Rock of Cashel Tipperary |
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The Rock of Cashel (Irish: Carraig Phádraig), also known as Cashel of the Kings and St. Patrick's Rock, is located at Cashel, (Irish: Caiseal Mumhan, meaning Stone Fortress of Munster), County Tipperary, in the province of Munster, in the southern midlands of Ireland. The Rock of Cashel served as the traditional seat of the kings of Munster for several hundred years prior to the Norman invasion. The Rock of Cashel was originally known as Fairy Hill, or Sid-Druim, the "Rock" and was, in pagan times, the dun, or castle, of the ancient Eoghnacht Chiefs of Munster. In the Irish language, Gaelic, Caiseal denotes a circular stone fort. 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. Corc, the grandfather of Aengus Mac Natfraich (King of Cashel), erected a fort here, and Cashel 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. In 977 Brian Boru, was crowned here as the first non-Eóghanacht king of Cashel and Munster in over five hundred years. The earliest and tallest of the Cashel edifices is the round tower (28 metres, or 90 feet), which dates from circa 1100. Cormac's Chapel, the chapel of King Cormac III of Munster, was begun in 1127 and consecrated in 1134. The Cathedral was built between 1235 and 1270. In 1647, during the Irish Confederate Wars, Cashel was stormed and sacked by English Parliamentarian troops under Murrough O'Brien, 1st Earl of Inchiquin. In 1749 the main cathedral roof was removed by Arthur Price, Bishop of Cashel. Cashel is 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). According to local lore, the Rock of Cashel originated from Devil's Bit, a mountain 30 km north of Cashel when St. Patrick banished Satan from a cave, resulting in the Rock's landing in Cashel. |
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