I noticed a cluster of ruins from the Rock of Cashel and I decided to take a closer look at this place. It seems rather isolated from the rest of the town, and perhaps unsurprisingly, it turned out to be an abbey. There seemed to be a proliferation of abbeys here in Cashel. Maybe because Cashel was a seat of the King of Munster or perhaps the magnificent Saint Patrick’s Cathedral drew more people here. Whatever the reason, the Hore Abbey is yet another attraction here in the town of Cashel. It is not too far away from the town and can be reach by a short walk.
Hore Abbey was originally founded by the Benedictine monks but the reigning archbishop of Cashel had a dream that the monks were going to kill him so he expelled them and gave the abbey to the Cistercians. The archbishop lavished the monks with grants of land and the like. The people didn’t take this very well. Either way, seems the Cistercians weren’t very good at making money either and were quite mismanaged financially. Then again, the Cistercians were very conservative folk and making money was probably never one of their goals. The abbey has since fallen to ruin but it is open to the public.
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