Returning to the Rock

Wednesday, August 27th

This morning Waterford was on full alert. The waterfront was crowded with emergency personnel, police officers, flashing blue lights and a helicopter hovering over the bridge. With grey misty rain falling and the wind gusting the river looked rough, cold, and fast moving as they searched for someone who was sighted jumping from the bridge. An unconcerned local told me that it happens all the time.

Our goal for the morning was a visit to the Rock of Cashel. I had found the large ruins set on the hilltop memorable when I visited fourteen years ago and I thought Mike should see it. As we neared the town the Rock came into view and ...groan...a large part of it was covered in scaffolding. To further lessen the enjoyment the wind was blowing a gale, hard enough that we had to brace ourselves to remain upright. The reward was another Irish tour with a mix of the science of preservation, a bit of geology, religious, local, and Irish history with a few "true" Irish stories thrown in. Our guide had a very entertaining way of presenting a mass of information in a  limited time whilst huddling us in confined, protected spaces to stop getting blown away. After attempting to hold our cameras still for photos we climbed over a wall and through the meadow to another ruin. Centuries ago this was built as a replacement church when the church on the hill was deteriorating. Today preservation is in progress at the Rock of Cashel but not the "newer" church. Despite the less than ideal conditions I loved the return visit.

Interior of Church

View to the outside

Ruins of Cashel

Cashel under construction

Then we were back on the road, northeast this time, for the thirty miles to arrive in Kilkenny. Within minutes we were seated in a pub on the River Nore for a late lunch. After checking into our B and B we crossed the street, entered through a gate and strolled down manicured acres of parkland to the door of Kilkenny Castle. During our half hour wait for our tour we watched the free video of the history of the region and the castle and ventured back out into the drizzle to walk the castle's exterior and see the nearby house and gardens that once belonged to the Butler family who owned the castle from the late 14th century until 1967. The original stable block is now the craft and design complex, home to a gallery, several jeweler's workshops and boutiques of local arts and crafts. 

Kilkenny Castle

Butler House gardens

Our tour was done at warp speed with the guide constantly looking at his watch and reminding us that he had to have us out of the building by 5:30. That said, he was knowledgeable and organized in his presentation. We were fascinated to learn that the Butler family was exactly that, butlers to the royal line. As a consequence they received a percentage of sales of all wines consumed. They became wealthy, changed the family name to Butler and ruled the area for 500 years until death and inheritance taxes and a dismal failure to produce male heirs ended the dynasty. As in many of the Irish castles and large manor homes the family ran out of money and auctioned off everything that could be moved out the door before they left the premises vacant and in disrepair. In this house a number of original furnishing and a large portion of the portrait gallery have been returned and the rest filled with pieces appropriate to the time and the elegance of castle.

Dinner was mediocre food at a pub named Kytelers that has been continually in business since the 1200's. You would think they could have perfected their cooking skills in that amount of time. We chose the pub to listen to an evening of Irish music and for that we were not disappointed. A six man group played traditional music and told tales while we ate. We then moved to another bar in the building where two men with guitars and a banjo played a series of reels and sang a set of traditional songs. The feet were tapping and we sang along as best we could.