towers round ireland

An old monastery was founded here by St. Finian the Leper in the 7th century. It is referred to as existing in 992, and a stone church here is mentioned in 1044. The western part of the existing church is the oldest. It was finished in 1158 by Auliff Mor na Cuimsionach, a member of the O'Donoghue family, who was buried here in 1166. It has a Romanesque west doorway, with the innermost order plain, and the two outer ones bearing Romanesque decoration. The east window, with a head and a flowe...

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...

The old monastery was founded by St. Benan or Benignus, St. Patrick's successor at Armagh, and the land for it was given by the local chieftain, Lugaid, who had been baptised by St. Patrick. It was burned in 1114.

There are portions of a Round Tower with a round-headed doorway. The Franciscans founded a monastery here in 1428 and built the existing church which has a partly blocked-up trefoil-headed east window. A fragment of a Romanesque doorway indicates the former existence of a R...

The church and Round Tower stand on the site of an Early Christian monastery founded by St. Tola who died between 733 and 737. Where the church stands there was a 12th century Romanesque nave-and-chancel church with a plain chancel arch and a wonderfully decorated west doorway above which was an ornamental lancet window. Three narrow lancet windows were inserted in the east gable early in the 13th century.

Some considerable time later the church must have fallen into decay. Possibly...

The monastery at Kells would appear to have been first founded in 804 by monks from St. Colmcille's foundation at Iona who were fleeing from the Viking invasions and seeking a safer place for their treasures. In 877 reliquaries of the saint were transferred to Kells. The monastery was raided by the Vikings in 919, 950 and 969.

The greatest treasure of the monastery - the Book of Kells, now in Trinity College, Dublin - which had possibly been written here in the early 9th century, wa...

Round Tower and Crosses: St. Dermot founded a monastery here which was plundered by the Vikings in 841 and again in 867. Cormac Mac Cuilleannain, the famous scholar, King and Bishop of Cashel, was buried here after his head had been cut off in battle in 908. the monastery was plundered in 1048, and the last known abbot of the monastery died in 1073. Between the entrance gate and the church is a reconstructed Romanesque doorway belonging to a vanished church. The Round Tower was built with...

The earliest monastery was founded here by St. Declan who is alleged to have been a bishop in Munster when St. Patrick arrived, and who is one of the main supports for the belief in the existence of Christianity in the south of Ireland before St. Patrick. Ardmore was recognised as a Cathedral and had its bishop in 1170. In 1591 it was leased to Sir Walter Raleigh who only held it for 2 years. In 1642 the confederate army hiding in the Church and Round Tower were besieged by the English. When...

In the 17th and 18th centuries Kinsale was an important English naval base. This is reflected in the architecture of the town which, with its 18th century flavour and a whiff of the distant southern shores reached by its mariners, makes Kinsale into the town with what, in my opinion, is the most individual character in the country. In the town and its surroundings are some interesting monuments. St. Multose Church: The present Church of Ireland Parish church, founded probably by de Cogan...

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...