Dunmore Caves

Type: Visitor Centre
Status: Completed 2001
Client: OPW

Visitor Centre at one of Ireland’s national heritage sites. Dunmore cave is a 300 million year old limestone cave located 12 miles from Kilkenny City. In 928 it was the scene of a Viking massacre, bodies, coins, weapons and artefacts have been recovered. The cave is a considerable tourist attraction. The OPW commissioned Donnelly Turpin to refurbish and enlarge an existing visitors centre, and to include spaces for interprative facilities and a restaurant. It afforded the opportunity to recharacterize the centre in its entirety and allowed it to engage more fully in the rock outcrop landscape near the mouth of the cave itself.