Tipperary Ireland

Antiquities

The dolmens of Co. Tipperary have been studied in some detail. They number twenty-five, seven of which arc in a fair state of preservation. The principal group is in the hilly district surrounding the village of Kilcommon. It is situated about 10 miles north of Dundrum station and twelve miles north-east of Oola station. Here can be seen the remains of eleven dolmens in a more or less ruined condition, and the sites of four others, spread over a tract of land about seven miles from east to west and four miles from north to south. In the same district are the remains of four or more stone circles. The best preserved dolmen in the county is situated at Baurnadomeeny East. It lies about a quarter of a mile north of the village of Rear Cross, in a valley to the cast of the road, with its axis running cast and west; it measures 24 ft. in length and 10 ft. in breadth. Its eastern end makes a rectangular chamber 10 ft. long, 4 ft. wide, and 4 ft. high : its roof is formed of four large stones. The western chamber measures nearly 7 ft. square and 3 ft. 6 in. high. The amount of earth which still remains on the roof of the dolmen points to it having been originally covered by a mound ; traces of a stone circle which formerly surrounded the dolmen may also be observed.

Though the monuments differ much in size, all appear to belong to one type-that is, a long, low dolmen, with sides parallel or slightly tapering towards the cast, and formed of two or three rows of upright stones placed close together. The central, or perhaps more strictly the eastern, part is a long, narrow chamber, roofed with several large slabs, which are laid almost level or with a slight slope towards the east. To the west of this is a somewhat wider and shorter chamber, separated from the former by one of the most massive stones in the whole structure, and having its roof set at a somewhat higher level.

A Munster earthwork that has claimed much attention is the mote of Knockgraffon, near Clonmel, Co. Tipperary. It is one of the finest motes in Ireland, measuring some 55 ft. in height, with a diameter of about 60 ft. on the top ; it is surrounded by a fosse, and has a hatchet-shaped bailey about 70 paces long by 57 wide attached to it at the western side. The bailey lias a slight rampart round the edge, and beyond this a wide fosse and high vallum, the fosse of the bailey joining that of the mote. Mr. G. H. Orpcn, who considers Knockgraffon to be a Norman mote, has identified it with the castle of Knockgraffon which the Annals of the Four Masters record as having been built by the English of Leinster in 1192, in the course of their expedition against Domhnall O Briain king of North Munster. Other archaeologists have ascribed an earlier date to this mote, and considered it to be the fort of Fiachaidh Muilleathan, who was king of Munster in the third century A.D. It is probable that Knock- graffon originally was a Celtic tumulus which was later used by the Normans as a site for a mote castle.

Another good example of a mote is situated at Lismore, Co. Waterford. It is a lofty conical mound with a flat top, divided by a fosse from a crescent-shaped bailey. King John erected a castellum at Lismore in 1185 A.d. ; probably the mote and bailey represent this.

High Crosses of interest are those at Ahenny, Co. Tipperary. They arc situated in a graveyard formerly called Kilelispeen, about 4 miles north of Carrick-on-Suir. Neither of the crosses contain panels with figure sculpture representing Biblical or other scenes ; they are covered with every kind of spiral, interlaced, and fret patterns. The bases of both crosses are remarkable. On the west face of the north cross are carved seven figures, six of them holding crosiers : on the east is a man standing under a palm tree, with a number of animals in various attitudes in front of him. On the north side is a carving of a chariot and two mounted figures : on the south side is a representation of a procession; it is headed by men holding a ringed cross and a crosier, then comes a horse carrying on its back the headless body of a man upon which are perched two large birds who peck the flesh; the procession ends with a man carrying a child on his back. The base of the south cross is in a worn state, and the carvings of the panels are much defaced : they represent hunting scenes

Architecture

Previous to the dissolution of the monasteries there were close on one hundred religious foundations in the province of Munster. Many of these were communities of importance; their ruins add much to the picturesqueness and interest of the province. In spite of the Reformation Ireland remained substantially a Roman Catholic country, and in many cases small bodies of monks faced the danger of persecution and returned in the seventeenth century to Ireland, leading a furtive existence amid the ruins of their former homes. One of the most interesting of the monastic remains in Munster are the ruins of Holy Cross Abbey, Co. Tipperary. This abbey was founded in 1169 a.d. by Domhnall O Briain king of Limerick, for monks of the Cistercian order; its possessions were confirmed to it by King John. A portion of the true Cross which had been presented to Donnchadh O Briain by Pope Pascal II in 1110 was preserved in a jewelled shrine of gold in the abbey, to which it gave its name : the monastery owed much of its wealth to offerings made by pilgrims at this shrine. The remains of the abbey arc extensive ; the cruciform church consists of an aisled nave, choir, the junction of the nave and choir. The eastern portion of the church has two storeys, the upper having probably served as a dwelling. The church was much altered and rebuilt in the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries ; few traces of the original Romanesque building can now be seen. The fine cast window is reticulated, while those of the transept-chapels are filled with flowing tracery of Flamboyant type. The eastern portion of the church has many ornamental details, there being two especially remarkable pieces of carving, one in the chancel and the other in the south transept. That in the chancel is known as the Tomb of the Good Womans Son, but was evidently the sedilia. It lies three arches with foliage cusps and tracery surmounted by a canopy; above the arches are shields carved with the royal arms of England, of Butler, and of Desmond. It is probably of early fifteenth century date. Between the south transept chapels is the remarkable structure which has been sometimes considered to have been the sanctuary in which the relic of the Holy Cross was preserved ; it is, however, more probable that it was a waking chamber, a receptacle for a coffin. The roof of this monument is elaborately groined: the supporting pillars have twisted shafts, with bases, but no capitals ; the panelling below the shafts is carved with foliage similar to that on the sedilia: it is apparently of the same date. There are not many remains of the conventual buildings ; the cloister, which lay to the south, is now covered with grass ; the cellarium still exists at the west end : above this was the dorter of the lay brothers. The buildings on the south side of the cloister have disappeared.

Another large and imposing monastic ruin to be seen in the province is the Augustinian Priory of St Edmund, at Athassel, Co. Tipperary (Self Catering, Tipperary, Ireland). It was founded about 1200 a.d. by William de Burgo, and dedicated to St Edmund, King and Martyr. It became an important foundation, and its prior was summoned to parliament as a peer. Both Walter and Richard de Burgo were buried in the monastery. The priory owed much to the de Burgo family, and there are several monuments in the church which probably belong to members of this house. At the dissolution it was granted to Thomas earl of Ormonde. The buildings covered a large extent of ground occupying about an acre, without the entrance gateway and courtyard. The main buildings are probably of thirteenth century date. The church is cruciform with an aisled nave, transepts with eastern chapels, a choir and a central tower, with a Hanking tower at the north-west angle of the nave. The cloister lay to the south of the church, and around it the conventual buildings were arranged. The original cloister arcade was probably of wood ; the remains of the cloister at present to be seen date from the fifteenth century.

Cashel took its name from the stone fort {caiseal} which was erected there in the fifth century by a King of Munster. The round tower is the oldest of the remaining group of buildings, probably dating from the tenth century ; the small, but beautiful, Romanesque church, known as Cormacs chapel, which was founded by Cormac MacCarthaigh king of Desmond and bishop of Cashel, in 1127 a.d., comes next in date, while the cathedral belongs to the end of the thirteenth century. The round tower is now incorporated in the cathedral at the north-cast angle of the. north transept, there being a doorway into it from the triforium. The tower is about 85 ft. in height, with a circumference of 51 ft. ; the walls arc about 4 ft. in thickness. It has a round- headed doorway nearly 12 ft. above the ground.

Cormacs chapel is a beautiful specimen of Romanesque architecture ; it consists of a nave and chancel, with a square tower on each side in the. position occupied by the transepts in later churches, making the plan of the chapel cruciform. The towers act as buttresses and support the thrust of the vaulting and of the heavy stone roof. The nave measures 29 ft. 8 in. by 17 ft. 8 in., and it is roofed by a barrel vault ; the chancel has a groined roof and measures 13 ft. 8 in. by 10 ft. 10 in. Both nave and chancel have crofts with a second stone roof above them. The south tower has a square embattled top, but this is a later addition. Originally it had a conical cap like the north tower. The chief interest of the chapel is its decoration, both inside and outside. The arcading is most elaborate, having panels which were painted with diaper work, while there were figure subjects on the walls and ceilings. The principal entrance is on the north, where the round-headed doorway consists of five orders with a high pediment over the arch. There are a varied and interesting series of carvings on the capitals, and over the doorway in the tympanum there is a curious figure of a centaur shooting a lion. The cathedral is an aisleless cruciform building with a square tower at the junction of the nave and choir.

Its internal length is 166 ft. 9 in. and width 132 ft. 8 in. Cormacs chapel was connected with the east side of the south transept; it was entered by a doorway opened in the west gable of the chapel in the transept. The nave of the cathedral is short compared to the choir, and it has been suggested that part of the length of the nave was cut off and is now occupied by the castellated structure at the west end. This latter structure was probably built about the end of the fourteenth century and used as a residence by the archbishop; the central tower of the cathedral was probably built about the same time. In 1495 Garrett earl of Kildare burnt the cathedral, and when asked by Henry VII his reason for doing this, replied that he had burnt the cathedral because he thought the archbishop (David Creagh) was inside it. At the southern part of the enclosure are buildings, probably erected in the fifteenth century, for the Vicars Choral. The Vicars Choral were constituted a corporation for the purpose of owning land : they had a curious seal, having for its device the pipes of the organ, the organist, and eight choristers. The cathedral was damaged by Cromwells soldiers; but it was repaired in 1686, and restored in 1729 : in 1748 Arthur Price, archbishop of Cashel, having unroofed and dismantled it, obtained an order from the Privy Council constituting the parish church of St Johns, Cashel, the cathedral church of the diocese. Upon the dis- establishment of the Irish Church the buildings on the rock of Cashel were vested in the Irish Board of Works to be preserved as a National Monument. The modern cathedral of Cashel is built in the Georgian style ; it is a parallelogram in plan and has a tower with a spire at the west end.

Another interesting church of early type is that of St Farannan at Donaghmore, between Clonmel and Fcthard, Co. Tipperary. It is a small Romanesque building of good proportions, decorated with carving and cut-stone. The carvings on the west doorway are especially fine. The church consists of an aisleless nave, and a small chancel; it is built of uncoursed rubble containing large irregular stones with small ones between them. There is a rubble vault over the chancel; above this is a room with a small east window, entered by a doorway over the chancel.

Cahir Castle, Co. Tipperary (Accommodation, Tipperary, Ireland), is a picturesque example of Tudor building : as it now stands, it presents architecture of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, with the restorations carried out in 1840 by the Earl of Glengall. The castle, which occupies a large space, is irregular in outline : it consists of a square keep with extensive outworks, which form an inner and outer vallum. It became the property of the Butlers lords of Cahir, and still remains in the hands of their de- scendants in the female line. In 1599 it was described as the only famous castle of Ireland which was thought impregnable, a bulwark for Munster, and a safe retreat for all the agents of Spain and Rome. It was besieged by the Earl of Essex in 1599, by Lord Inchiquin in 1647, and a few years later by Cromwell.

The castle of Kiltinane, about 7 miles north of Clonmel, Co. Tipperary, on the River Glashauney, is a strong building standing on a rock over the river, into which there is a drop of ico ft. on the eastern side. It consists of a quadrangular courtyard with three fortified towers, two of which form the modern house. The towers have walls of great thickness, and vaulted stone ceilings. The castle well has a passage leading to it down eighty-seven steps. This castle was one of the six granted by King John to Philip of Worcester. It afterwards passed into the possession of the Lords Dunboyne, and was held by them at the time of its capture by Cromwell in 1649. Later it became the property of Richard Staper, who in 1669 sold it to Peter Cooke, by whose descendants it is still occupied.

About 2 miles east of Clonmel is a mansion built in the Tudor style, with quadrangular windows divided by stone mullions. It was probably erected by Alexander Power in the reign of James I. It is known as Tickencor House.

History

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.

An important region in Co. Tipperary called Magh Feimhein (Magh, pronounced something like mwa, means plain). It seems to have been a sacred plain, the centre of the worship of the goddess Brighid. In this plain was the fairy palace of the mythical king Bodhbh Dearg, of whom we read in the story of the Children of Lir ; and it was dominated by the mountain called Sliabh na mBan Finn (now Slievenaman), hill of the white women -unquestionably a group of goddesses ; and by the enormous tumulus Cnoc Rafann, the largest artificial earth-mound in Ireland. Though this in outline resembles a Norman motte, the exceptional size of the structure points to the probability of its being much earlier in origin. It might well have been scarped and otherwise manipulated by the Normans to serve their own purposes.

The shiring of Munster is as old as King Johns time ; Waterford, Cork, Limerick, Kerry, and Tipperary all appear as counties in documents of his period. But the division was not maintained throughout the whole period of the Plantagenets and Tudors, though the complex history of the delimitations and names of the shires and territories would hardly be in place here ; it has little, to do with the geography viewed in its bearing on the population. It is, however, interesting to notice that Tipperary remained a county palatine (that is, a county to the administrator of which sovereign power was delegated) till 1715, when the second Duke of Ormond was attainted and his jurisdiction abolished. This was the last relic of a form of government that had at the beginning of the English occupation been established over most of the country.

Co. Tipperary
A very large county, lying entirely inland, and much diversified by groups of mountains–the Silvern-lines and Devils Bit groups in the north, the loftier Galtees (3016 ft.) and Knockmealdowns (2609 ft.), and the fine, isolated Shevenaman (2564 ft.), in the. south. Else- where the surface is of the type characteristic of the Central Plain-slightly undulating limestone, country, mostly in permanent pasture. The Golden Vale of Tipperary (Holiday Cottages, Tipperary, Ireland), famed for its fertility, stretches from Fcthard westward by Cashel and Tipperary town to Kilmallock. Except for Lough Derg on the Shannon, which flows along the north-western edge of the county, lakes are almost absent. The county is drained by tributaries of the Shannon in the north and by the Suir in the centre and south.

Clonmel, the chief town, is beautifully situated on the Suir. Lower down the same river is Carrick- on-Suir, and further up are Caher and Thurles. Cashel, famous for its ecclesi- astical ruins, Tipperary, and Fethard also lie towards the centre; Nenage, Roscrea, and Templemore in the north.

Posted on April 17th, 2008 under Uncategorized. Tags: abbey, Ahenny, AnnalsLeinster, archbishop, Augustinian Priory, bailey, Baurnadomeeny, Bodhbh Dearg, Brian Boru, Brighid, Caher, Cahir, Cahir Castle, Carrick-on-Suir, carvings, Cashel, castellum, cathedral, chamber, chapels, choir, church, Clonmel, Cnoc Rafann, Co. Tipperary, Co. Waterford, coffin, Cork, Cormac MacCarthaigh, CromwellKiltinane, Desmond, Devils Bit, Donaghmore, Dundrum, Earl of Essex, Earl of Glengall, England, Fcthard, Fethard, Fiachaidh Muilleathan, fosse, Gaelic Tiobraid Arann, Galtees, Golden Vale, High Crosses, Holy Cross Abbey, Ireland, Irish Church, Kerry, Kilcommon, Kilelispeen, Knockgraffon, Knockmealdowns, Limerick, Lismore, Lord Inchiquin, Lords Dunboyne, Lough Derg, Magh Feimhein, monastery, Munster, National Monument, Nenage, Normans, Oola, Ormond, Ormonde, Plantagenets, Privy Council, Rear Cross, River Glashauney, Roman Catholic, Romanesque, Rome, Roscrea, scenes, Shannon, Shevenaman, Spain, St. Edmund, St. Farannan, stones, Suir, Templemore, Thurles, Tickencor House, Tipperary, tower, Tudor, Tudors, Vicars Choral, Viking, Waterford. RSS 2.0 feed. Leave a response, or trackback.