Carrick on Suir, 10 m. S.E. of Clonmel, is on the verge of the county, and partly in Waterford, surrounded by magnificent mountain scenery, intermingled with elegant cultivation. See remains of ancient walls; fine old Castle of the Ormond family; Ch. monument of Earl of Tyrone: examine woollen manufactures; visit Shliebnemon, one of the highest mountains in Ireland.Cashel, 10 m. N.W. of Clonmel, affords much research for the antiquary, as it seems to have been dedicated, from the earliest times, both to religious and civil purposes: for here was a pagan temple, and here the monarchs of Munster were crowned, seated on a lofty stone. See modern Cathedral of handsome Grecian architecture; Episcopal Palace; Market House; Sessions House; Charter School. Examine ruins of old Cathedral seated on the rock of Cashel, particularly Cormac's Chapel, of which the inside length, says Ledwich, is 47 feet; the breadth 18; the height of the roof 54. This Chapel has a chancel and nave; and on square pillars, adorned with a lozenge net work, rest round columns as on their pedestals, from which spring the arches. These columns are short and thick, and have bases, tores, capitals, and entablatures, rudely executed: the portal is semicircular, with nail-headed and chevron mouldings; the windows are half circles also. Notice a crypt 53 feet long, and eighteen broad within divided into a nave and choir, the crypt itself being arched and supported by short and massy columns. A figure of an archer mounted on some ideal quadruped is placed over one of the doors, and the canonized bones of Cormac are supposed to lie under the altar. In the body of the cathedral, and on the S. side of the choir, is a lofty monument of the 16th century, of Milar Magrath, Archbishop of Cashel, with an epitaph written by himself. The approach to the cathedral is very fine. See lofty gate and western tower; chapel dedicated to the Apostles, and curious subterranean passage supposed to lead to Hore Abbey; steeple rising from four fine arches; ornaments round the windows. In the town, inquire for the remains of Franciscan Abbey, at the back of Friar-street; also of a Dominican Friary. Near the rock, on a flat amidst some rich scenery, are the ruins of Hore Abbey, of early erection. Its remains are still very fine; but when sketched by Grose, they were indeed noble, with a lofty tower 20 feet square, resting on two fine arches, 30 feet in height. The nave was 60 feet in length, with gothic arcades and lateral aisles; and there may still be traced a small low arched room, evidently a confessional, as it contains niches in the walls with holes for the penitents to speak through. About 3 m. from this city, see the ruins of Athassel Abbey, of the order of St. Augustine, founded by William Fitz Adhelm in 1200: one of the noblest religious structures erected by the early English invaders. These ruins are still very extensive, and present a good idea of Monkish times and manners: the choir, in particular, seems to have been of great magnitude and splendour, 44 feet by 26; and the nave nearly of the same dimensions; the whole having been 117 feet in length. See a curious small chapel in the S.W. corner; also the cloisters which were extensive; the steeple, square and lofty; and in short, the whole mass of arches, walls, windows, monuments, &c. A good engraving of it is given in Ledwich's Antiquities. Emly, about 14 m. W., on the borders of a lake, with ruins of Ch., a large stone cross, and holy well. In this district the picturesque tourist may visit the Galtees, a range of mountains with sides nearly perpendicular, and highly romantic. Golden, a small village, forms a station for several curiosities, with ruins of a Castle, on the river Suir. Sir R. C. Hoare says, "that a round tower, with the river, bridge, &c., form a good subject for the pencil." The accommodations are good, at the Castle Inn. Visit Thomastown, the demesne of Lord Landaff; an ancient mansion; also Suir Castle, residence of Lord Massy. At Shrone Hill, a large unfinished house of Lord Milton's. Tipperary contains merely one long street, but gives name to the county.
Clonmell, 82 m. S.W. of Dublin, is the county town, and stands pleasantly on the river Suir, with good trade and a woollen manufacture. Accommodations good. See Market-house; Court-house; gothic Ch.; modernized Barrack, and Bridge of 20 arches. Few remnants of antiquity, having suffered much from Cromwell. Memorable as the birth-place of the facetious Sterne. Examine Medicinal Well for scorbutic diseases. Ardfinnan is an ancient village 7 m. S.W. from Clonmell, existing previous to the first English invasion, and seated on the river Suir, over which there is a long bridge of 14 arches. The town itself stands low, but close to it is a high rock, bold and picturesque, overlooking the river, selected by King John as a fit situation for an extensive castle, which suffered much from the cannon of the Parliament army in the Civil Wars, yet still presents a very picturesque specimen of military antiquity. It is square, with two lofty towers overlooking the town, and a high ascent to it on all sides, and at a distance seems perfect, as the greatest part of the walls and the principal gate are yet standing; but the inside is a total ruin, no roof remaining except over one apartment. Cahir, 5 m. N.W. from Clonmell, stands upon both sides of the Suir, surrounded by the extensive domain of Lord Cahir, which Mr. Wakefield describes as bearing evident marks of the good effects that may be produced by the patriotic exertions of an ardent mind directed to laudable pursuits, and anxious for improvements, contributing particularly by extensive plantations to increase the beauty of the county, which, in this vicinity, naturally abounds with wild and romantic scenery. See the remains of the old Castle, also the ruins of a very large building at Somerstown, near to Cahir. The ride from Cahir to Clogheen is described by Mr. Wakefield as being an object of research to the inquisitive tourist. He says "that proceeding through a valley which extends from the Galtees, the traveller finds himself between that range on the N., and the Knockmeledown mountains on the S., wild also in the extreme, the whole district being divided into fields, either by grassy dykes or rough stone walls." The latter mountains are exceedingly barren. They are covered solely with heath, which in the spring season is extremely black; and as their great height, at the time when Mr. Wakefield visited this dreary vale, completely intercepted the rays of the sun which lay hid behind them, every thing assumed a dusky appearance, which threw a gloom over the whole visible face of nature. Clogheen is situated upon a stream close to the bottom of these mountains, and the road to it forms a gradual descent of nearly two miles, with a lofty black mountain in front. It is a considerable thoroughfare, and has good accommodations for the tourist either of picturesque or mineralogical research. Ascend a long and lofty mountain about 2½ m. to Baylough in a hollow, with a fine echo either from a bugle-horn or even a musquet. The view towards Clonmell very beautiful. At Kilshielan, see ancient tumulus, called a Fairy hillock. Knocklofty, residence of Lord Donoughmore; good house and grounds.Fethard, 7 m. N.E. of Clonmell, is in a decayed state, but affords accommodation for the eastern district. See remains of ancient walls; and some ruins of monastery. At Kilcooly is a very fine Ch., in excellent preservation, once belonging to a Cistertian Abbey. It is still roofed and entire, with gothic windows of rich tracery, and a handsome square tower, whose light battlements are luxuriantly enveloped in ivy. At Killenaule, see ruins of several old Castles, in the midst of rich scenery.
Nenagh, 30 m. N.W. of Clonmell, is a good station for the northern district. The approach is thus described by Sir R. C. Hoare, who says, "that leaving Birr, he entered the county of Tipperary, passing through a village with mills, and a small Castle; another ruined fort on the left; corn lands; a Castle in ruins on the right; a line of road as straight as if it had been planned by a Roman engineer; an extensive plain, with distant hills; bog; a slight ascent; a large bog on the right; a Ch. rebuilt, with the ruins of the more ancient one annexed. Corn pastures, and bog; road rough in parts; a gentleman's seat on the right; more wood; another seat on the right; the country improves; plain, bounded by some high hills." After this flying picture, the tourist may alight at the New Inn, where he will find good accommodations. The town itself is large and regularly built, with the remains of a Castle, having a circular tower of strong masonry. The antiquary may trace the ruins of an Augustine Friary. In 1370, the English forces were defeated near this town, a small party having assisted Turloch O'Brian, by Brian, nephew of Turloch, who thence assumed his surname. See ruins of Knockalton Castle, 2 m. also Lough Derg, formed by the river Shannon, with fine scenery and antiquities, further noticed in Clare and Galway. Silver mines, so called from some virgin silver having been discovered in the lead ore: see Dunalty Castle. Toomavara, a small village, has ruins of a Preceptory of Knights Templars; also Blane and Knockane Castles.
Ninemile House, that distance N.E. of Clonmell, is merely a travelling stage, but forms a good station for much wild mountain scenery in the Sleivh na Manna range. Near it the ruins of an old Castle, with the handsome residence and well planted grounds at Kilcash.
Roscrea, 30 m. N. of Clonmell, stands on the very verge of the county, and is a thriving and wealthy town, on the post road from Dublin to Limerick, standing in a fertile and populous district. At the entrance of the town the tourist will notice the very curious architectural decorations of the Ch., with its Saxon doors and niches, its sepulchral crosses; and lofty round tower, 80 feet in height and 15 feet in diameter, possessing also the singularity of a window with a pointed arch at the height of 30 feet from the ground. The Castle (1213) is now a barrack. Monaincha, about 3 m. from Roscrea, and about 1 m. S. from the road leading to Burros in Ossory, cannot fail to be highly interesting to the antiquary as the birth-place of the long celebrated monastic order of the Culdees, a Christian but not Roman Catholic sect, that commenced in the 6th century, according to Ledwich, in this remote corner of the world, in a little island in the midst of a bog, sometimes called Innisnabeo, or the "Island of the living." Columba was their founder, as may be seen at large in Ledwich's Antiquities of Ireland, p. 56; and it is a curious fact at the present moment, that so adverse were the Culdees to the tenets and practice of the Church of Rome, as to draw down the wrath of the Vatican, and the festival of St. Columba was forbidden in the other parts of Ireland. The bog in which these ruins are now to be seen was formerly a lake: for Giraldus Cambrensis describes it as such in 1185, with two islands, one containing a Ch. and the other a Chapel; a fact that must render a visit interesting to the geologist. The geologist who directs his research to the bog of Allen will naturally visit this bog of Monela, which is but a continuation of it; and here he will not fail to notice the extraordinary fact, that what was the lesser is now become the greater isle. The easternmost of the two is the largest, and contains about 2 acres; in it stands the Culdean Abbey, of which considerable vestiges still remain. The tourist will particularly observe the arch of the choir, which is semicircular or Saxon, and on which sculpture seems to have exhausted her treasures: a nebule moulding adorns the outward semicircle of the portal, a double nebule with beads the second, a chevron the third, interspersed with the triangular frette, roses and other ornaments. It is also decorated with chalices, artfully made at every section of the stone, so as to conceal the joints. Here the ruins afford some research for the mineralogist, as part of the stones used are of a whitish grit, brought from the neighbouring hills of Ballaghmore, but being porous they have suffered much from the weather; whilst the columns of the choir are of a harder texture, close-grained, reddish in colour, and once highly polished. These have evidently been quarried on the S.W. side of the bog, and are a species of schistus, splitting into laminÆ of six feet long, with which most of the abbey is cased without. Notwithstanding this, some ashen keys having in past ages been dropped on the walls and insinuated into the interstices, they have now become large trees, and add much to the solemnity and singularity of the place: unfortunately, the action of the roots on the walls threatens a speedy ruin to great part of this venerable edifice.
Thurles, 18 m. N. of Clonmell, is not only a place of considerable inland trade, but has long been a favourite residence of the Catholic primates of Munster, who carefully preserve various relics of St. Cormac. Here are the ruins of an ancient Castle, built upon a very extensive plan by the first Earl of Ormond in the 14th century. It surrounds a large area, and is flanked by several towers both round and square, with a lofty semicircular gateway. Like many other castles in this part of the country, it is a monument of the ravages of the Parliamentary forces during the civil wars. See ruins of St. Mary's Ch., built in 15th century, now falling rapidly into dilapidation; neat modern Ch.; good Market-house; Barrack, formerly a mansion of the Llandaff family; tower and some portion of an ancient Ch. of a Carmelite monastery. About 2 m. S.W. on the banks of the Suir are the very extensive remains of the Cistertian Abbey of the Holy Cross, founded before the 12th century by Donogh king of Limerick, and long esteemed as a spot of the greatest sanctity; and even in latter days considered as a very fine specimen of sacerdotal architecture. The Steeple, or Square Tower, is lofty, and attracts the eye at first approach: it is supported by a lofty Gothic arch, and its workmanship is highly finished. The body of the Ch. consists of a nave and aisles, not very profuse in decoration; but the chapels have been highly ornamented. The effect on entering the nave is very impressive, being a noble expanse of 58 feet by 49, with an arcade of 4 arches on each side opening into the lateral aisles. Passing through the choir, and turning to the S., the visitor discovers two small chapels, each about 10 feet square, and between which is a double range of Gothic arches, supported by twisted pillars, a spot supposed to be so holy that the monks were always waked there previous to interment. Two other chapels are seen on the north side; and in the eastern chapel, already noticed, there is a very curious Gothic tomb, without inscription, but said by tradition to be the sepulchre of a "good woman," who brought many holy relics to the abbey. Longford Pass, a small village on the road into Kilkenny, has ruins of several old Castles in its vicinity; also Newark Park. At Temple More, a neat and well built village, see handsome Ch. and spire; elegant mansion of the Carden family, and a romantic seat and demesne belonging to the Marquis of Lansdown; with numerous vestiges of ancient Castles.
