The Tipperary Antiquarian

  Young describes this (p98) as "the oldest surviving tomb surround in Ireland". It comes from Athassel Abbey and is now located in the Vicars Choral at the Rock of Cashel. It is very interesting as it is made from Dundry oolite and is likely to have been brought from Bristol in England. (Probably in rough stone and carved in Ireland). I'm not sure if it is the oldest surround but seemingly it can be dated by apparent fire damage to the stone which is recorded in ancient records as being either 1319 or 1329. So that is its minimum age. It is suggested that it may have been designed as the tomb surround for Walter de Burgh (d. 1271) and been reused for the Red Earl of Ulster (d. 1326). Additional fragments were found in the 1970s and are now housed in the OPW depot in Kilkenny and Manning wrote about them below. It also features a photo of the main panel in-situ at Athassel. https://www.jstor.org/stable/25503305  

  The Tipperary Vindicator and Limerick Reporter, Friday Evening, July 17, 1868 Reminiscences of a journalist and notes on old events No. CCLXXXVI (186) (Written for the Reporter and Vindicator) A visit to Duharrow ; Being another chapter in the history of Killaloe and the Dal Cais, By Maurice Lenihan, Author of The History of Limerick, Reminiscences of a Journalist, &c., &c., &c. I visited Duharrow, or “the mountainous country,” in the Barony of Owney and Arra,, County of Tipperary, this day (Sunday, July 12 th , 1868). I was accompanied by train to Killaloe by Mr. Tr____y and M____c, and, having written to Mr. Tu____y the night before to procure a care, which he failed in doing, we got a good car, of which we bargained with the owner, Miss, Tu____y, of Ballina to convey us to Duharrow, in order to view the tombs and monuments in the old church-yard of Castletown Arra. The drive was exceedingly beautiful. We passed on, leaving Derry Castle, the residence of W...