Cashel (Caiseal, meaning "stone ringfort") is a town in [County Tipperary in Ireland. Its population in 2016 was only 4422, but it's one of Ireland's top tourist draws: the Rock of Cashel is a limestone outcrop with a collection of important medieval sites.
The TIC is on Main Street at the entrance to the Folk Village.
Expressway Bus X8 runs every two hours from Dublin Airport, Busáras and Heuston station to Cashel, 2 hr 30 min, continuing south to Cahir, Fermoy and Cork.
Kavanagh's Bus 394 runs twice a day between Clonmel and Cashel, one hour, and continues to Holycross and Thurles.
Local Link Bus 828 runs from Portlaoise via Abbeyleix, Durrow, Johnstown and Urlingford to Cashel. It takes 90 min, with four M-Sa and two on Sunday.
Bus 855 runs four times a day between Tipperary, Limerick Junction, Cahir, Cashel and Golden, with an extra evening run F Sa.
By car follow M8 from Dublin.
Walk, the town is compact. You only need wheels to reach Golden and Athassel Priory.
Rock of Cashel (Carraig Phádraig, St Patrick's Rock), 52.5202°, -7.8906°, +353 62 61437, rockofcashel@opw.ie. Daily Sept-May 09:00-17:00, June-Aug 09:00-19:00. One of Ireland's top sights, mobbed by coach tours in summer, a fortified enclosure on a limestone outcrop. This natural stronghold has probably been settled for millennia; legend says that the devil took a bite out a mountain 30 km north, broke his teeth, and spat out the rock which landed here. The first documented occupants were the Eóganachta, who ruled Munster from the 6th to 10th C AD. They were ousted by the O'Briens under Brian Boru, whose great-grandson King Muircheartach O'Brien gifted the site to the church in 1101. Park at the foot of the rock and follow the walkway. Enter through the Hall of the Vicars Choral, built 15th C to house the cathedral choristers. Then pass through the cathedral (13th C Gothic) and Archbishop's Residence (15th C), with the Round Tower (11th / 12th C) by one corner. The highlight is the Romanesque Cormac's Chapel, completed in 1127 - give your eyes time to adjust to the gloom, to pick out the rich carvings and frescos. There are High Crosses in the graveyard. Adult €8, Senior €6, Child/Student €4 2020-07-06
Brú Ború, Rock Cottage, 1 Rock Lane (By Rock of Cashel car park), +353 62 61122. It's primarily a performance venue for Irish music, song, dance and theatre, with shows Jul Aug Tu-Sa at 21:00. It also has a genealogy centre and restaurant. 2020-07-06
St Dominic's Abbey is the ruin 300 m south of the Rock. It was a Dominican abbey founded in 1243 and dissolved in 1540, though diehard friars were somehow still there 300 years later. It's free to stroll around anytime.
Folk Village, Dominic St, 52.517568°, -7.8883°, +353 87 915 1316. Apr - mid-Oct M-Sa 10:15-20:00, Su 11:00-20:00. Reconstruction of thatched village shops, a forge, and other businesses, together with a penal Chapel, IRA museum and AV presentation of events of 1916-1923. Adult €7, child €4, conc €6 2020-07-06
On Main Street note the Fountain.
St John's Cathedral 📍 is Anglican C of I, a Georgian building on John St.
The Bolton Library is a remarkable collection of antiquarian books, which as of 2020 cannot be visited. They were amassed by Theophilus Bolton, Archbishop of Cashel 1730-1744. They include a 12th century manuscript, the Nuremberg Chronicle of 1493 and works by Dante, Swift, Calvin, Erasmus, Machiavelli and the physicist Robert Boyle. Several bear library stamps showing ownership by Catherine of Aragon, or Francis Bacon. After Bolton died, the library remained in the archbishop's palace for almost a century then was moved to the chapter house of St John's Cathedral. Conditions there were unsuitable and many books deteriorated. In 1995 the collection passed into the care of the University of Limerick: their task of stabilising, restoring and cataloguing the contents continues. The books are now in the Glucksman Library on UL's Castletroy campus; it's not known when or where they might be exhibited.
A few scraps of the city walls survive just south of the cathedral.
St John the Baptist is the RC church facing the cathedral on Friar St. It was completed in 1795 over the site of a Franciscan friary.
Kearney's Castle, 15 Main St, 52.516758°, -7.887677°. Closed. Just admire the exterior of this 15th century tower house, which was used as a garrison by Lord Inchiquin's Parliamentarian army. The Kearney family lived in the building for many years, and Fr. John Kearney was hanged in the castle in 1652. The building in modern times was a hotel but this closed in 2016. 2020-07-06
Hore Abbey (Mainistir Iubhair), Loughnafina, Cashel (1 km west of the Rock), 52.5175°, -7.900°. 24 hours. This monastery was founded by the Benedictines in the late 12th C, but in 1270 was granted to the Cistercians. The legend goes that the Archbishop ejected the Benedictines because he dreamed they planned to murder him. This doesn't seem likely, it was everyone else in town that was sharpening their knives for him, and there may have been an England versus Ireland twist to it. The abbey fell into ruin at the Dissolution. Free 2020-07-06
Golden Castle 📍 is one helluva name to give to the dilapidated stump on the island in the River Suir. "Golden" is the Anglicised version of An Gabhailín, "The Grange", though the richness of the farmland is indeed precious. You only come this way along N74 to reach the Priory, turn south here and see below.
Athassel Priory, Athassel North, Golden (7 km southwest of Cashel), 52.479°, -7.982°. Extensive riverside priory founded by the Augustinians in the late 12th century. It was energetically built up and equally energetically burned down, as was the adjacent village, and finally ruined by the 16th C Reformation. 2020-07-04
As of Dec 2020, there's a 4G signal in town from Eir and Vodafone, and 5G from Three. The road through Golden to Tipperary only has a signal from Three.
Cashel Public Library on Friar St is open M-Sa 09:30-17:00. Internet access is free for library members.
2nd-order administrative division
Primary administrative division