Ireland.com

County Tipperary - The Premier County

Holycross Abbey, river view and the Rock of Cashel

It has been immortalised in the First World War marching song, "It's a Long Way to Tipperary".

But the county deserves a place on the map for plenty of other reasons including its world-renowned horse-breeding. Coolmore Stud is home of some of the most famous race-horses including Rock of Gibraltar, the Duke of Marmalade and Sadler's Wells, Europe's greatest sire.

The county is also the birthplace of Tony Ryan, one of Ireland's greatest entrepreneurs and founder of Ryanair, while the village of Ballyporeen can claim former US president Ronald Reagan as one of its kin.

It also brought the country the GAA – founded in Thurles in 1884 – and some of its biggest cheese and meat producing brands, named after the Galtee Mountains and the Golden Vale pastures in the basin of the river Blackwater.

The county is one of the largest in Ireland and is split into two administrative regions, North Tipperary and South Tipperary.

Its main tourist attractions are its waterways – the Shannon, the Suir and, Lough Derg. The pretty villages of Terryglass, Dromineer and Killaloe are popular too and Tipp’s famous monuments including the dramatic ruins on the Rock of Cashel and Cahir Castle.

Points of Interest

Rock of Cashel
The Rock of Cashel is a large limestone outcrop which rises steeply above the Golden Vale. It's one of Ireland’s great historic sites and home of King Cormac’s Royal Chapel. The complex on the rock contains a 12th century High Cross, Round Tower and Romanesque Chapel, along with a 13th century Gothic Cathedral and a restored 15th Century Vicar's Church.

Cahir Castle
An imposing 13th century castle situated on an island and now fully restored.

Ormond Castle
One of the best examples of an Elizabethan Manor House built in the 1560s, and remains Ireland’s only major unfortified dwelling from the age. It features fine plasterwork interiors.