Monday, June 23, 2008

The Rock of Cashel

Going between Cork and Dublin on a misty, moisty day, we visited -- surprise -- more ruined abbeys, monasteries and churches. Irish Catholics built a lot of them and the English, particularly under Cromwell during his fairly brutal foray into Ireland after winning the first part of the English Civil War in England, pulled quite of few of them down, particularly if they looked like they could be fortified and defended.

In 1647, Cashel was sacked by English Parliamentarian troops. The Irish Confederate troops there were massacred, as were the Roman Catholic clergy. The troops looted or destroyed many important religious artifacts.

Still an amazing amount of the architecture and even some of the art, in terms of sculpture, carvings, and even some fresco paintings, survived. A big building of stone was hard to completely destroy in 1647. Here is an example of a stone carving that reflects Norse interlace motifs.

We really liked the place. Here is a picture of Sandy and me in the main cathedral nave, whose roof was pulled down in the 1700s for some reason. So we are all hooded and hatted against the rain.

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