Cashel

Cashel

The Rock of Cashel is an icon of Ireland's history and is home to the most impressive collection of medieval buildings in the country. It stands on a dramatic limestone outcrop in Golden Vale. The monuments include a round tower, a high cross, a Romanesque chapel, a Gothic cathedral, an abbey, a Choral and a fifteenth-century Tower House. The well-preserved round tower, 28 meters high, dating from around 1100, is the oldest and tallest of the buildings. Due to the shallow foundations typical of round towers, its entrance is 3.7 meters above the ground. The dry-stone method was used to build the tower. Legend has it that the Rock of Cashel came from the Devil's Bit, a mountain 30 km north of Cashel, when St. Patrick banished Satan from the cave and the rock landed in Cashel. Cashel was supposedly the site of St. Patrick's conversion in the 5th century of the King of Munster. For several hundred years before the Norman invasion, the Rock of Cashel was the traditional seat of the Kings of Munster. The King of Munster, Muirchertach Ua Briain, gifted his fortress on the rock to the Church in 1101. This picturesque complex has a unique character and represents one of the most outstanding examples of Celtic art and medieval architecture. Unfortunately, only a few remains of the early structures have survived; the largest part of the buildings on the current site date back to the 12th and 13th centuries. The entire plateau on which the buildings and the cemetery are located is surrounded by walls.