Above: bilingual Irish directional signs - the Irish Gaelic spelling above and the anglicized pronounciation and spelling underneath. Below: horses belonging to my cousin's husband graze in a field just behind my aunt's living room.
The past few days, I've been spending time with my Aunt Marie in Co. Limerick amongst some of the most beautiful land in the Irish countryside. She lives in a place called Pallas Green, and like my mom's village, it's also a place of historical importance. Just up the hill from her home, is a monument called Sarsfield Rock that my late Uncle Patsy helped to restore (there is a plaque commemorating the efforts my uncle did to preserve this piece of Irish history).
During the late 1600's, there was a rift within the English monarchy between James the II and his son-in-law, William of Orange. Instead of settling their differences in England, they came to Ireland to have their family feud of a war. James the II was a catholic, and his famous (if notorious) son-in-law William was Protestant. As The Irish were also catholic, they backed James II in this conflict. Below is a plaque with details of Sarsfield's interception of the English supply train that led to the defeat of William of Orange:
At the top of the rock, is the Irish flag proudly flying high in the breeze.
Sarsfield Rock and it's surrounding fields belong to my aunt. I tried to take pictures of the view from the rock but the day was a bit unsettled (I was even blessed with a fragment of a rainbow). This is the best of those snapshots:
There are two items of note in this photo (besides us lovely ladies, that is). The large chunk of stone on the ground is actually the corner of the two walls directly above it. Cashel is only 60 metres above sea level, but it's higher position from the rest of the surrounding area makes it vulnerable to the elements, and the structure weakened over many hundreds of years. The second item is the passageway in the wall of the bishop's residence. Cashel was built with very thick walls, and these passageways were built mostly for defensive purposes.
The Rock of Cashel was originally the seat of the Munster Over-King (Munster being the south province of Ireland - there are 4 provinces in total) from the 4th century CE onwards. The site was ideal for building a fortress because of its defensive high ground, but also because it had its own natural spring of fresh water. Cashel changed hands a few times over the years before the O'Brien's donated the site to the Church, which was gaining power and influence during the 12th Century. The oldest building (a round tower-like structure) on the site dates back to 1101 CE.
After a 15 minute video about medeaval Irish life, plague, invasion, and monks, we joined with a fairly large group for a guided tour of the site. The cost to visit Cashel is only €6 for an adult and includes both the video and the guided tour. Definitely good value for money.
Above: Sculley's monument - this was originally a huge cross reinforced with steel bars. However, the steel acted as a lighting rod, and lightning blew off the arms of the giant cross. The descendants who live in North America were given the opportunity to repair their monument, but declined. I actually know someone in Vancouver with the last name Sculley. Small world, huh?
Above: the only surviving example of Romanesque architecture in Ireland exists within the sandstone edifice that is Cormac's Chapel, consecrated in 1134 CE.
Unlike the rest of the other limestone structures on the Rock, this chapel is made from sandstone sourced from 10 miles away (imagine the job of hauling all that stone in the 1100's!) and also has the only frescoes that remain in Ireland. It was hard to get a good photo of the carvings and frescoes because it was so dark inside, but it was definitely worth seeing. Due to the porous nature of sandstone, and the Romanesque arches not being as strong as the pointed Gothic arch, the roof started to erode and cave in. It is for this reason that the chapel is covered in scaffolding. The scaffolding is holding a cover over the roof to give the sandstone time to dry out (it's already been under wraps for a few years) and there are restoration works being done to the roof and the frescoes within the chapel.
A few interesting tidbits about this chapel: the main arch into the chancel is off-centre from the supporting walls on either side. This was due to an engineering miscalculation by the masons at the time who were overconfident in the Romanesque arch's ability to hold up the heavy barrel-shaped ceiling and rooms above. As a result, the wall on the right (west) was moved in by two metres to help correct this miscalculation. The frescoes contain a blue paint that was derived from lapis lazuli, which at the time was worth more in weight than gold. This demonstrates the power and wealth of the Church in the 12th Century. High up near the apex of the vaulted ceiling of the chancel are grotesque carved heads that look like beasts or daemons. These acted in the same function as gargoyles in churches elsewhere - both to warn off evil spirits,but also to instil fear into the parishioners to follow the Christian path least they roast in hell.
Below: a sarcophagus inside Cormac's Chapel. The motifs are Viking by design, not Irish Celtic knot work. This points to the influences of overseas artists that carved this piece.
The Cathedral, like most other gothic churches from the period, is cruciform in layout. However, this cruciform was inverted, with the long end in the east instead of the west. An inverted cruciform is considered bad luck, and indeed, bad luck befell the Cathedral in 1647 when Lord Inchiquin (acting on behalf of Cromwell's parliament in England) sacked the cathedral and slaughtered more than 500 Irish villagers, priests, and monks after issuing an ultimatum to give up the gold of the Cathedral, which the Irish refused to do. In the last 40 years, a chalice was discovered at the bottom of the well within the cathedral - it was likely thrown down the well as a preservation effort during the massacre of 1647, probably in the hope that someone would survive the attack and retrieve it. The Church of Ireland (Protestant) continued to use the site until 1749, when the site was abandoned because of its costly upkeep.
Cashel is no longer an active ecclesiastical site except for 5 future burials to take place (the Rock has run out of room for burial plots), and instead has become the most visited monument in Ireland. Below is a painting my aunt Marie did so you can see the full impact of what the site looks like from a distance.
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