Hore Abbey is a ruined Cistercian monastery near the Rock of Cashel

Rock of Cashel

The Rock of Cashel , also known as Cashel of the Kings and St. Patrick's Rock, is a historic site in Ireland's province of Munster, located at Cashel, South Tipperary.-History:...

, County Tipperary

County Tipperary

County Tipperary is a county of Ireland. It is located in the province of Munster and is named after the town of Tipperary. The area of the county does not have a single local authority; local government is split between two authorities. In North Tipperary, part of the Mid-West Region, local...

, Republic of Ireland

Republic of Ireland

Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...

.

'Hore' is thought to derive from 'iubhair' – yew

Taxus

Taxus is a genus of yews, small coniferous trees or shrubs in the yew family Taxaceae. They are relatively slow-growing and can be very long-lived, and reach heights of 1-40 m, with trunk diameters of up to 4 m...

 tree. The former Benedictine

Benedictine

Benedictine refers to the spirituality and consecrated life in accordance with the Rule of St Benedict, written by Benedict of Nursia in the sixth century for the cenobitic communities he founded in central Italy. The most notable of these is Monte Cassino, the first monastery founded by Benedict...

 abbey at Hore was given to the Cistercians by Archbishop

Archbishop

An archbishop is a bishop of higher rank, but not of higher sacramental order above that of the three orders of deacon, priest , and bishop...

 David MacCearbhaill (in 1270), who later entered the monastery

Monastery

Monastery denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in community or alone .Monasteries may vary greatly in size – a small dwelling accommodating only...

. He endowed the Abbey generously with land, mills and other benefices previously belonging to the town. The story, beloved of tour-guides, that he evicted the Benedictines after a dream that they were about to kill him, is unlikely to be true and probably arises from the Archbishop's 'interference' with the commerce of the city of Cashel

Cashel, County Tipperary

Cashel is a town in South Tipperary in Ireland. Its population was 2936 at the 2006 census. The town gives its name to the ecclesiastical province of Cashel. Additionally, the cathedra of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly was originally in the town prior to the English Reformation....

. His disfavour of the established orders in Cashel certainly caused local resentment. He was resented by some of the towns-people, being considered too much in favour of the Irish by the more Anglicised.
This is evident in the objection by the thirty-eight local brewers to the levy of two flagons out of every brewing and in the murder of two monks who were visiting the town.

Chronology

• 1269 Archbishop David MacCearbhaill made profession of the Cistercian rule though remaining as Archbishop of Cashel
  Archbishop of Cashel
  The Archbishop of Cashel is an archiepiscopal title which takes its name after the town of Cashel, County Tipperary in Ireland. The title is still in use in the Roman Catholic Church, but in the Church of Ireland it was downgraded to a bishopric in 1838....
  
  
• 1270 Founded from Mellifont. The last Cistercian foundation in Ireland before the dissolution of the monasteries
• 1540 Dissolved and property transferred to James Butler, 9th Earl of Ormond. Monks continued to serve the local parish
  Parish
  A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...
  
  . Later occupied as private dwellings
• 1561 Lands granted by Elizabeth I to Sir Henry Radcliffe

Architecture

Hore Abbey is distinctive among Irish Cistercian monasteries in that the cloister

Cloister

A cloister is a rectangular open space surrounded by covered walks or open galleries, with open arcades on the inner side, running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle or garth...

 lies to the north. The siting of the Abbey, with the Rock of Cashel close by to the north, may explain this departure from the usual arrangement.

See also

• List of abbeys and priories in Ireland (County Tipperary)

External links

• Photo Gallery from Hore Abbey