towers historical ireland

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...

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....

Clones Round Tower, High Cross and Church The round tower is 75 feet, with a square headed doors and windows. Nearby is a shrine known as "St. Tighernach's shrine," which is carved out of stone. The shrine is named after St. Tighernach who founded a monastery in Clones in the 6th century, which the tower, cross and church belonged.

The cross is in two parts which did not belong together originally. On one side are the sacrifice of Isaac, Daniel in the Lions' Den and Adam and Eve. On th...

Thoor Ballylee Castle is a four storey tower dating back to the 16th century, beautifully situated beside a stream. There was much to enchant William Butler Yeats on his first visit to Ballylee in 1885: the old square castle, the little river and the legend of a most beautiful local woman 'Mary Hynes, the Shining Flower of Ballylee.
He eventually bought the medieval tower, which was built by the Norman de Burgo family, with a cottage and garden for the grand sum of IR35.00 in 1916. The...

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....

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....

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....

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...