Majestically set on a dramatic outcrop of limestone in the Golden Vale, the Rock of Cashel ranks with the very best of Irish landmarks and is both a time capsule and a timeline of the twists and turns of Irish history, writes Hannah Huxley.
Nestled neatly within the craggy, weather-beaten landscape of County Tipperary is where the Rock of Cashel is perched. To a passer-by it is almost unassuming; a ruinous castle set against the misty, drizzly backdrop of the Irish countryside is nothing new to a local. Perhaps to a tourist it might be thought-provoking, but that is about the extent of it. The funny thing about living amongst ruins of the past is how oblivious people can become to the history that lives around them. The Rock of Cashel is perhaps one of the more legendary examples of just how much more there is to a ruin than meets the eye.
An ethereal piece of architectural wonder, the Rock of Cashel rises up from the grassy, green plains covered in a cloak of ancient fortifications. Geologically speaking, the Rock itself is an isolated elevation of stratified limestone which rises from the Golden Vein. The top of this mound is crowned with the ancient metropolis of ruins that have borne witness centuries of battle and political upheaval throughout Irish history.
As the story goes, the devil broke his teeth while taking a bite out of the iconic Tipperary mountain, The Devil’s Bit, and left his teeth marks in the rock. After he spat the rock out of his mouth, it shot through the air and landed many, many miles south, where it is known now as the Rock of Cashel.
The Rock now holds a cluster of some of the most impressive medieval buildings in Ireland; a round tower, a high cross, a Romanesque chapel, a Gothic Cathedral, an abbey, the Hall of the Vicars Choral and a fifteenth century tower house all reside there. The buildings that have survived are remarkable – Cormac’s Chapel contains the only surviving Romanesque frescoes in Ireland.
Constructed in an age of kings and knights, round tables and swashbuckling, the Rock and all its crumbing ruins are nothing short of breathtaking – a rugged castle with sturdy walls and ancient fortifications, all atop a grassy plain read like the opening scene of a fairytale by the Brothers Grimm.
‘Cashel’ is the anglicised version of the Irish word ‘caiseal’ which means fortress. The fortress itself has passed through quite a few hands since the year 400 AD. The Eóghanachta clan (MacCarthy’s) from Wales settled there and subsequently conquered much of Munster. The clan were associated with St. Patrick and hence came the Rock’s alternate name of St. Patrick’s Rock.
Continue reading in this week’s Ireland’s Own