towers round ireland

The oldest building on the site is a round Tower with round-headed door way and windows.
On the north face, about six feet above the ground, are much weathered carvings of birds (cock and hen?). Beside the tower stands a medieval church, possibly late 13th century in date, though much altered in the 15th century.

The west doorway preserves some fine stonework. Unusual features are the heads (probably 15th century) of bishops or abbots, a king and others on the outer side of the doo...

An old monastic site associated with St. Patrick. There are remains of a Round Tower, which may never have been finished. It has a square-headed doorway and the holes used for scaffolding on it were never blocked up. Nearby is a 15th century parish church.

The semicircular wall surrounding the buildings obviously incorporates the old monastic cashel or surrounding wall. East of the church, and about 100 yards from the sea, there is a passage inside the wall which has an unusual poin...

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...

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....

Martello towers get their name from a place in Corsica named Mortella where there was a round tower which proved impregnable when attacked by the English in 1794, twenty-six years after Napoleon's birth on the island.

When, in 1804, it looked as if he might turn the tables and invade England, the English built similar towers around the coast of Ireland which, they feared, Napoleon might use as the 'back door' to England. Though the fears proved groundless, the towers still stand as a m...

The only remnant of the early monastery founded by St. Mochua (died 657) is a very well-preserved Round Tower, 96 feet high. It is one of the fattest Round Towers in the country. It is unique in that it has a double Romanesque doorway with fine ornamentation including heads with intertwined hair. Bring a pair of binoculars with you to see the detail, as it is high up off the ground. There is also a Romanesque window in the their floor. The dearths of monks in the old monastery are reported...

the church is alleged to have been founded by St. Patrick, but it is more likely that it was his disciple Lughaidh (died 515-16) who founded the monastery. St. Ronan, who cursed Suibhne Geilt and caused him to go mad, was abbot here and died of the great plague in 664. The High King, Aedh Finnlaigh, died here in 876. The monastery was plundered by the Irish in 908, by the Danes in 978 and again by the Irish in 1043. The Round Tower and a High Cross still survive from the old monastery. The...

St. Patrick is said to have founded the first monastery here. There is a well preserved Round Tower, which lacks its top windows. It is to be suspected that these originally existed, but were not included in the restoration works when the conical cap was replaced about 150 years ago.

The tower is unusual in that there is a Crucifixion about the round-headed doorway, and there are heads beside the arch. The nearby church was built in the 15th century, but it replaces a Romanesque c...

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...

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...