Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
tury
Hore Abbey
inthefieldsbelow(free,alwaysopenandpeaceful). Theabbeyisnamed
for the Cistercian monks who wore simple gray robes, roughly the same color as hoarfrost
(the ice crystals that form on morning grass).
Gaze up at the
round tower,
the first stone structure built on the Rock after the Church
took over in 1101. The shape of these towers is unique to Ireland. Though you might think
towers like this were chiefly intended as a place to hide in case of invasion, they were
instead used primarily as bell towers and lookout posts. (Enemies could smoke out any-
one inside the tower, and with enough warning, monks were better off concealing them-
selves in the countryside.) The tower stands 92 feet tall, with walls over 3 feet thick. The
doorway, which once had a rope ladder, was built high up not only for security, but also
because having it at ground level would have weakened the foundation of the top-heavy
structure. The interior once contained wooden floors connected by ladders, and served as
safe storage for the monks' precious sacramental treasures. The tower's stability is im-
pressive when you consider its age, the winds it has endured, and the shallowness of its
foundation (only five feet under present ground level).
Continue walking around the cathedral's north transept, noticing the square holes in the
exterior walls. During construction, wooden scaffolding was anchored into these holes. On
your way to the cathedral entrance, in the corner where the north transept joins the nave,
you'll pass a small, easy-to-miss
well.
Without this essential water source, the Rock could
never have withstood a siege and would not have been as valuable to clans and clergy. In
1848, a chalice was dredged from the well, likely thrown there by fleeing medieval monks
intending to survive a raid. They didn't make it. (If they had, they would have retrieved
the chalice.)
• Now enter the...
Cathedral:
Traditionally, the choir of a church (where the clergy celebrate Mass)
faces east, while the nave stretches off to the west. Because this cathedral was squeezed
between the preexisting chapel, round tower, and drinking well, the builders were forced
to improvise—giving it an extra-long choir and a cramped nave.
Built between 1230 and 1290, the church's pointed arches and high, narrow windows
proclaim the Gothic style of the period (and let in more light than earlier Romanesque
churches). Walk under the central bell tower and look up at the rib-vaulted
ceiling.
The
hole in the middle was for a rope used to ring the church bells. The wooden roof is long
gone. When the Protestant Lord Inchiquin (who became one of Oliver Cromwell's gener-
als) attacked the Catholic town of Cashel in 1647, hundreds of townsfolk fled to the sanc-
tuary of this cathedral. Inchiquin packed turf around the exterior and burned the cathedral
down, massacring those inside.
