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, Tipperary

Ruins at Cashel

Description of County Tipperary | Cashel | Holy Cross | St. Patrick's, Thurles | Nenagh Town Hall | Tipperary Map

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