Kissing the Blarney Stone

Above: ~ 1870- 1880| Below: 2012

These photographs really show how the tourist experience has changed with the advent of concern about not actually killing people visiting tourist sites!

Kissing the Blarney Stone has been a popular activity for visitors to Cork for a very long time. Time was though – as the first photograph shows – they you just rocked up, climbed to the top of the castle and took your chances. Now, well, it’s a bit more controlled. And looking at the first photo that’s probably no bad thing!

Although the date printed on the older image is 1913, the picture was taken a good bit earlier, as other photographs show safety railings in place in the early 1890s. Best guess is sometime in the 1870s.

Read more about Blarney Castle here.