Ireland/Irish > Black's guide to Killarney and the south of Ireland

CASHEL.
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though many of its architectural features are of remarkable
beauty, it is perhaps, as a whole, scarcely deserving of so high
a character; and its effect upon the mind is greatly diminished
by the cabins and other objects of a mean character by which
it is surrounded.” The village, apart from the ruins, is of no
interest or importance.
Cashel.—The town of Cashel was once the residence of the
kings of Munster, but is now a place of little note save for its
proximity to the most remarkable and interesting combination
of ruins in Ireland.
The Rode of Cashel, which is crowned with these remains,
was recently the habitation of the chiefs of the Magh Feimin,
who were thence called Hy dun-na-moi, or “ chiefs of the
hill of the, plain,” a name which afterwards became corrupted
into O'Donohoe. “ In latter ages they were distinguished by
the name of Cartheigh, or inhabitants of the rock, whence
descended the Macarthys, hereditary chiefs of this district.”
The country round is a rich and extensive plain, out of which
the rock of Cashel rises with perfect boldness and abruptness
over the towns, and contains on its summit this magnificent
assemblage of ruins, which, “ though roofless and windowless,
and greatly shattered, still stand up in almost their original
height from their splendid platform.” They consist of a
cathedral, an abbey, a chapel, a palace; and a round tower.
The most ancient of these is the chapel, ascribed to Cormac
MacCullinan, “at once king and archbishop of Cashel.”
Cormac was bom in 837, and spent the early, and indeed the
greater part of his life in a monastery, where, about the year
900, he composed the celebrated “ Psalter of Cashel," and a
history of Ireland written in the Irish language. He was
nearly seventy years of age before coming to the throne, and
soon became entangled in war with the monarch Flan, which
resulted in his own death in the year 908, after a troubled
reign of five years. The chapel is built of hewn stone—“ both
walls and roof, the sides or legs of which are tangents to a
counter-arch, springing from the inner part of the walls. The
doorway is in the Saxon style, which pervades also the other
parts of the chapel, and is adorned with zig-zag and bead
ornaments. Above the archway is the effigy of an archer in
the act of shooting at an ideal animal. The ceiling or roof is
of stone, groined, with square ribs springing from stunted
Saxon pillars, with enriched capitals. There is one rich Saxon