towers historical ireland

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....

For many, Round towers have come to be seen as a symbol of Ireland and a direct link with the glories of the monastic era. The Glendalough Round Tower is probably the finest surviving example in Ireland. Over 40 metres in height and with a circumference of 16 metres, access is through a doorway 3.5 metres above ground. Built for the dual purposes of serving as a watch-tower and place of refuge during the period of the Viking invasions, the tower was restored in 1876, the conical cap being reb...

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....

A 40 foot mote, originally topped by a wooden tower and dating to the early 13th century. It is said Cromwell positioned cannon on it during the ill fated siege of Callan in 1649....

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

On the outskirts of Limavady stands Sampson's Tower which was erected by public subscription in memory of Arthur Sampson who died in 1859. He was a former great agent for the landowners, the Worshipful Company of Fishmongers.

Please phone Limavady TIC for further details as the property above is private....

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 monastery was founded here by St MacCullin in early Christian times, and the name Lusk derives from the cave (Irish 'lusca') where MacCullin was buried after his death in 497 AD.

The unusual square sixteenth-century belfry incorporates a sixth century Round Tower with three later towers built to match, all attached to a nineteenth-century church which contains some fine mediaeval tombs. Now the Lusk Heritage Centre, the belfry houses an exhibition on the mediaeval churches of North C...

Three storey Helen's Tower built in about 1858, prominent on a hilltop at the far end, was erected in honour of Helen, Lady Dufferin, grand daughter of Sheridan and composer of the popular ballad The Irish Emigrant. In 1915 and 1916, the 36th Division was camped at Clandeboye and drilled in sight of this romantic tower. A das replica, called the Ulster Memorial Tower, was later erected on the Somme battlefield at Thiepval where nearly 6, 000 Ulstermen were killed or injured in July 1916. Helen's...

On a hill, 3 miles across the valley, and twice as tall as Helen's Tower, Scrabo Tower was built at about the same time in memory of the third Marquis of Londonderry. It has 122 steps up to a good view of Strangford Lough and beyond (open in summer). Part of it was lived in until about 1970. There is a golf course round the tower, with bluebell woods on the south side....