Bed and Breakfasts in Cashel, County Tipperary
Town and Country Homes Association represent over 1000 quality approved Bed and Breakfast accommodations in every location in Ireland including Cashel in Tipperary. Our Cashel B&B's offer comfort and value for money and you can be guaranteed of a warm welcome and kind hospitality when staying in Town and Country Homes accommodation in Cashel, Tipperary. Whether you wish to stay in town or in the country, we have a bed and breakfast to suit you in Cashel, Tipperary.
Click here to Book a B&B in Cashel
Cashel, County Tipperary
Cashel (Irish: Caiseal Mumhan, meaning Stone Fortress of Munster) is a town in County Tipperary, in the southern midlands of Ireland, which is also the episcopal see of a Roman Catholic archbishopric (though the cathedral is in Thurles) and of an Anglican bishop (who is also bishop of Ossory and as such resides in Kilkenny). Population 11,400. The town is just off the N8 route from Dublin to Cork. Cashel is particularly renowned for the Rock of Cashel, a site hosting a ruined church and fortifications, formerly the seat of the Irish kings of Munster.
History
The Rock of Cashel, to which the town below owes its origin, is an isolated elevation of stratified limestone, rising abruptly from a broad and fertile plain, called the Golden Vale. The top of this eminence is crowned by a group of remarkable ruins. This ancient metropolis has lost its importance and of its population fell under 3,000. Originally known as Fairy Hill, or Sid-Druim, the "Rock" was, in pagan times, the dun, or castle, of the ancient Eoghnacht Chiefs of Munster. In Gaelic Caiseal denotes a circular stone fort and is the name of other places in Ireland. 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. Like Tara and Armagh it was a celebrated court, and at the time of St. Patrick claimed supremacy over all the royal duns of the province, when Aengus ruled as King of Cashel.
In the 4th century, the Eóganachta dynasty founded their capital on and around the rock. In the times following, the kings of Munster reigned here. Saint Patrick is believed to have baptized Cashel's third king, Aengus, though it is more likely to have been Palladius. In 977 the Dál gCais usurper, Brian Boru, was crowned here as the first non-Eóghanacht king of Cashel and Munster in over five hundred years. In 1101 his great-grandson, King Muircheartach Ua Briain, gave the place to the bishop of Limerick, which also denied it forever to the MacCarthys, the senior branch of the Eóganachta. The bishops had a very famous school in Cashel and sent priests all over the continent, especially to Regensburg in Germany, where they had their own monastery, called Scots Monastery. At the Synod of Cashel in 1172 the Irish bishops agreed to the lordship of Henry II of England over Ireland, in line with the policy of Pope Alexander III.
The Rock of Cashel
The Rock of Cashel is now one of Ireland's most popular tourist sites. The town has many other interesting attractions, including the GPA Bolton Library (which houses many books found nowhere else in the world).The Heritage Centre & Tourist Office on Main Street (admission free) displays a model of Cashel in the 1640s and a multimedia presentation in several languages, and sells Tipperary crafts. The Rock of Cashel (Irish: Carraig Phadraig), also known as Cashel of the Kings and St. Patrick's Rock , is a 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 few remnants 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.
Places of Interest
The Charters granted by the kings Charles II Stuart (1663) and James II Stuart (1687) are on display in the Heritage Centre.
Walking is the best way to discover the Heritage Town of Cashel, the Georgian St. John's Cathedral (which replaced that on the Rock in the eighteenth century) and its adjacent Bolton Library, city walls, and the former Deanery or archbishop's palace which is now a leading hotel. Town centre car parking off Main Street.
Cashel is also famous for its blue cheese, although this is are actually made in Fethard, a village some 16 km (10 mi) from Cashel.
Cashel is home to the Museum of Rural Life.
Click here to Book a B&B in Cashel
Bed and Breakfast Cashel, Rock of Cashel Accommodation, B&B Cashel, Tipperary Bed and Breakfast.
Other Bed and Breakfast Accommodation in Tipperary
