Cashel (Caiseal Mumhan) Overview

The town of Cashel sits among green fields, tucked between a series of mountain ranges on N8, 19km east of Tipperary Town. Visitors stream out of tour buses for a peek at the Rock, a remarkably well-preserved collection of medieval buildings. There’s little else in Cashel, but no one seems to mind; two fine hostels and a street full of pubs keep backpackers happy.

Transportation And Practical Information. Bus Éireann (☎0613 3333; www.buseireann.ie) runs to Dublin (3hr., 6 per day 9:35am-7:35pm, €10) and Cork (30min., 6 per day 10:50am-8:50pm, €10.50) via Cahir (15min., €4.20) Buses depart from Main St. near the tourist office. Pick up schedules at the tourist office and purchase tickets across the street at SPAR. Traveling to most nearby towns requires a connection in Cahir. Main Street has everything you want to see—except the Rock, which is up a hill and very well signposted from Main St. At the top of Main St., Lady’s Well St. is to the left and Friar St. is to the right. Cashel’s tourist office splits rent with the Heritage Centre in the City Hall on Main St. and leads walking tours every Tu-Th at 7pm. (☎62511; e-mail jhugheso@eircom.net to confirm. Tours €7.50, students €5. Open daily 9:30am-5:30pm.) Bank of Ireland (☎61200; open M 10am-5pm, Tu and Th-F 10am-4pm, W 10:30am-4pm) and AIB (☎61144; open M 10am-5pm, Tu 10:30am-4pm, W-F 10am-4pm) are neighbors on Main St.; the AIB has a 24hr. ATM. McInerney’s, three doors down from the SuperValu, rents bikes. (☎61225. €10 per day, €60 per week. Open Th-Tu 9:30am-1pm and 2-6pm, W 9:30am-1pm.) The library, located under the arch on Friar St., about a minute from Main St., provides Internet access. (☎63825. €2 per hr. Open M and W 10am-5pm, Tu and Th 10am-5pm and 6-8:30pm, F-Sa 10am-1pm and 2-5pm.) The post office is on Main St. (☎61418. Open M and W-F 9am-5:30pm, Tu 9:30am-5:30pm, Sa 9am-1pm.) The police (Garda) station is on Hogan Sq., near the bottom of Main St. (☎75840. Open daily 9am-5pm.) O’Dwyer’s Pharmacy, Main St., fulfills all your medicinal and beauty needs. (☎61318. Open M-Sa 9am-6pm.) Tivoli Cleaners, Friar St., does laundry for €1 per lb., which usually works out to €8-10 per load. (☎62517. Open M-Sa 9:30am-6:30pm.)

Accommodations And Camping. It’s almost a shame that Cashel has two fine hostels, because the B&Bs are reasonably priced treats. A 10min. walk from central Cashel on Dundrum Rd., which intersects Main St. toward the bottom of the hill, lies the incredible  O’Brien’s Farm House Hostel 2. O’Brien’s has an incredible view of the Rock, cheerful, spacious rooms, and a common room with armchairs around a fire. (☎61003. Full-service laundry €12. Dorms €17.50; doubles €65. Camping €9 per person, with separate bathroom facilities and kitchen. MC/V.) Cashel Holiday Hostel (IHH) 1, on John St. just off Main St., is the more social of the two hostels, though with slightly less comfy digs. Avoid the cramped bunk rooms by sticking to the spacious kitchen, which is illuminated by the huge skylight. Next door, the owners also operate the Cashel Town B&B 3, featuring themed rooms based on a popular mystery series. (☎62330; www.cashelhostel.com; www.cashelbandb.com. Laundry €10. Dorms €15; 4-bed dorms with bath €18. Discount for long-term stays. B&B singles €40, ensuite €45; doubles €60/70. €5 less without breakfast. MC/V.) Several B&Bs rest in the quiet residential neighborhood of Dominic St. en route to the Rock and castle. Just steps from the Rock, the sunny, comfortable and immaculate rooms of Rockville House 3, Dominic St., are a great bargain. Check out the stuffed bird in the hallway. (☎61760. All rooms with bath. Singles €40; doubles €60. Cash only.) Thornbrook House 3 is about 2.5km up Dualla Rd. From Main St., turn onto Friar St. and then left onto Dualla. The house shimmers with elegant chandeliers and sparkling bathrooms. For 25 years, caring hostess Mary Kennedy has been brewing warm tea for her guests. All rooms have TV, coffee, and tea. (☎62388. Singles €55; doubles €75. MC/V.)

Food And Pubs. SuperValu, Main St., sells groceries. (☎61555. Open M-F 8am-10pm, Sa-Su 8am-9pm.) Spearman’s 1, near the Friary St. end of Main St., serves hot sandwiches and panini (€3.50-6) on freshly baked bread. (☎61143. Open M-F 9am-5:45pm, Sa 9am-5pm. MC/V.) Head to Café Hans 3, off Lady’s Well St. on the road to the Rock, for first-rate salads and grilled salmon. (☎63660. Entrees €9-15. Open Tu-Sa noon-5:30pm. Cash only.) At the bottom of Main St., Indo Spice 2 serves steaming plates of samosas and pakoras. Entrees €9-10, take-out €1-2 less. (☎63801. Open M-Th and Su 5-11:30pm, F-Sa 5pm-midnight, Sa-Su also noon-3pm. Cash only.) Enjoy decadent sweets at The Bake House 1, across from the tourist office. Coffee and light meals are served upstairs, but you’re better off sticking to the sticky buns. (☎61680. Entrees €4-7. Open M-Sa 8:30am-5:30pm, Su 10am-5:30pm. Cash only.)

Cashel’s pub crawl is a straight shot down Main St. All of the following close at standard pub hours (M-Th 11:30pm, F-Sa 12:30am, Su 11pm). Start the night next door to the tourist office at Feehan’s, where the decor is timeless and the chips are hot and crispy. (☎61929. Kitchen open M-F noon-6pm, Sa noon-3pm.) Head left out the back door to get to Moor Lane Tavern for darts, snooker, or dancing. (☎62093. Tu and Th country, F-Sa rock, Su trad 8-10pm.) If the stars are out, move next door to the gorgeous multi-level beer garden at wheelchair-accessible Mikey Ryan’s (☎61431). Cross over Main St. for some singing, joke-telling craic on the green couches at Davern’s (☎61121; M and W live music after 9pm), before heading down the street to Pat and Fox, a younger scene with a trendy, lively vibe, run by a 1992 All-Star Hurler. (☎62428. Daily poker games. Th solo singer.) End the night at Brian Ború, where there’s live music—everything from rock and alternative to trad—five nights per week and a DJ on weekends. (☎63381. Music M and Th-Su. M trad. F-Sa DJ. Open daily at 10:30am. Kitchen open noon-8pm.)

The Rock Of Cashel. It looms majestically on the horizon—a huge limestone outcropping topped with medieval buildings. Welcome to the Rock. Also known as Cashel of the Kings, or St. Patrick’s Rock, the  Rock of Cashel is associated with a number of legends, some historically substantiated, others more dubious. St. Patrick almost certainly baptized the King of Munster here around AD 450; whether he accidentally stabbed the king’s feet in the process is debatable. Guided tours (every hr. on the hr.) are informative, if a bit dry. Mounted plaques point out the important parts, so exploring at your own pace is a viable and perhaps more attractive option. Avoid showing up near noon to steer clear of tour buses dropping off throngs of visitors. The bi-steepled Cormac’s Chapel, consecrated in 1134, holds semi-restored Romanesque paintings, disintegrating stone arches, and an ornately carved sarcophagus used as a “flesh-eater” to prepare bodies for burial. Visitors wander beneath the vaulted Gothic arches of the Cashel Cathedral, which was nearly lost in 1495 when the Earl of Kildare lit it on fire. Kildare defended himself to Henry VII by saying, “I thought the Archbishop was in it.” The King promoted him to Lord Deputy. Next to the cathedral, a 27m round tower, built circa 1101, is the oldest and best-preserved part of the Rock. The old Vicar’s choir building now houses a museum, at the entrance to the castle complex, which contains the 12th-century St. Patrick’s Cross. It is said that anyone who can wrap their arms around the cross will never get a toothache again—possibly because they’ll lose their teeth in the attempt. Upstairs, the choir’s dining room has been beautifully reconstructed. A disappointing film on medieval religious structures is shown every hour or so. As impressive as the Rock is during the day, it’s truly inspiring by night, when it’s flooded with light. The best view is from the cow path leading down from the Rock toward Hore Abbey. (☎61437. Rock open daily June to mid-Sept. 9am-7pm; mid-Mar. to mid-June 9am-5:30pm; mid-Sept. to mid-Oct. 9am-5:30pm; mid-Oct. to mid-Mar. 9am-4:30pm. Last admission 45min. before closing. €5.30, students €2.10, seniors €3.70.) Visitors may want to head to the Heritage Centre, in the same building as the tourist office on Main St., to brush up on their history before making the trek to the rock, but most of the information is covered in the tour. The Centre features temporary exhibits and permanent installations such as “The Rock: From the 4th-11th Century” and its much-anticipated sequel, “The Rock: 12th-18th Century.” (☎62511. Open daily 9:30am-5:30pm. Free.)

Other Sights. It’s a shame that Hore Abbey, the last Cistercian monastery built in Ireland, lies in the shadow of The Rock, because it’s often overlooked by travelers on the hill. The intact ceiling is majestic, and there are few tourists to elbow out of the way. A quick jog down the hill near The Rock is the fastest route to the abbey. (Always open. Free.) Brú Ború Heritage Centre (pronounced “brew-brew”), at the base of The Rock, hosts wonderful, if stagey, traditional music and dance sessions. Afterward, musicians invite the audience to the bar for a round of informal trad. The Centre also houses the Sounds of History audio-visual museum; visit for a crash course in Irish song and dance. (☎61122; www.comhaltas.com. Performances mid-June to mid-Sept. Tu-Sa 9pm. €18, students €10; with pre-show dinner €48/24. Centre open mid-June to mid-Sept. Tu-Sa 9am-11:30pm; mid-Sept. to mid-June M 9am-5pm, Tu-Sa 9am-11:30pm. Sounds of History display €5, students €3.)The GPA-Bolton Library, John St., displays a musty collection of books and silver that once belonged to Theophilus Bolton, an Anglican archbishop of Cashel. The tiny library harbors ecclesiastical texts and rare manuscripts, including the first English translation of Don Quixote and an English Bible that is (locally) reputed to be the smallest book in the world. (☎61944. Open M-Th 10am-2:30pm. €2.) St. John the Baptist Church, Friar St., has a magnificent mosaic on its front facade and eerily realistic sculptures inside. (Open daily 9am-7pm. Free.) The quiet St. Dominick’s Abbey, on Dominic St., built in 1243 by Dominican friars, houses a graveyard in its ruins. Get a key to the gate from Mrs. McDonnell, 19 Dominic St., the first house on the right, 45m after the abbey. (Free.) In the town of Golden, 8km west of Cashel on the Tipperary Rd., stand the ruins of lovely Althassel Abbey, a 12th-century Augustinian priory founded by the Red Earl of Dunster. The Tipperary Heritage Way Walk, which is signposted from Cashel, follows the banks of the River Suir for 11km to Golden.