towers round ireland

This is a well-preserved Round Tower 25 metres (84 feet) high, standing on a metre (3 feet) high plinth, and with a doorway 3 metres (11 feet) above the ground. The tower was struck by lightening in the last century, but it was repaired around 1840 by Bishop Verschoyle. The original monastic foundation here probably goes back to the 5th century when Saint Patrick appointed Muiredach as first bishop of Killala....

A three storey 16th century granite tower with a vault over the second. It has parapet machicolations.
Together with the reconstructed Dalkey Tower Hall, further along on the opposite side of the street, it is the last of the seven castellated buildings which once stood in the old walled town of Dalkey....

St. Colmcille founded a monastery here about 575 on lands given by King Aedh Ainmire. Not far away, at Culderimne, the saint had been heavily involved in a battle in 561 in a dispute over the ownership of a book! The monastery seems to have been well known from the 9th to the 16th century, and was plundered by Maelseachlain O'Rourke in 1187. It was plundered again in 1267 and 1315, and the last known abbot died in 1503.

The Church of Ireland church stands on the site of an older chu...

An early Christian monastery was founded here by St. Colman Mac Lenen who died around 600, but all its buildings were burned in 1137. The cathedral of the present Church of Ireland Diocese was started around 1250, but because of much modernisation, comparatively little of this early church can be seen. The chancel has been heavily modernised; the chancel arch was blocked up in 1705 and removed completely in 1775. The east window was inserted in1856. The Cathedral's most famous Bishop was George...

There is a somewhat doubtful report that the monastery was following the Benedictine rule in the 8th century. The Vikings burned the monastery in 836 and again in 922. Brian Boru is said to have built one of the churches on the island, while his brother, who died in 1009, was Abbot. Around 1043 a monk at Inishcaltra named Anmchad was ordered to leave the monastery because, as Guest-master, he had offered wine to the monastery's guests without the Abbot's permission. He left for Fulda in Germ...

The foundation of the first monastery is attributed to St. Cronan, otherwise called Mo-Chua, who lived possibly in the 6th century. The monastery is first mentioned in 776.
It was plundered by the Vikings in 832. In 1076 the southern half of Ireland demanded the expulsion of O'Ronain from the abbacy as it was claimed that he held it against the rightful abbot.

This probably means that the monastery had fallen into lay hands by that time. The most important remnant of the monaste...

A St. Bridget ( Not to be confused with the saint of the same name from Kildare) founded a monastery or convent here in the 6th century which was burned in 1094. The 34 foot high stump of a Round Tower with round-headed doorway is all that remains of the old monastery. The church is said to have been built in 1609, but may be earlier. It has an intact east window and partially preserved barrel-vaulting. The staircase leading from the church to the roof forms a separate building beside the ch...

The monastery at this site is believed to have been founded by the great reformer Oenghus the Culdee (815AD). The present church on the sight dates back to the 15th or 16th century, and incorporates part of an older church, with later renovations occurring throughout history. Excavations of the near-by 65-foot Round Tower found human bones and a solid clay floor....

An old monastery was founded here by St. Tighernach in the 6th century. The high Cross probably stood near the Round Tower originally and was later moved to its present position in the Diamond. The cross (9th century?) is in two parts which did not belong together originally. On the west face are Adam and Eve, the Sacrifice of Isaac and Daniel in the Lions' Den, while on the east face are the Adoration of the Magi, the Marriage Feast of Cana, the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes and th...

On the site of a monastery founded by St. MacOlmog, this Round Tower is unique in that the lower part of the tower is hexagonal, and upper part it is round. It has a square-headed doorway. An internal ladder leads to the top which was altered in the last century to make a belfry. Access into the tower is not premitted....