Rock of Cashel

On my way home to Nenagh last Friday, I passed through the town of Cashel, in South Tipperary.

Funny I should describe my passage through Cashel in this way because, having been born and reared nearby, Cashel is my home town but having left it forty odd years ago to take up residence in Nenagh, I now just see it as another town en route to Nenagh and home.

Perhaps that statement is not strictly true, because Cashel still holds many memories and fondness for me and, if time permits, I’m usually compelled to linger there for a while.

On this occasion, Friday being a beautiful sunny day, I stopped just on the outskirts of town and got out of the car just to have a walk around and take some pictures of the World famous Rock of Cashel.

I suppose if we live close to a historically-famous structure such as this, and see it every day of our lives, we tend to take it for granted. I, having been born and reared under the shadow of the Rock, thought to myself of the numerous times I passed it by on my way to school or on my way to the town, without a second glance, but what an awe inspiring spectacle it must be to a first-time visitor to the town of Cashel.

Rising 200 feet, the Rock of Cashel - also called St. Patrick's Rock - is a huge outcropping of limestone. And on top of the Rock, visitors today can see what experts call the most significant group of medieval buildings in Ireland.

St. Patrick is said to have come here in A.D 448 to baptize the royal family. The legend goes, Patrick accidentally stabbed the king's foot with the pointed tip of a shepherd's staff, the kind bishops use in religious ceremonies. The king assumed it was part of the ritual so he silently endured the pain.

Even if that tale isn't totally accurate, historians say they are quite certain that St. Patrick really did come here.

Among other reasons, historians say it simply wouldn't have made sense for the great saint of Ireland not to have come to Cashel, which was then a hub of early Christianity.

The Rock itself was a natural defensive fortress and, long before the time of Saint Patrick, the kings of the Munster region were using it as their inauguration place and royal seat of power. Kings in Cashel also had important links to the religious world, and in A.D. 1101 the king gave the Rock to the church.

In the 900 years since then, another set of rulers - powerful churchmen - erected the buildings that make a striking profile even to this day.

The towers and walls stir up feelings of awe, mystery and wonder, both by day and at night when they are illuminated by floodlights.

Today, the oldest structure on the Rock is a distinctive round stone tower built in 1101. It was a free-standing bell tower, and it is still intact and complete, including its cone-shaped stone roof - a style unique to Ireland.

The second-oldest building is Cormac's Chapel, named for the king who ordered it built.

This compact chapel is one of Ireland's first, finest and most ornate Romanesque churches, built of squared sandstone with a finely cut facade, carved arches and rib-vaulted interior.

On some pillars, carved stone heads seem to suggest different racial characteristics, resembling a very early United Nations.

You can walk inside, look around and admire the fine details. View the frescoes in the interior above the doorway. There are debates about the meaning of the various images, and some say the images over the door might depict Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.

Also inside Cormac's Chapel is an ornate stone coffin, or sarcophagus, said to be perhaps the resting place of Cormac or, more likely, his brother who preceded him as king.

The largest structure on the Rock is a cathedral built in the 13th century. It's a tall building, squeezed in between the old round tower and Cormac's Chapel.

The newer, 15th-century buildings - built as a residence and hall for church singers, known as the Vicars Choral - have been fully restored and serve as a museum, displaying artefacts of daily life from centuries past as well as relics of stone sculpture found at the rock.

The museum also shows a film of less than 20 minutes that is well worth seeing for a quick overview of the history and enduring significance of the Rock of Cashel.