Trip #2: Cashel, Co. Tipperary

My friend Audrey, whom I met on the GSU walk and later hosted a delicious crepe fest, emailed a few of us and planned a trip to Cashel, in County Tipperary. I hadn't checked my email in a couple of days, so it was all a bit of a last minute thing for me, but it was a lot of fun!

4 of us met at Front Gate and headed to the bus station for the 8am train to Cashel. Holy rain, batman! It was light rain here in Dublin, but was pouring on the 3hr bus ride to Cashel. Makes for all the more beautiful hillsides, right?

After a rainy bus ride and in an effort to delay a rainy walk to the Rock, we stopped at The Bake House for coffee and tea:

Main street in Cashel.  Bake House cafe - green awning.

Their baked goods tempted us and we ordered these:

We then made the pilgrimage to the Rock, stopping briefly at St. Dominic’s Friary:

St. Dominic's Friary was founded for the Dominican friars by David O'Kelly in 1243, when the friars first came to Cashel. Fire destroyed the friary, but John Cantwell later rebuilt the friary around 1480. The friary dissolved in 1540, but the Dominicans remained a presence in the area until the 19th century.

We then headed up the hill to the Rock of Cashel!

The Rock of Cashel

The "Book of Rights" suggests that the name is derived from Cais-il, i.e. "tribute stone", because the Munster tribes paid tribute on the Rock. Here Corc, the grandfather of Aengus Mac Natfraich, erected a fort, and Cashel subsequently became the capital of Munster.

A 12th Century Cathedral stood on the Rock on the site of a later, larger building which was begun in the early 13th Century.  By the 14th Century this Cathedral had reached its present size with its fine choir and central tower.  The Cathedral was damaged many times and been restored.  It was taken over by the Commission of Public Works in 1869.  Notable restoration has been done on the Vicars Choral in 1975.

The Rock of Cashel was a fortress from early times and was known from 370 A.D. as “Cashel of the Kings” – it was the seat of Eoganacht, the overkings of Munster. St. Patrick visited the Rock about 450 A.D. and baptized the reigning Munster king. According to legend, during the baptism, St. Patrick accidentally stabbed the King’s foot with his crozier. The King believed this was part of the ceremony and remained silent about the stabbing incident.

St. Patrick's Cathedral

In the 10th C., the Dal Cais ousted the Eoghanacht from the Cashel Kingship and in 978 Brian Boru succeeded his brother to the throne. In 1169, King Donhnall Mor O'Briain built a new cathedral on the rock. Nothing remains of this building, but it is believed to have been situated where the existing cathedral stands today. It is believed that work started on the present cathedral in the 13th C.; however, this is based on architectural evidence as no official records have survived.

The site became completely ecclesiastical in 1101 and the earliest structure, The Round Tower, could date to around this time.

In 1647, an atrocity occurred on the rock - 20 of the ecclesiastical order were suffocated when Lord Inchiquin's soldiers attacked the fortress and set a fire in the vault. According to records a mass killing took place on the Rock following this. Town residents left the city gates open and took refuge on the Rock from Inchquinn's soldiers. More than 800 people were killed during the attack, which continued until Lord Inchquinn eventually arrived and ended it. Archbishop Bolton made some repairs in 1730, but in 1748 it was decided to transfer the cathedral status from the Rock to St. John's Cathedral (which we visited later, see photos below). 

The most recent upset to the buildings occurred in 1847 when part of the cathedral fell during a storm. The buildings on the Rock were among the first to be placed under the protection of the Commission of Public Works following the disestablishment of the Church of Ireland in 1969. Conservation work was carried out in 1874, 1875. Renovations to the Hall of the Vicar's Choral were started in 1975 as part of Ireland's contribution to the European Architectural Heritage Year. A new roof was erected on the Hall to develop it as a tourist centre.

How to repair a 12th C. cathedral

This wall was a raven haven!  Ravens were sitting in nearly every little inlet.
 

Cistin = kitchen in Gaelic

This is in the Hall of Vicars, which was completely restored in the 60s. 

The kitchen is equipped with butter churns and 3-legged stools. 

 This area of the Rock was the clergy's main home.

Cormac's Chapel

This was my favorite part of the Rock.  Consecrated in 1134, it is said to be one of the most remarkable buildings in Ireland.

The chapel now has 2 doors, each with decorated tympanum - here is one of them:

This tympanum depicts a centaur attacking a lion.

The chapel has paired towers.  The south tower gives access to a stone roofed chamber above the vaulted ground floor. Remains of frescoes can be seen in the chancel, althouh as you can see from these photos, the paintings are suffering the impact of microbiological growths, thus damaging the plaster, causing lift and discoloration of the layers. The paintings are treated with UV light to destroy the micro-organisms and inhibit future growth. During UV treatment, the chapel is closed to the public...thankfully, it was not closed when we visited!

The wall paintings in the chancel at Cormac's Chapel are the earliest and most important of their type in Ireland. There are two phases of painting. The earliest at c. 1134 is thought to be contemporary with the building of the chapel and consists of simple masonry pattern, fragments of which are now just visible on the lower part of the south wall. The later painting of c. 1160-70 shows narrative scenes, including the Nativity, and is visible on the vaults and upper parts of the walls. Both are technically and artistically sophisticated and are likely to have been painted by artists brought in from England or Northern France. However, like most religious wall paintings, they were considered idolatrous at the time of the Reformation and were painted out with limewash.

Main conservation work began on the chapel only ~1980s. This involved removing many layers of limewash that covered the paint layer. Over centuries of neglect, large parts of the paintings had been lost and fragments visible today are all that survived.

Due to fluctuating levels in humidity, salts in the paintings go through continual cycles of crystallisation and dissolution, disrupting the paint and plaster layers, causing them to powder away. High humidity also results in micro-organism growth, thus you see the disfiguring green growth and physical damage. Current conservation efforts include implementing a rainwater disposal system as well as a way to manage the water vapor and humidity.

This sarcophagus is said to have held Cormac's body.

The snake carvings in a figure 8 depict eternity or infinity.

The Undercroft

The undercroft of the Hall of Vicars Choral is essentially a museum. 

spur, crozier, bell, chalice

in the background (to the right) you can see an arcaded tomb slab. 

This one is a tomb slab from Athassel Abbey, possibly Walter de burgo.

(Athassel Abbey is 4 miles from Cashel, in a town called Golden.)

bronze age axes

in the background, you see medieval coats of arms on the wall

Who could fit through here?!

Our Reward after Rain:  A Beautiful Rainbow over the Green Countryside

As the rainbow faded in and out of clarity, it took each of us several shots to get the right one! 

Tipperary Heritage Way

My favorite part of the trip:  this beautiful walk down "Tipperary Heritage Way".  This was a beautiful tree-lined walk along the side of the Rock, down a hill as we walked toward the Abbey ruins below. 

Isn't it a beautiful path? 

I love these two photos - I couldn't pick which was my fave, so I decided to post both.

The top one shows more vibrant colors, but I liked the bottom one with the Abbey in the distance.

Which one do you like better?

We decided to take a slight shortcut/detour and attempt to make friends with the sheep on the hillside.  They weren't really interested in becoming our friends, but they did leave us several "treasures" along the way.  For my nephews who would surely be amazed by and get a good giggle from these treasures, I took several photos, but I won't post them here :)

Sheep and a faint rainbow

At the bottom of the hill, we walked along toward the road to the Abbey ruins.  We came across several directional pointers, including one for "O'Brien's Cashel Lodge" - it was meant to be.

and yes, indeed you read the sign above correctly:

Hore Abbey.

(my 2 dear brothers, you can stop giggling now :)

O'Brien's Cashel Lodge, along with our friend who greeted us and followed us into the Abbey. 

He was really cute, but definitely in need of a bath.

Hore Abbey

Although Hore Abbey was of the Benedictine order, in 1272 Archbishop David McCarvill of Cashel dispossessed the Benedictines of their house and lands after he dreamed that the monks tried to kill him. He brought the Cistercians from the important monastery at Mellifont (Co. Louth) to found a new Cistercian Abbey and he himself took the habit of that order.

Hore Abbey is a limestone building, likely built by the same masons who worked on the Rock. The church consists of a nave, chancel and two transepts, which originally each had two chapels. The central tower was added in the 15th century. In 1541 it was dissolved during the reign of King Henry VIII. Hore Abbey was the last Cistercian foundation in Ireland.

pretty view of Rock of Cashel from Hore Abbey

After the Abbey, we enjoyed a nice walk back toward town, walked back along the rest of Tipperary Heritage Way, then stopped in the Rock of Cashel store for a few touristy necessities:  postcards!

                                      

Along the way, we were most puzzled by this creature:

Sheep or Cow?

I call him The ShOw.

Clearly a cow's body, let most definitely a sheep's head.

Ok, maybe not most definitely, but you have to admit it looks sheep-like.

What do you think?

We then walked through the little town and stopped for lunch at Oasis Restaurant, a small Italian place not far from the bus stop. 

                                          

I ordered the seafood chowder and a vegetable wrap.  I could have stuck with just the chowder as it was quite filling with the yummy brown bread, but both dishes were quite yummy:

Irish butter on fresh brown bread - the best ever.

After lunch we explored some side streets and enjoyed seeing the Cashel Town Walls:

                                      

and the lovely gardens found St. John the Baptist Cathedral (Church of Ireland), along with more sheep; this group of sheep was more approachable than the group on the Rock. 

pretty house outside the Cathedral

I tried to feed him grass but he turned down my offering.

After this, we headed back through town and eventually hopped on the bus home, whereupon I set in for a nice comfy nap.

Cashel was quite lovely.  A rainy day threatened us, but turned into a gorgeous sunny day.  I am still curious where they make the delicious Cashel Blue cheese, so perhaps one day I will go back there.