The name for Tipperary (Hotels, Tipperary, Ireland) comes from the Gaelic Tiobraid Arann, meaning well of Era. Tipperary was controlled by the Kings of Munster until the ascension of Brian Boru. Tipperary was predominately free from Viking exploitation, and the coming of the Anglo-Normans saw Tipperary placed in the protective custody of the Butlers until the forces of Oliver Cromwell ravaged Ireland.
Antiquities
North of the Comcraghs, across the valley of the Suir, in Tipperary, the broad cone of Slievenaman (2295 ft.) rises solitary and dominates the country for many miles. Not many miles west of the Comcraghs, the Knock- mealdown Mountains form a bold east-and-wcst ridge, dropping into the Suir valley on the north and the valley of the Blackwater on the south. They present a bold row of peaks of over 2000 ft., the highest point being 2609 ft. A picturesque road climbs across the centre of the range, ascending to over 1100 ft.
Botany | Topography |
The Galtees
This fine mountain group, lying mostly in Tipperary (Holiday Apartments, Tipperary, Ireland), rises to over 3000 ft. (Galtymore, 3015 ft.). They are formed of Silurian and Devonian rocks, and on the northern slope present a very impressive appearance, with numerous lofty precipices overhanging deep tarns. Botanical interest centres on these northern cliff-ranges. Here Arabis petrcea has one of its two Irish stations, the other being in Glenade, in Co. Leitrim. Saxifraga umbrosa flourishes also, finding here its south-eastern limit in Ireland. Other mountain plants which occur are Meconofsis cambrica, Cochlearia alpina, Sedum rosium, Saxifraga stellans, S. sfonhcmica, S. Stern- hergn, Saussurca alpina, Hieracwm anglicnm, Vac- cinium Vitis-Idoea, Oxyria digyna, Salix licrbacca. The profusion in which many of these grow on some of the precipices, as on the cliffs over Lough Muskry, compensates for the smallness of their number, and is a striking feature of the botany of the range. The flora of the waters of the lakes is, on the contrary, exceedingly poor.