of big farmyard?

Lex_Diamonds

http://www.coolattinlodge.com/

bonerm

Lex_Diamonds wrote: »

http://www.coolattinlodge.com/

Now that's definitely close to the sort of building I'm thinking of! Tho the one I was at didn't seem as big or fancy and it didn't have a grassy area in the centre. Whatever it was tho I can't imagine it was as far away as wicklow. We went there on a coach from swords,dublin it probably would have had to had been within an hours coachride of swords?

Is there many of these sort of buildings around the country these days? Am I basically looking for a needle in a haystack

Lex_Diamonds

bonerm wrote: »

Is there many of these sort of buildings around the country these days? Am I basically looking for a needle in a haystack

I would have thought so yeah.

Seriously though, just keep at it with Google image search. "Historic farms" with restricted search to Ireland is what I used to get that hit.

gipi

Ardgillan Castle? (would have been a short bus trip from Swords!) Or Russborough House near Blessington?

bonerm

I'm starting to think it might be the courtyard at Malahide Castle? I don't suppose anyone here ever went on a school tour to that place?

http://www.bing.com/maps/default.aspx?v=2&cp=sx6qvkggks3c&lvl=19.17891881824971&dir=175.54197960816384&sty=o&sp=Point.sx6q7fggkmrh_Malahide%20Castle____

Mitch Buchannon

I went to school in Swords and we had a tour to Malahide Castle. Went to see the model railway, did some orienteering etc. Happy Times

Pittybitty

Sounds like Collins Barracks to me - i went there on a school tour as well, and thats what i can remember of it!

bonerm

Mitch Buchannon wrote: »

I went to school in Swords and we had a tour to Malahide Castle. Went to see the model railway, did some orienteering etc. Happy Times

Did you go into a forested area with noteably sloped land for the orienteering? I seem to remember wandering around in a forest for some reason and lots of uphills etc downhills etc.

don't suppose you churned butter and milled flour in whatever this place was? now that I've read your OP I remember something like that. I think it might have been some sort of little village where the staff dressed as they would have in the "olden days"

bonerm

Deleted User wrote: »

don't suppose you churned butter and milled flour in whatever this place was? now that I've read your OP I remember something like that. I think it might have been some sort of little village where the staff dressed as they would have in the "olden days"

Nope, no butter and no olden days uniforms.

The more I think about it the courtyard must have been the starting point for something else we were there to see/do, rather than the main attraction itself. The courtyard was definitely the first place we saw when we arrived on the coach however.

bonerm

bonerm wrote: »

Nope, no butter and no olden days uniforms.

well damn you for making me look stoopid

scopper

This reminds me of a similar trip I had myself - very much so. From memory it was a fairly open place and the main building served some educational purpose (I think about life in Ireland way back when). I know this is real vague but it sparked a memory for me. I am sure it was not in Dublin and had nothing to do with a castle or the main attractions in Dublin.

WindSock

I was going to say Malahide Castle too. Maybe Newbridge House?

http://www.fingalcoco.ie/CommunityRecreationandAmenitiesDepartment/Parks/ParksHeritageProperties/NewbridgeHouse/

http://www.newbridgehouseandfarm.com/joomla/

Milly33

There wasnt a red stairs outside attached to one of the walls was there

Mitch Buchannon

bonerm wrote: »

Did you go into a forested area with noteably sloped land for the orienteering? I seem to remember wandering around in a forest for some reason and lots of uphills etc downhills etc.

I cant really remember the sloped land but we ran around the forest when we were orienteering.

bonerm

I've decided it must have been malahide castle. Too many things just fall into place. Might take a trip up there sometime to see if it rings any bells.

Thanks everyone who decided to play!

Ann22

Bonerm it sounds pretty much like Oldbridge house in Drogheda. We were there during the summer. You can't see from the picture but there's a courtyard attached to the left of the main building behind a gate and a huge field in front. The courtyard is surrounded by old buildings and contains replicas of old weaponry used in the Battle of the Boyne. Inside the main building there are waxwork models of soldiers and a video show. There is a cafe as well. It sounds like what you describe. http://www.battleoftheboyne.ie/

Fittle

It does sound like malahide castle to me....

Are you in touch with any old school pals OP, who might remember it?

I am, and am often amazed at their memories of school tours - I have a very bad memory but some could go into detail of school tours in 5th class in the late 70s (we had a recent school reunion:))

One person recalled me getting a nose bleed, at the age of 10, and the teacher insisting I lie in the aisle of the bus for the whole duration of the school bus trip from dublin to bunratty castle:eek:. Can you imagine a 10yr old telling their folks that, in this day and age:eek:. I have a vague memory of it, but she remembered so much of the detail.

Anyway OP, like I said, sounds like malahide castle but look up old pals on FB and check it with them too.