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From: "conaught" <>
Subject: Re: Rock of Cashel - what and where is it?
Date: Sat, 1 May 1999 09:21:30 -0700


Lenore, a chara,

The Rock of Cashel is in County Tipperary. It sits atop a hill and it is
remarkable how much of it remains. When I was in Ireland many years ago we
were able to walk up to the walls of the castle and look out on the
beautiful Tipperary countryside. The following is taken from the
Illustrated Ireland Guide, published by Borde Failte, 1972 Edition.

Cashel - Caiseal Muman (Stone Fort of Munster)

(town) pop. 2679; 100 miles Dublin;13m Thurles; 12m Tipperary Town

"Most visitors to Cashel come to view the outstanding ecclesiastical remains
on the famous Rock of Cashel which dominates the town, on the north.

The Rock

A remarkable outcrop of limestone rising 200 feet above the plain and
crowned with its magnificent group of ruins, is one of Ireland's great
historic sites.

Cashel was the seat of Munster kings from about 370 AD until 1101, when King
Murtagh O'Brien granted the Rock to the Church. St. Patrick, on visiting it
in AD 450 baptised King Aengus and his brothers. Some of the early bishops
wielded the sword as well as the crozier, and the 10th century Bishop
Olchobar defeated a force of Norse invaders in battle near Cashel. Cormac
MacCullinan, who became king about the year 896, was also a bishop (but not
of Cashel) and a poet. In 977 the great Brian Boru was crowned king of
Munster at Cashel. On its grant to the Church in 1101, the Rock was
dedicated to God, St. Patrick and St. Aibhe. Cormac's Chapel, erected by
the second and greater Cormac, king-bishop of Cashel, who reigned 1122-38
was consecrated before a great gathering of the nobles and clergy of munster
in 1134 (quite beautiful and impressive). The first cathedral was was
founded in 1169, but nothing of it now remains. In 1495, Gerald Earl of
Kildare, burned the cathedral because, as he afterwards explained to Henry
VII, he thought the archbishop was inside! Queen Elizabeth appointed the
pluralist Myler MacGrath to the see in 1571. Archbishop Dermod O'Hurley
appointed by the Pope in 1581, was martyred in Dublin three years later.

The buildings on the Rock include a 10th century round tower, Cormac's
Chapel, the Cathedral, the Hall of the Vicars Choral, and St. Patrick's
Cross, as well as some modern tombs and enclosing walls."

If you write to Bord Failte they probably have literature on the Rock of
Cahel they can send you. Any tour book about Ireland would tell of the Rock
of Cashel - a truly beautiful and magnificent part of Ireland's history.

Slan go foill,
Margaret (Mairead)

>Hello my Irish friends.
>
>An ancestor of mine bought a Hotel in Melbourne Town which he renamed
>"Rock of Cashel" during his ownership (and which reverted back to its
>original name after he left. I only know that he was from Tipperary
>(town or county, not sure), and I note there is a town called Cashel in
>Tipperary - and also in another county. So was the Rock of Cashel in
>Tipperary, and what precisely was it?
>I'd be grateful for a few tips.
>
>Best wishes
>
>Lenore Frost
>Essendon, Vic
>
>

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