Throughout history, any passing traveller could knock on the Castle Gate and expect to be invited in for refreshment.
In 1602, following the Battle of Kinsale, the invading English even tried to take advantage of our Irish hospitality to avoid the daunting challenge of taking the Castle by force.
As they noted, ‘…his Castle of Blarney…is one of the largest and strongest castles within the province of Munster, for it is four piles joined in one, seated upon a main rock, so that it is free from mining, the wall being eighteen feet thick and well flanked at each corner to the best advantage.’
The cunning Sir Charles Wilmot and a force of men pretended to be hunting for deer. At the height of the heat of the day, they simply knocked on the Castle Gate and asked, as was traditional, to be let in for some glasses of wine and whisky. But their homework had not been thorough enough. The doors were only opened when the Chieftain was at home – and at that very moment he was languishing in the Cork gaol, courtesy of the English.
Our usual warm welcome was unforthcoming and a few days later, the Chieftain made a daring escape. But that’s another story...