Castles of County Tipperary: Cahir, Cashel and the Suir Valley
From Cahir on its river island to the Rock of Cashel, the Suir valley is a county-sized lesson in Irish castle-building.
County Tipperary sits at the heart of the old kingdom of Munster, and its castles show it. In one county you can walk the walls of one of Ireland’s largest and best-preserved castles, climb among the buildings of the old royal seat of Munster, stand in a Tudor great hall and look at the circular keep of a Butler stronghold. The Suir connects several of them, and the castle at Ardfinnan is one.
Cahir Castle
Cahir Castle stands on a rocky island in the River Suir, in the middle of Cahir town. Heritage Ireland describes it as one of Ireland’s largest and best-preserved castles, built in the 13th century as a stronghold of the Butler family. It was considered nearly impregnable until the Earl of Essex captured it in 1599 using heavy artillery, and was besieged twice more during the Irish Confederate Wars. Wikipedia adds that it surrendered to Cromwell in 1650 without a shot being fired.
Visiting. The castle is OPW-run and open all year apart from a closure from 24 to 30 December. Hours vary by season, an audiovisual show tells its story, and it has appeared on screen in productions including Excalibur and The Tudors. Check Heritage Ireland for current hours and ticket prices.
Rock of Cashel
For centuries this limestone outcrop in the Golden Vale was the seat of the kings of Munster; Brian Boru was proclaimed King of Munster there in the late tenth century. In 1101 King Muirchertach Ua Briain gave the fortress to the Church, and the buildings you see today are those of the church that followed.
The round tower dates from about 1100 and stands 28 metres tall. Cormac’s Chapel, begun in 1127 and consecrated in 1134, contains the only surviving Romanesque frescoes in Ireland. The Gothic cathedral was built between 1235 and 1270, with a 15th-century tower house at its west end. In 1647 Parliamentarian troops under Murrough O’Brien, Earl of Inchiquin, sacked the Rock, and the Confederate troops and Catholic clergy there were massacred.
Visiting. The site is managed by the OPW. Heritage Ireland says Cormac’s Chapel can be seen on guided tour only, that interior tickets are limited, and that this exposed site “is subject to closure at short notice” in bad weather. Check the official page before you go.
Ormond Castle, Carrick-on-Suir
Carrick-on-Suir is where the Butlers built for comfort. Thomas, 10th Earl of Ormond, joined a new manor house to an earlier medieval riverside castle in 1565. Heritage Ireland calls it the finest example of an Elizabethan manor house in Ireland, and the great hall has notable stucco plasterwork with portraits of Queen Elizabeth and Edward VI. It is OPW-run and open seasonally, with a house tour and audiovisual display; see the official page for dates.
Nenagh Castle
Nenagh’s castle was begun by Theobald Walter, 1st Baron Butler, and completed by his son around 1220. What survives is the circular keep, over 30 metres high with a base diameter of 16 metres, which Wikipedia describes as one of the finest of its kind in Ireland. The castle and grounds were renovated between 2009 and 2013 and are open to visitors.
Roscrea Castle
Roscrea’s gate tower, a three-storey building about 27 metres high, dates to around 1280 on the site of a motte and tower ordered by King John in 1213, according to Wikipedia. Beside it is Damer House, a Queen Anne-style Georgian house built in 1728, saved from demolition in the 1960s after a campaign led by Desmond Guinness and the Irish Georgian Society. The castle is a National Monument.
Ardfinnan Castle
Ardfinnan sits on a rocky incline above a ford on the River Suir, four miles south of Cahir and seven miles west of Clonmel. Prince John built it in 1185 on his first expedition to Ireland, alongside Lismore Castle in County Waterford. Maurice de Prendergast was its first governor. Irish kings captured it later that year after a feigned retreat drew its garrison out.
The Templars probably built the round tower on the site, and the Hospitallers held it after 1312. Henry Ireton besieged it in February 1650, and after the garrison surrendered, the departing troops slighted it. The Prendergasts of Newcastle restored it around 1846 as a country house, and John Mulcahy of the Ardfinnan Woollen Mills bought it in 1921. It is a private residence and is not open to the public, but the castle, the village bridge and the watermill are all protected structures.
Planning a Suir Valley castle trip
Cahir, Ardfinnan and Carrick-on-Suir all sit on the Suir, and Cashel and Nenagh lie to the north and west. A sensible plan for a long weekend is Cahir first, Cashel second, Carrick-on-Suir third, with Ardfinnan as an unhurried stop on the road between Cahir and Clonmel, where you can stop at the bridge and village below the castle. Always confirm opening times and tickets with the managing body, as seasons and closures change.
If this has whetted your appetite, read our guide to the best castles in Ireland, learn how to read a Norman castle, or browse the hub of castles of Ireland.
