Clonmel (Irish: Cluain Meala meaning the meadow of honey) is situated in County Tipperary, Ireland and is the county town for the South Riding of County Tipperary. It lies in a valley surrounded by several mountains and hills. The Comeragh Mountains are to the south, while east of the town is Slievenamon (Irish for the hill of the women). The River Suir flows through Clonmel on its way to the sea at Waterford harbour.

 

Clonmel was built up significantly in medieval times and many remnants of this past can be found in the town itself. The town was once completely walled and a good section still remains and can be easily seen at Old St. Mary’s Church in Mary Street. One of the former entry points to the town is now the site of the 'West gate', a 19th century construction. Oliver Cromwell, who is infamous in Ireland but respected in Britain, laid siege to the town in 1650. The walls were eventually breached, but not without heavy losses on Cromwell's side.  Clonmel has always been a thriving business town. The inland waterway of the River Suir gave Clonmel its own quays that resulted in substantial trade and commerce in the past. Charles Bianconi was once Mayor of Clonmel and is responsible for initiating Ireland’s first overland public transport system that he started with horse drawn coaches plying between Clonmel and Waterford and later expanded all over Ireland. Clonmel would later be

connected to the Waterford and Limerick Railway.  In recent times Clonmel has been home to many large multi-national companies, particularly in the

pharmaceutical area.

Examples of period architecture include the nineteenth-century St Mary's Roman Catholic Church with ziggurat tower and portico in Irishtown which is reached via the Tudor-style nineteenth-century West Gate; the Greek revival-style Wesleyan Church on Wolfe Tone Street; and the Old St Mary's Church of Ireland with its octagonal tower and tower house. The Main Guard was built by James Butler, Duke of Ormond, in 1675 as the courthouse for the Palatinate or administrative area of County Tipperary. In 1715,  the Palatinate jurisdiction was extinguished. In about 1810, the ground floor, a loggia of open arches, was converted into shops, a basement excavated and additional floors inserted. It has been recently restored to its original form and the open arcade of sandstone columns is once again a feature of the streetscape.

The County Museum in Emmet Street (Tues–Sat 10am–1pm and 2–5pm; admission free; tel 052 61 25399) records local history in a collection of maps, newspapers, postcards and prints of Bianconi's coaches; it also has a small gallery of fine paintings and hosts temporary exhibitions.