It’s next to impossible to take a picture in or around the town
of Cashel without the Rock photo-bombing into the background (the Rock in
question being the 60-metre high mound of limestone covered in monastic buildings
and not ex-pro wrestler and film actor Dwayne Johnson).
And while there are plenty of other alluring things to Cashel,
such as its fortified townhouses, beautiful Georgian cathedral, spacious central
plaza, intriguing Bolton library and charming Victorian town centre, it is the Rock
that is the real draw to this south Tipperary town.
The history of the Rock is quite interesting, having apparently
started life as part of a cave in which Satan was squatting at the nearby Devil’s
Bit. Legend has it that the Rock ended up being cast out by accident at the same
time St Patrick was evicting the Dark One for rent arrears. Landing at its present
spot in Cashel, it soon became the traditional seat of the kings of Munster before
changing hands in 1101 when the Church took over.
Their tenure saw the construction of so many wonderful buildings
on top of it that it soon became one of the finest examples of medieval architecture
in Europe. Now, while there may have been some medieval architectural traditionalists
who thought building a cathedral beside a chapel beside a 28-metre-tall round tower,
not to mention the castle, might have been a bit OTT, several hundred years later
it seems to have worked. For when the Rock of Cashel is not half-covered with scaffolding,
it is one of the most stunning tourist sites in the country, perched high above
the town where it commands spectacular views over the surrounding Tipperary countryside.
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