Rock of Cashel, Cashel, Tipperary

The Rock of Cashel first came to prominence as a centre of power in the late 4th or early 5th century AD.
The round tower is the oldest surviving building on the Rock and may date to 1101 when the site was handed over to the church. Round towers were free-standing bell towers built between the late 10th and the mid-12th centuries and unique in their shape and form to Ireland.
The cathedral is a large cruciform Gothic church built between c.1230 and c.1270. A 15th-century tower rises from the crossing between the church and the transepts. The cathedral was ingeniously fitted between the round tower, Cormac’s Chapel, and a rock-cut well. An extensive and varied collection of stone heads was used both inside and outside the building.
Today, the Rock of Cashel attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors a year from around the world and is still the setting for historic events.Read more