Copperfield House

A County Tipperary town built in the shadow of the Rock of Cashel, one of Ireland’s most dramatic clusters of medieval ruins on a limestone outcrop above the plain.

Cashel grew up around the Rock that dominates it, a limestone outcrop rising abruptly out of the Tipperary plain and crowned with a remarkable group of medieval buildings, a round tower, a roofless Gothic cathedral, the Hall of the Vicars Choral and Cormac’s Chapel, begun in 1127 and holding the only surviving Romanesque wall paintings in Ireland. The Rock was the seat of the kings of Munster from at least the early medieval period, and it was here, according to tradition, that Brian Boru was inaugurated king in 978 before going on to become High King of Ireland.

A B&B in Cashel puts the Rock more or less on your doorstep, since the town’s main street runs directly beneath it, and gives you the site in the golden-hour light of early morning or evening once the day’s tour coaches have gone. The town itself has a good spread of pubs and restaurants for an evening, along with the Bru Ború Cultural Centre at the foot of the Rock, which focuses on Irish traditional music, song and dance.

Beyond the Rock itself, Hore Abbey sits in the fields just below it, a Cistercian ruin whose empty windows frame views straight back up to the Rock, and is a much quieter spot to explore than the main site. The GPA-Bolton Library, housed at St John’s Cathedral in the town, holds a substantial collection of early printed books and manuscripts for anyone interested in going beyond the standard Rock visit.

Cashel also makes a good base for a wider look at south Tipperary, with Cahir and its exceptionally well-preserved castle around twenty minutes away, and the Glen of Aherlow and the Galtee Mountains a short drive to the south, giving a proper day of walking country to pair with the town’s medieval core.