Cashel Town in the 1830s

The town is situated on the mail coach road from Dublin to Cork, about two miles from the river Suir, in a fine open country; it consists of one principal street, from which several others diverge irregularly, and contains 1059 houses. The inhabitants are very inadequately supplied with water, partly by pumps, which in summer afford only a scanty supply of hard water unfit for many culinary and domestic purposes, and partly with soft water conveyed by pipes from a distance of two miles. A small stream from the same source was brought into the town some years since, through the exertions of Archdeacon Cotton, at an expense of above £200, which was defrayed by subscription and an annual grant of £50 from the grand jury of the county, under the authority of an act of parliament called Lee's Act; but in a very short time it proved useless. Subsequently, W. B. Upton, Esq., an inhabitant, suggested a plan for bringing such a supply from a distance of 17 miles as would admit of the passage of boats also, by which turf from the bog of Allen, about 4 ½ miles distant, and coal from the.

Killenaule collieries, about 14 miles distant, might be conveyed to the town: the estimated cost was £9000, to advance which sum an application was made to Government, but the plan failed in obtaining the sanction of Government, and no steps have been since taken towards accomplishing so desirable an object. The archbishop's palace was formerly situated at Cammas, about two miles distant: the present, which stands within the city and was erected about the middle of the last century, is a large and well-built mansion, with extensive gardens attached, from which the ruins of the cathedral on the rock appear strikingly grand and conspicuous.

Attached to the palace is a building in which is deposited a library of nearly 9000 volumes, chiefly bequeathed by Archbishop Bolton in 1741, for the use of the clergy of the diocese, and preserved by the archbishop, but there is no special fund for its support; some of the clergy have of late contributed to its augmentation by subscriptions for the purchase of a few valuable modern works. The infantry barracks are a handsome range of building, occupying three sides of a quadrangle, and are adapted to the accommodation of one field officer, six other officers, and 146 non-commissioned officers and privates, with stabling for three horses and an hospital for 21 patients. The markets are on Wednesday and Saturday: the market-house, situated in the centre of the Main-street, is not now open for the use of the public, except for the purpose of weighing butter and other articles. Fairs are held on March 26th and Aug. 7th; and in 1826 a grant of a fair on the third Tuesday in every month was made to Richard Pennefather, Esq., with a court of pie-poudre. This is the residence of the chief magistrate of police (Capt. Nangle), and a chief constabulary police station for the district.

The town, as previously noticed, was erected into a borough about 1216, by Archbishop Donat, who gave burgage tenements to the burgesses, and is said to have also conferred on them the same privileges as were enjoyed by the burgesses of Bristol, reserving to the see a yearly rent of 12d. out of each burgage. Archbishop Marian, in 1230, granted the town to the provost and twelve burgesses, except only the shambles, then situated behind the present shambles, and the great bakehouse in John-Street, subsequently called Cunningham's Hall: he also granted them free pasture in all his lands (except meadows, corn, and manors), and empowered them to hold a hundred court and a court baron for hearing and determining pleas, reserving out of these grants only small chief-rents. Richard II., in 1378, confirmed all the privileges of the corporation; and other charters, chiefly confirmatory, were granted by Archbishop Roland in 1557, and by Queen Elizabeth, in reward of their dutiful conduct, in 1584. Charles I., in 1637, granted a new charter, ordaining that the town or borough should be called the "City of Cashel;" and two years after, another, which is now the governing charter. James II. seized the franchises into his own hands, pursuant to a decree of the exchequer, and subsequently granted a charter which is now considered void: their ancient rights and privileges were restored to the corporation by King William, as before stated. In the "New Rules" of the 25th of Charles II., for regulating corporations in Ireland, it was ordained that the appointment of the mayor, recorder, and town-clerk should be subject to the approbation of the lord-lieutenant and privy council.