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| The Rock of Cashel |
Armchair Adventures
published July 22, 2012
by Paul Sullivan
To the Coast by Way of The Rock
So many
things in Ireland
go by more than one name. The Rock of Cashel, for instance. It suggests, well,
some special sort of rock, wouldn't you think?
But what if
your map should call it St. Patrick's Rock or The Fortress Rock at Cashel?
Well it is
all those things and more. What it is, has to be any Hollywood
set designer's doped dream of what an ancient castle or fortress must be.
Son Tim and
I drove away from Kilkenny, Ireland,
thinking we couldn't find a more spectacular medieval castle than the big one
looming over the River Nore there.
Cashel
changed our minds.
Dominating
the skyline of the town of Cashel,
The Rock, as guidebooks often call it, is a complex of thousand-year old
buildings clinging to a huge limestone upthrust jutting up from a lovely green grass
plain. It fairly defines the phrase, medieval fortress castle-my name for it.
And it
isn't my imagination that those fields are the stuff of dreams and song. These
are the plains of Tipperary, made
famous in a World War I song my mom and dad sang me as a child.
Little
wonder there are so many photos. This is the place you bought that expensive
camera for.
We parked
in the lot below, craned up at the Rock, shot the obligatory photos and trudged
up the hill, an easy walk, incidentally, despite guidebook descriptions.
Many of
these Irish historic sites today, including The Rock and Kilkenny
Castle, are owned and cared for by
the government-the equivalent of our national historic parks.
And as at
our own heritage sites, you can expect guides and an introductory video,
usually quite well done.
Before
entering the castle, we looked for and spotted another historic site, one that
I had read was nearby. It is the ruins of the Hore Abbey-graceful, peaceful
ruins, ignored by the crowds, in a field about a third of a mile away. I wish
now that we had taken time to visit there. The walk alone would have been worth
it.
From a
distance, The Rock appears to be a single, quite old stone structure. That is
deceiving. While the assorted structures are jammed together atop their
prominence, there is actually the Cormac Chapel, the Round
Tower, the Hall of the Vicars
Choral, St. Patrick's Cross, the beautiful 13th century roofless chapel, and
the walled graveyard and grounds.
These names
correctly indicate that this complex of nested structures served many purposes
for many owners over the span of its long life, including residence, cathedral
and-always-fortress in an often lawless land.
There is
something else, too. It is the Forgotten Void, a small enclosure between an old
chapel and the Round Tower.
The Tower is believed the oldest stone construction on the site, dating to
about 1100 a.d.
No one
seems certain when this limestone outcropping was first built upon, but with
the tremendous defensive advantage it afforded in many warlike times, The Rock
has been in use for a very long time.
St. Patrick
is said to have baptized King Aegnus in about 450 a.d. at this place. The
castle was given to the church at the beginning of the 12th century and the
cathedral was built on the site prior to the year 1300.
We took the
tour, felt the winds that whip this hilltop religious redoubt, and headed back
down off The Rock, well aware we had been someplace we would never forget.
Several
blocks away, we went in search of food in Cashel, deciding upon a nondescript
place with the name "Ladyswell Café." Tim chose the restaurant, and
chose well. It was full of locals, and locals always know best when it comes to
dining. I had the seafood chowder; he had the pesto chicken salad.
A word
about Irish food here. This little country chock full of rich farmland is dairy
heaven. You had better be prepared for real cream, real butter, and so forth,
and the best quality. And if you are working your body as nature made it to be
worked, it won't hurt a bit. Wherever you travel in this land, the sea is never
far, either. And the bounties of the sea are a staple of Irish menus.
It was time
to move on. We hoped to see the west coast at Tralee and
the Bay of Dingle
that evening and the Irish countryside was calling.
We took
back roads leaving Cashel. As we turned a corner in this country of beautiful
farms, I looked back over my right shoulder and saw, proud and lonely, this ancient sentinel
of The Rock.
We stopped
and took a long look back at this hauntingly beautiful site. The photo that you
see above is what we saw.
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