A day of motoring .. from Waterford to Cork : Travel Reminiscences
10 day self-drive tour of Ireland : October 2009
We drove from Waterford to Cork, stopping off at Ormond Castle, which was closed, Cahir Castle, Rock of Cashel and the seaside port of Dungarvan.
Motoring through green .. green Irish countryside …
On the outskirts of Carrick-on-Suir, a market town in County Tipperary, is Ormond Castle … a Tudor manor house built by the powerful Butler family, the Earls of Ormonde, who were given their title by the English crown in 1328
The Elizabethan façade was built by Thomas Butler, 10th Earl of Ormonde (some references say he is the 3rd Earl) .. take your pick!! No idea which is right
Unfortunately, as I said, it was closed for the season. Pity, I would have loved to have gone inside, or even strolled around …. I took the photos through the fence
Our next stop was Cahir Castle, built on a rocky island in the River Suir, followed by the Rock of Cashel, a rocky stronghold rising out of the Tipperary plain – both of which I will do separately in later posts
From the Rock of Cashel we made our way back to the coastline to the seaport town of Dungarvan
Dungarvan Castle was built by the Normans in 12th century and strengthened by King John (of Robin Hood fame) and stands strategically at the mouth of the River Colligan. During the Irish Civil War the barracks were taken by the IRA forces who set fire to it before leaving in August 1922. After restoration, it was used as the local Garda Station (police station) until 1987 . Unfortunately it was also closed for the winter season, as were quite a few places of interest during our tour .. they closed at the end of September
From there we made our way to Cork for a two-night stopover
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