Rock of Cashel
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The Rock of Cashel, also known as Cashel of the Kings, is an historic site in Ireland's province of Munster, located at Cashel, County Tipperary.The Rock of Cashel served as the traditional seat of the Kings of Munster for several hundred years prior to the Norman invasion, though little if any of the early structures survive. The majority of buildings on the current site date from the 12th and 13th centuries. Cashel is reputed to be the site of the conversion of the King of Munster by St. Patrick in the 5th century A.D. The buildings which crown the Rock of Cashel present a mass and outline of great complexity, rivalling other sites in western Europe. The complex has a character of its own, unique and native, and is one of the most remarkable collections of Celtic art and medieval architecture to be found anywhere in Europe.
[edit] Buildings on the Rock
The earliest and most lofty of the Cashel edifices is the round tower, a very perfectly preserved 28 metre (90 feet) high example, which dates from c.1100. Its entrance is 12 feet from the ground, suggesting that it was occasionally used as a refuge.
The Chapel of King Cormac, Cormac's Chapel, consecrated in 1134, is the most important building from the point of view of the modern visitor. Begun in 1127, it is a very sophisticated structure, unlike most Irish Romanesque churches which are simple in plan with isolated decorated features. The Abbot of Regensburg sent two of his carpenters to help in the work and the twin towers on either side of the junction of the nave and chancel are strongly suggestive of their Germanic influence, as this feature is otherwise unknown in Ireland. Other notable features of the building include, interior and exterior arcading, a barrel-vaulted roof, a carved tympanum over both doorways, the magnificent North Doorway and Chancel Arch. It also contains one of the best preserved Irish frescos from this time period.
The Cathedral, built between 1235 and 1270, is an aisle-less building of cruciform plan, having a central tower and terminating westwards in a massive residential castle. The Hall of the Vicars Choral was built in the fifteenth century. The vicars choral were laymen (sometimes minor canons) appointed to assist in chanting the cathedral services. At Cashel there were originally eight vicars choral with their own seal. This was later reduced to five honorary vicars choral who appointed singing-men as their deputies, a practice which continued until 1836. The restoration of the Hall was undertaken by the Office of Public Works as a project in connection with the European Architectural Heritage Year, 1975. It is now the building through which visitors enter the site.
In 1647, during the Irish Confederate Wars, Cashel was sacked by English Parliamentarian troops under Murrough O'Brien, Earl of Inchiquin. The Irish Confederate troops there were massacred, as were the Roman Catholic clergy, including Theobald Stapleton. Inchiquin's troops also looted or destroyed many important religious artifacts.
[edit] Other features
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The grounds around the buildings are home to an extensive graveyard, which includes a number of high crosses, such as those pictured. The entire plateau atop the rock, on which the buildings and graveyard lie, is walled.
