Rock Of Cashel
As a wedding videographer in Tipperary I was delighted to hear that the OPW is looking to increase the number of sites which may be offered as locations to intending couples to hold Civil Ceremonies and can avail of some of Tipperary’s most beautiful, iconic and atmospheric venues and is currently working with the HSE to assess the suitability of various locations. Iconic sites such as the Rock of Cashel and also Newgrange are also available. but the Rock of Cashel is the most iconic location in Tipperary and is recognized globally It attracted over 200,000 visitors last year and would make for the most unique wedding venue. I look forward to the announcement of further approved locations in the near future in and around Tipperary. It would be great to film a wedding video in this great site i do think it would make a fabulous setting with its fantastic history.
A little history about the Rock …
The oldest and tallest of the buildings is the well preserved round tower (28 meters, or 90 feet), dating from c.1100. Its entrance is 12 feet from the ground, necessitated by a shallow foundation (about 3 feet) typical of round towers. The tower was built using the dry stone method. Modern conservationists have filled in some of the tower with mortar for safety reasons.
The Cathedral, built between 1235 and 1270, is an aisleless building of cruciform plan, having a central tower and terminating westwards in a massive residential castle. The Hall of the Vicars Choral was built in the fifteenth century. The vicars choral were laymen (sometimes minor canons) appointed to assist in chanting the cathedral services. At Cashel there were originally eight vicars choral with their own seal. This was later reduced to five honorary vicars choral who appointed singing-men as their deputies, a practice which continued until 1836. The restoration of the Hall was undertaken by the Office of Public Works as a project in connection with the European Architectural Heritage Year, 1975. Through it visitors now enter the site.
In 1647, during the Irish Confederate Wars, Cashel was sacked by English Parliamentarian troops under Murrough O’Brien, 1st Earl of Inchiquin. The Irish Confederate troops there were massacred, as were the Roman Catholic clergy, including Theobald Stapleton. Inchiquin’s troops looted or destroyed many important religious artifacts.
In 1749 the main cathedral roof was removed by Arthur Price, the Anglican Archbishop of Cashel.[1] Today, what remains of the Rock of Cashel has become a tourist attraction. Price’s decision to remove the roof on what had been the jewel among Irish church buildings was criticized before and since.