ROCK OF CASHEL
St Patrick’s Rock Near Tipperary
Approaching from afar the Rock of Cashel appears like a impregnable
mystical fortress city, resting atop its singular hill like a sentinel,
almost an
island of land. Majestic and foreboding at the same time - a fortified
medieval monastic city behind great walls rather than a castle, with most
of its ruined buildings from the 12th and 13th Century when the fortress
was granted to the Catholic church. The site of Cashel was the traditional
seat of the Kings of Munster in Ireland since the 5th Century when St Patrick
converted King Aenghus to Christianity, given it the name of St Patrick’s
Rock. Brian Boru was also crowned King of Ireland on this spot 500 years
later in the 11th Century. You can see why this was a prime site for the
seat of medieval power when standing at the foot of the great stones, the
view from the Rock of Cashel looks out on all sides over miles of green
fields of grazing sheep.
The buildings at the Rock of Cashel consist of the well preserved round
tower, the earliest structure from 1100. The Romanesque royal chapel of
King Cormac III of Munster, completed in 1134, with its twin towers and
barrel vaulted roof and a well preserved 12th Century Irish fresco. The
Cathedral at Cashel is the largest structure completed, in 1270, now roofless,
with the sky showing through the great stone walls. The cathedral is connected
to the residential quarters of the Bishops, with the Vicars Choral Hall
added in the 15th Century. The Rock of Cashel was sacked and much of the
complex destroyed by Cromwell’s Parliamentary forces in 1647, when
the Irish confederate troops defending the rock and all the Catholic priests
were massacred, and many of its early religious artifacts looted.
Aside from the Rock of Cashel, the town of Cashel has a quarter of Georgian
townhouses with the Bolton Library housed in the Chapter House of the Cathedral
Church of St. Patrick's Rock, containing one of the best antiquarian book
collections outside of Dublin (see Trinity
Library Book of Kells), assembled
by Theophilis Bolton, the Archbishop of Cashel from 1730 to 1744, including
works by Dante, Swift, Calvin, and Machiavelli, and the smallest book in
Ireland. At the base of the Rock of Cashel, Brú Ború is a
cultural historical village, celebrating native Irish music, song, dance
and theatre, with a genealogy center for ancestry research. The ‘Sounds
of History’ is an underground sonic journey through the story of
Ireland from ancient times to the present day.
Starting
from the castle rock, take a walk on the Tipperary Heritage Trail to two
nearby abbey ruins, also destroyed in the English reformation. Hore
Abbey, sometimes known as St.Mary's, a ruined Cistercian monastery previously
belonging to the Benedictines, but given over to the more powerful order
in 1270 (see Jerpoint
Abbey), and Dominic's Abbey to the southeast of the Rock of Cashel, founded
in 1243 by Dominican friar David McKelly, later Archbishop
of Cashel who is buried in the Chapel of the Apostles within the walls
of “The Rock”.
Visiting the Rock of Cashel
Cashel in Tipperary County is one of the most visited tourist destinations in southwest Ireland, two hours from Dublin via the M8 motorway, about an hour from Limerick or Cork. Admission for adults is €5.30, students €2.10 and a family ticket of €11.50. Opening hours vary depending on season, closing at 7pm in summer and 5:30pm most of the rest of the year, but last entrance is 45 minutes before closing. © Bargain Travel Europe
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SEE ALSO:
ST
DECLAN’S WAY - ARDMORE
ABBEY
HOTEL ROSCOMMON
DRIVING
IRELAND'S SCENIC ROADS
IRISH NATIONAL STUD - THOROUGHBREDS & GARDENS
HIDDEN KERRY WALKING TOURS DEAL
SAINT PATRICK'S TRAIL NORTHERN IRELAND
