…of Cashel. A legend. A fortress. A cathedral. A national heritage.
Legend has it that the rock foundation was created when St. Patrick confronted the devil in a cave in the Slieve Bloom Mountains about 20 miles from Cashel. The devil bit off a piece of a mountain leaving a gap in the range—appropriately named the Devil’s Bit—and breaking his teeth in the process. He was so angry, he spit out the rock. It landed near Cashel. [Who makes this stuff up?]
The Kings of Munster (the southernmost of the four ancient kingdoms of Ireland) built a fortress on the Rock in the early Middle Ages.
St. Patrick baptized the first Christian Munster King, Aengus, here in the 4th century, a major turning point in his mission to convert the entire island. Once the king was baptized, his loyal clansmen would follow suit. And then perhaps the other kings….
During the ceremony, St. Patrick is said to have accidentally stabbed Aengus in the foot with his staff. Blood flowed and tears rolled down his cheeks, but Aengus never cried out. He thought it was part of the ritual!
In 1101, Munster king Murtagh O’Brien gave the Rock to the church in a strategic move to keep it out of the hands of a rival clan. The only building that remains from the Munster dynasty is an amazing 90-foot-tall round tower built around 1100. It’s thought to be a storage tower used to hide valuables when under attack. The entry is 12 feet off the ground and would have been accessed by a rope ladder which was pulled in—and the doorway sealed—to thwart the enemy.
The Church built a small chapel on the Rock in the 12th century, and wedged an impressive cathedral in between the round tower and the chapel in the 13th century. By the 18th century, the cathedral was in such a sad state of repair that the church gave it up, moving to a newer cathedral in the town of Cashel. The ruins sat abandoned on top of the Rock until 1975 when restoration of the site began to make it available to visitors. We’re so glad they did. This is one of our favorite stops on the trip so far.
