Fethard

A small Tipperary town on the Clashawley River, founded by the Normans around 1201 and still ringed by much of its medieval wall, in places 7.8 metres high, which makes it one of the best examples of a walled town in Ireland. Cromwell, who came in 1650, described its 'very good wall with round and square bulwarks'. Today the town's economy leans on that heritage and on horse racing and breeding.

The first real settlement dates from 1201, when a Norman lord, probably William de Braose, settled here and laid out a market, church and regular streets under a borough charter. De Braose lost it in 1208 after a dispute with King John, and from 1215 it belonged to the archbishops of Cashel until the 16th century. An Augustinian friary was founded outside the walls early in the 14th century. Walls are first mentioned in 1292, when the king allowed tolls to fund 'the inclosing of their vill', and a grant of 1375 specified stone. Edward VI gave a charter in 1552–3, and a second came in 1608, helped by Sir John Everard, describing Fethard as 'a place of strength surrounded with a fair strong wall'.

In 1647, after Inchiquin's sack of Cashel, the town submitted to him, and in 1650 it agreed terms with Cromwell, who stationed troops 'in an old abbey in the suburbs'. By 1718 parts of the town were decaying, and in 1725 the last Everard baronet sold the family's property to Mr Barton, a Bordeaux wine merchant, whose new house became a military barracks in the early 19th century. Most of the remaining medieval fabric, including all but one gate, was demolished in the 19th century, but much of the wall survives.

Drawn from the History section of the Wikipedia article on Fethard ↗, rewritten here and adding nothing it does not say; licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

• St. Patrick's Well, Clonmel · holy well · 13 km
• St Patrick's Rock · round tower · 14 km
• Moorstown Castle · castle · 12 km
• Castle Gurteen de la Poer · castle · 14 km
• Kilcash Castle · castle · 14 km
• Rock of Cashel · castle · 14 km

Straight-line distances from the town centre, from each site's documented coordinates.

• The Comeraghs — Crotty’s rock · William Crotty the highwayman kept to these mountains, and a lake and a crag still carry his name. He was hanged in Waterford in 1742.

All of these are pinned on the Hidden Ireland map.