towers round mayo

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....

The founder of the first monastery here was St. Senach who was created Bishop of Aghagower by St. Patrick. The Round Tower, which is preserved up to the fourth floor, has a round-headed doorway. The present ground-floor entrance is modern, and the roof is said to have been struck by lighting. The nearby church was built in the 15th century, but with fragments of an earlier church....

The stump of a Round Tower which is preserved up to the third floor. The round-headed doorway is unusual in that it is only about a foot above the ground. The original monastery was founded by St. Mochua, who was adopted, reared and educated by St. Comghall of Bangor and who died in 637. The monastery was destroyed by fire in 1179....

A well-preserved round Tower which is lower and fatter than most examples. It had a round-headed doorway (now blocked up), and flat - and gable-headed windows. The church beside it, although built in the 18th century, incorporates a 16th century mullioned window and a small plaque with the Crucifixion dated 1625. The first church here was founded by St. Patrick and, because of this, the Archbishops of Armagh long claimed jurisdiction over it. But in 1351 the Pope authorised the Archbishop of...