ROCK OF CASHEL
From Atlas and Cyclopedia of Ireland (1900)
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Description of County Tipperary | Cashel | Holy Cross | St. Patrick's, Thurles | Nenagh Town Hall | Tipperary Map
ROCK OF CASHEL.--It has been truly said that all the ecclesiastical ruins not only of Tipperary but of all Ireland sink into insignificance compared with those that crown the far-famed "Rock of Cashel." Massive and colossal in aspect it towers above the level plain of the "Golden Vale," and presents an imposing appearance from all sides. For more than a thousand years Cashel was the seat of the kings of Munster, and its history, as Sir Walter Scott remarks, "such as Ireland may be proud of." A synod was held there in the middle of the 5th century by St. Patrick, St. Ailbe and St. Declan, when King Aengus commemorated his conversion to Christianity by erecting a church on the rock. The ruins consist of a cathedral founded in the 11th century, a round tower 90 feet high and 54 feet in circumference, Cormac's Chapel, named after the Bishop-king, a hall for the vicar's choral, built in 1421, and an Episcopal palace.
Ruins at Cashel
Description of County Tipperary | Cashel | Holy Cross | St. Patrick's, Thurles | Nenagh Town Hall | Tipperary Map
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