towers historical ireland

The ruins of Kilmacduagh Monastic Settlement lie close to the border of counties Galway and Clare, on the eastern fringes of the Burren. because it is somewhat off the beaten track, it tends to be rather unjustly overlooked as one of the most interesting examples of early monastic architecture in the west of Ireland.

The monastery's most notable feature is the 11th/12th century Round Tower measuring 111ft to the tip of its cap. The tower is unusual in that it tilts, like its more famou...

This tower was built in the 1300's and is the only remaining part of the old Abbey, which was once here and the Chapel of which Brian Boru was waked after his death in the Battle of Clontarf in 1014....

Irish Round Towers were built from the 800 A.D. to 1000 A.D. period, during the Viking invasions. They were built near churches of monastic sites, for the safety of clergy, shrines and treasures: also as watch towers and belfries....

A strategic tower known as the Black Castle, guarding the very early river crossing. Access direct from the tow-path....

The Round Tower Lusk: The most striking visual feature of the area. Built around the 9th century by the local monks, to protect themselves from Viking invasions. The first recorded Viking invasion was in 795 when the monastery at Lambay Island was plundered. The area that can be seen from the top of the Tower covers 20 sq. miles....

The modern road cuts through a monastery founded by St Cronan who died between 600 and 620....

A Round Tower on a point at the entrance to the seaport, looking exactly like one of Ireland's medieval monastic towers is 92 ft high and built of granite. It commemorates James Chaine MP 'father of the port' who (as the inscription says) linked Larne with the United States.

On the Curran point, where the Stone Age flint implements may still be found, stands the shell of Olderfleet Castle, a 13th century ruin.

The construction of the famous Antrim Coast Road is explained a...

The Round Tower, measuring 92 ft. in height is on the far side of the Cathedral from the Vicar's Choral and dates to the 12th century since it has a Romanesque doorway. Round Towers were used mainly as belfries but could also have been used as a place of refuge....

The early Christian monastery of St Daig is marked by the only surviving feature, a Round Tower, which can be seen in the village.

In the 12th century the Augustinians built another monastery on higher ground alongside the Norman Motte which stands above the village.

Little remains of the monastery....

A well-preserved Round Tower, which stands to a height of 92 feet, though the conical cap was reset after the tower was struck by lightening in 1819. It has one unique feature: a ringed cross carved in relief on a stone above the lintel of the doorway on the north-eastern portion of the tower. The cross does not help us to date the tower which, however, is likely to have been built in the 10th or 11th century. Together with a large bullaun stone nearby, it is the only monumental survivor of a...