CASHEL

In 1868, the parish of Cashel contained the following places:

"CASHEL, a city, parliamentary borough, and market town, comprises the parishes of St. John and St. Patrick's Rock, in the barony of Middlethird, in the county of Tipperary, province of Munster, Ireland, 15 miles to the N.W. of Clonmel, and 100 miles to the S.W. of Dublin. It has given name, with Goolds Cross, to a station on the Great Southern and Western railway, from which, however, it is 6 miles distant. Cashel is a place of very great antiquity, but nothing is certainly known of the date of its foundation, and very little of its early history. It was the seat of the kings of Munster, and also very early the seat of a bishopric; the royal and episcopal offices being combined. Before the middle of the 12th century the diocese of Cashel was converted into an archbishopric. In 1172 Henry II. called a synod of the Irish prelates, which met at this city, and acknowledged, as it is averred, his sovereignty, and confirmed to him and his successors the kingdom of Ireland; a decree subsequently confirmed by Pope Alexander. Early in the 13th century Cashel was constituted a borough, and shortly afterwards the town, which was given to the archbishops by Henry III., was re-granted by Archbishop Marian to the burgesses, with certain reservations. After the rebellion of the 17th century, the town was occupied by the royalists, but in 1647 was attacked and taken by storm by Lord Inchiquin for the parliament. The people had taken refuge in the cathedral, and a terrible slaughter took place. The municipal area of Cashel comprises 4,018 acres, of which 3,764 are in the rural district and 254 in the city. The city, which stands in a fine level tract of country, about 2 miles E. from the river Suir, at the foot and on the sides of the bold hill known as the Rock of Cashel, consists chiefly of five streets, Main-street being the principal one. In 1861 it comprised 919 houses, inhabited by a population of 5,596 against 957 houses, inhabited by 4,798 in 1851, showing an increase in the decennial period of 798 persons, but a decrease of 38 houses. The city is lighted with gas, and has a good supply of water from the same source from which the friars, some centuries since, brought the water through pipes into the town. A reservoir has lately been formed by the town commissioners capable of containing 600,000 gallons, at a cost of £250. Many of the houses are poorly built; but considerable improvements have been made in the general appearance of the place. No manufactures are carried on, and the only business is the general retail trade. There are a market-hall, with reading and news-rooms, a court-house, town commissioners hall, gaol, county infirmary, and fever hospital. The city contains also infantry barracks, a police station, and a savings-bank. The privileges conferred on the townsmen by Archbishop Marianus were confirmed by various royal charters, the last being granted by Charles I.; under this the city was governed till the passing of the Irish Municipal Reform Act. The corporation was then superseded, and the municipal government is now vested in a body of commissioners. The revenue of the city, derived chiefly from ancient endowments, amounts to about £1,150, and is expended by the town commissioners for the paving and cleansing of the streets, gas and water supply, and salaries of officers, &c., besides £200 yearly for the purposes of education, £180 to the parish priest as patron of the National schools, £20 to the Protestant rector to be disposed of under his control, £40 at Christmas for blankets to the poor, and £40 to the Cashel Race Fund. Cashel returned two representatives to the Irish parliament till the Union, since which it has returned one member to the imperial parliament. The constituency in 1860 was 159. It is the seat of a Poor-law Union, and contains the Union poorhouse. Quarter sessions are held here in January and July, and petty sessions weekly. The archbishopric of Cashel was reduced to a bishopric by the Church Temporalities Act, passed in the reign of William IV. The diocese, united with those of Emly, Waterford, and Lismore, is in the province of Dublin, and comprises most of the benefices in the county of Tipperary, with several in Limerick. The revenue of the see is fixed at £5,000 per annum. The chapter consists of a dean, archdeacon, precentor, chancellor, treasurer, and five prebendaries, who, with the parochial clergy, divide an income of £22,000, to provide for less than 5,000 worshippers, the number of churchmen within the diocese according to the returns of 1861. The living is an union of the three parishes of Cashel, Ballyclerihan, and Coleman, value together £430, in the patronage of the crown, and forms the corps of Cashel deanery. The parish church of St. John, which is also the modern cathedral, is a large and handsome edifice of stone, with a fine spire. It was completed about 1783, and stands on the site of an earlier church. The rest of the town is in the parish of St. Patrick's Rock, which is the cathedral parish, and is served by the vicars choral or their deputy. There are handsome chapels belonging to the Roman Catholics and Wesleyan Methodists, a nunnery of the order of the Presentation, a National and several endowed schools. The episcopal palace is a spacious mansion with pleasant grounds, in the centre of the city, and now the residence of the dean. The library attached to the see is kept in a building close to the cathedral. The chief point of attraction and interest is the Rock of Cashel, crowned with the ruins of several ancient structures, which, from their position above the surrounding country, have a grand effect. The rock is a precipitous mass of limestone, rising boldly from the plain, and in ancient times was the site of the palace of the kings of Munster. On its summit, which is approached by a narrow lane from the principal street, are the ruins of the ancient cathedral, Cormac's Chapel, the episcopal palace, or vicar's hall, and a round tower. The cathedral, founded about the middle of the 12th century by Donald O'Brien, was cruciform, with a central tower, and in the early English style. It has a monument to Archbishop Magrath, who died about 1621. Cormac's Chapel is a small, but singularly interesting example of early Norman architecture. It was built about 1127 by Cormac M'Carthy, King of Munster, and first bishop of Cashel, and consists of a nave and choir, with a small square tower. The roof is of stone, and groined. The chapel is in perfect preservation. Its dimensions are-length, 53 feet; breadth, 18 feet; height of the tower, 68 feet. Some fresco paintings were discovered on the walls by Archdeacon Cotton. The episcopal palace, or vicar's hall, was erected about 1420 by Archbishop O'Hedian. The round tower, which stands close to the N. transept of the cathedral, is built of stone, and is still well preserved. It is about 90 feet high. There are remains of a friary near the rock; and not far from the city are the ruins of Hore Abbey. Wednesday and Saturday are the market days. Fairs are held on the 26th March and the 7th August, besides customary fairs on the second Wednesday in every month."

 

[Transcribed from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland 1868]
by Colin Hinson ©2018