Munster

Culge Mumhan

Munster (Culge Mumhan) is the largest province in Ireland and contains within it Irelands oldest kingdom.

It is the very essence of everything Irish, the soft purples of the mountains, the dazzling chess board maze of corn fields seen from the mountains on a sunny day, quaint white washed cottages, deep and magical forest glens, a rugged storm lashed coastline with rocky crags, sandy bays and bizarre windswept trees, and it is said to be the lushest of the four ancient provinces of Ireland.

The moonscape of the Burren contrasts starkly with the softness of Kilarney, the soft lilt in the famous names of Clare, Limerick, Tipperary, the dairy land of Cashel of the Kings where the ancient kings worshipped on a rock above the plains. - It's all packed into this wonderful part of Ireland.

This is the ancient land of the Mumonians, the `ster' suffix a Scandinavian addition to the ancient name of 'Muma' as it is with Ulster and Leinster. Dubliners say that Munster is a little England.. maybe.

The Anglo Norman invaders certainly played a large part in moulding the region and its people, as did later emigrants from Elizabethan times. Munster has always been perceived geographically as cut off from the rest of Ireland through the mountains of Slieve Bloom, the bogs of Offaly and the river Shannon. This has also made Munster a land of enduring myths and magic, with gods figuring prominently in all the place names and the rich legends of this wonderful part of Ireland.

Approaching from the East, through the breathtaking Comeragh Mountains of County Waterford, travelling down the sharp fall of the 'Vee' pass is an exhilarating way to enter the province. Arriving at Youghal, an old English settlement town is a fine introduction to the Southern coast and the first taste of the wonderful scenery to follow.