Annotation:Rocks of Cashel (2) (The)
X:1 T:Rocks of Cashel [2] M:C| L:1/8 O:”Irish” R:Country Dance B:Aird – Selection of Scotch, English, Irish and Foreign Airs, vol. 4 (1796, No. 29, p. 11) Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:D df a2 b/a/g/f/ a2|df a2 b/a/g/f/ e2|df a2 b/a/g/f/ ac'|d'b af geef:| |:df {g}f/4e/2<f {g}f/4e/2<f {g}f/4e/2<f|df {g}f/4e/2<f geef|df {g}f/4e/2<f {g}f/4e/2<f {g}f/4e/2<f|d'baf geef:|]
ROCK(S) OF CASHEL [2], THE (Carraig na g-Caiseal). Irish, Scottish; March (cut time). G Major (O’Neill/1850): D Major (O’Neill/1913). Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB (Aird, O’Neill/1913): AABBC (O’Neill/1850): AABBCC (Gow). Cashel is a town in County Tipperary famous for the huge outcropping of limestone rock which looms nearby, upon which can be found the ruins of both the town's ancient fortress and a cathedral—the Rock of Cashel. It was early the seat of the kings of Munster, the Eoghanachta, and Brian Boru was crowned there in AD 977. In 1101 Muircheartach O’Brien ceded the Rock of Cashel to the Church, and it was a religious center until sacked by Cromwellian forces in 1647.
At least one version of the tune was known in the mid-18th century for it was a favorite tune of the Reverend Dr. Campbell (a friend of Edmund Burke, Johnson, Boswell and Goldsmith) who stated it was danced to at Cashel in 1775. It “was a tune which seemed to inspire particular animation,” he wrote in his 1778 work A Philosophical Survey of the South of Ireland (O’Neill, 1910 & 1913). Glasgow musician gives the provenance as "Irish" in his 1802 collection. Belfast collector Edward Bunting [1] (1773-1843) published a version of “Rocks of Cashel” in his third collection under the title “Chorus Jig (The).” The melody appears in the music manuscript copybook of Ann Winnington, c. 1810, a resident of New York.