Archaeology – Bogwarrior.com

Island Hopping: Six(ish) Churches and a Round Tower

The hunt for the Inis Cealtra round tower took me to the pretty village of Mountshannon, Co. Clare. The village is located on the shores of Lough Derg, the southernmost lake on the River Shannon. From here, local historian Ger Madden takes visitors on a 20-minute trip across the lake to Inis Cealtra, also known as Holy Island. We were given some basic information about what to look out for on the island, along with a few choice comments about what Clare County Council is neglecting there…

Tower and St Caimin's — Tower and St Caimin’s

Although the island is quite small, there is plenty to see. It was traditionally home to six churches, although only five can be seen today. The round tower is the first monastic building visitors encounter. It is still in fine condition, although it is now missing its belfry floor, windows and roof. Local tradition has it that the tower was never completed.

Its entrance faces St Caimin’s Church. Much restored over the years, this is now the only church on the island with a roof. It was re-roofed in the 1990s and now houses an assortment of grave slabs, fragments of crosses, a sundial and a lawnmower :-). The highlight has to be the Romanesque entrance, a striking mixture of carved heads and chevrons.

St Caimin's Doorway — St Caimin’s Doorway

Like the church itself, the entrance didn’t make it through the centuries intact. It was first restored in 1879 and again in 1981. Interestingly, the later restoration changed it from a three-course design to the four-course version we see today.

There is a little ruined chapel to the rear of St. Caimin’s, known as St. Colum’s Church. A second church nearby goes by the striking name of the “Church of the Wounded Men”. It is quite small but is notable for having three entrances.

There is a graveyard in the grounds, which remains in use. Its most famous occupant is undoubtedly the Irish writer Edna O’Brien, whose grave is covered in wildflowers. Edna was a controversial figure in the 1960s, and several of her books were banned by the censor at the time. Interestingly, anyone I mentioned the grave to didn’t seem particularly bothered by her old banned books. But her 2002 novel In the Forest was another story. The novel is a barely fictionalised retelling of a horrific 1994 triple murder of a young woman, her 3 year old son and a priest by a disturbed man who later died in the Central Mental Hospital. The murders took place not too far away from here. The details of the murders remain shocking, and the consensus seems to be that O’Brien shouldn’t have written the book.

Edna O'Brien's grave — Edna O’Brien’s grave

The other churches on the island are ruined, and the walk to them passes by two bullaun stones. Famously, nobody knows exactly what they were used for, although there are plenty of them scattered around the country. One bullaun stone not easily seen these days is underwater just off the island. Works on the Ardnacrusha hydroelectric power station downriver raised the water levels on the lake.

Next comes St. Brigid’s Church, a small ruined building with a lovely Romanesque entrance. It collapsed at some point but was restored in the 19th century. Like the other churches on the island, it was used to shelter farm animals in the past. They did their fair share of damage.

Nearby, St. Mary’s Church is the largest building on the island and is believed to have served as the parish church until the 1600s. There are a couple of monuments inside, along with two blocked-up entrances.

St Brigid's Church and enclosure — St Brigid’s Church and enclosure

It is worth mentioning that although half of the island is beautifully maintained, another area is now overgrown with bushes and brambles. If it were accessible, visitors might have the time and opportunity to explore the remnants of another site of interest. St Michael’s Church once stood here, although little survives today other than some stones and an antiquity known as the “Kissing Stone”. It can be seen behind the photo of St Brigid’s church (above)

The Irish-born archaeologist R.A.S. Macalister visited the island in the early years of the 20th century and documented his findings. Even then, there was little left of St. Michael’s, although he was able to sketch out its extent based on the surviving foundations. The site appears to stand on a ringfort. Tradition has it that the area was used as a children’s burial ground and was also a place where terminally ill people were taken. Even in Macalister’s time, it was badly overgrown.

By now, time was running out, so we had no choice but to make tracks back to the jetty and catch the boat to the mainland. The ferryman calls the shots!

Getting There

Unless you have your own boat, you’ll be travelling in Ger Madden’s boat, which is based at Mountshannon Pier. Tickets can be bought online from the nearby visitor centre, or by calling directly https://www.holyisland.ie/ Just be aware that if you book your tickets through the visitor centre’s website, you’ll need to collect them in person from there before making your way to the pier.

Turlough Round Tower: Open All Hours

One of the nice things about going round tower hunting on a long summer’s evening is that there is time to pack lots of sightseeing in. The downside, of course, is that there is also plenty of time to spot places that look interesting but have been closed for hours.

Turlough cemetery — The tower, as seen from the entrance gate

The round tower I was in search of was the one on a hill overlooking the village of Turlough, Co. Mayo. To get there, I had to drive past the gates of The Museum of Country Life. It looked like a place worth visiting, but it had sensibly been closed for hours by then.

Happily, the graveyard where Turlough’s round tower stands is open at all hours. There are no neighbours to annoy, either inside or outside the cemetery walls, which is always a good thing. Allegedly.

The tower stands on top of a hill beside the remains of a ruined church. The church dates from the eighteenth century, although parts of an earlier church are incorporated into it. One of its walls has a particularly striking plaque depicting the Crucifixion, dating from 1625. “Lovely” probably isn’t the appropriate word for a scene involving crucifixion, but it is certainly an interesting piece of decoration.

Little is known about the monastery that once stood here. We don’t know who founded it or exactly when the round tower was built. Tradition has it that St. Patrick founded the original church which stood here, and that’s as good as it gets, really. What is immediately noticeable about the tower is its proportions. Unlike some of Ireland’s taller and more elegant round towers, Turlough’s is comparatively short and looks distinctly squat. It’s likely the tower’s lack of height was down to economics. Commerce was a thing even in olden times.

Unhappily the later church has been built right up against the tower. It actually gets in the way, literally and visually, and blocks a part of the tower. It’s one of those cases where you wish that the builder of the later church had picked a slightly different spot. Which is especially frustrating because the church is right up to the doorway of the tower, ruining what is (to me) a highlight of round towers.

The original doorway of the tower has been blocked up, while a second doorway was added at a later date and has also been blocked. A grave now sits immediately in front of it,

The ruined church itself is locked, so there is no opportunity to poke around inside. There is still plenty to see outside, however, and the position on the hill makes the visit worthwhile even beyond the tower itself. The surrounding views are pleasant, and on a long summer evening there is little reason to hurry away.

And if you happen to arrive after the Museum of Country Life has closed, at least the round tower isn’t keeping office hours.

Getting there

This one is nice and easy to find and access. There’s plenty of room to park on the road outside.

Base of Turlough Round Tower — Base of the tower

Aughagower: Two Doors, One Tower and a Famous Visitor

On a trip to Mayo, I decided to add a few more round towers to my stagnant checklist. First up was the tower at Aughagower, which is an easy one to find, standing as it does in the middle of a graveyard in a small village. As it happened, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney had visited Aughagower just three weeks before yours truly. There were still a few Canadian flags fluttering about, adding a bit of colour to the quiet little village.

Aughagower church, tower and Canadian flag

I was amused to discover that the headstones belonging to Carney’s ancestors were located in what turned out to be a remarkably convenient spot for a visiting dignitary. They had clearly received a bit of attention recently and were looking remarkably spruce — almost as if they were expecting company. A quick look at Google Street View’s 2019 imagery suggests that they hadn’t always looked quite so pristine.

This tower has been through the wars. A large breach on the northern side was repaired in the 1960s. Before the repairs were carried out, parts of the tower’s interior had been visible from the graveyard outside.

The tower’s original doorway also shows signs of fire damage. It’s a reminder of just how vulnerable these towers could be if someone was determined to set one alight. Shove some flammable material through the doorway, set fire to it, and — whoosh!

There is also a second doorway at ground level, added at a later date. This gives visitors the rather rare opportunity to walk straight into a surviving round tower, which isn’t something you get to do every day.

The original monastery is said to have been founded by St Senach in the 7th century. The tower now stands beside the ruins of a church dating from the 12th to 15th centuries.

There are also two dried-up holy wells across the road from the graveyard. Works on drainage and water supply in the locality dried them up, but they’re still easy to find. The graveyard itself is quite uneven, so watch your step.

Getting There

Aughagower is 8km from Westport, and the drive takes about 10 minutes. The tower is in an old graveyard, right beside the village church. If you can’t find this one, I don’t know what I can say to you.

Gallery

Aughagower window — Aughagower Tower Doorway

Roscam – Never finished?

A recent trip to Galway afforded me the opportunity to “bag” another round tower. And so, I went in search of the tower at Roscam, which is on the outskirts of the city, overlooking Oranmore Bay. It’s a beautiful location, though the view is hampered somewhat by the inevitable development on the other side of the bay.

Very little is known about the monastery which once stood here. It is thought it may have been established here in the 5th century, which would make it one of the oldest monastic settlements in Ireland. It has been associated with St. Patrick (yep, that one) and with Odran, brother to St. Ciarán of Clonmacnoise. In 807, the site was attacked by those serial monastery pillagers, the Vikings. The monastery might also be where the bones of King Brión mac Echach Muigmedóin were brought to by Saint Aedus. There are question marks as to whether King Brión ever actually existed so you can make up your own mind.

The putlock holes are still visible on the tower

The tower stands 10.98m tall and is unusual for two reasons. One is that the lintelled doorway is quite low to the ground. The other is that the tower still has numerous putlock (or putlog) holes on its external walls. These were used to support scaffolding while the towers were being built, but were covered up afterwards. The presence of these holes in the tower raises doubts as to whether this particular one was ever finished. There is just one window in the tower, directly over the door. At some point afterwards, somebody attempted to add some height to the tower but the new stonework is not of the quality of what went before.

Close to the tower are the ruins of a medieval church. I wasn’t able to get near them because of the extensive stone walls and unclimbable gates in the area. Some of these are the remnants of ancient fortifications and they’re still doing their work effectively in 2021!

Far more interesting is the ancient graveyard which overlooks the bay. It doesn’t appear to be still in use but it looks like it was used extensively over the centuries. It’s populated with lots of broken, illegible headstones and rocks and it’s wonderful. There are two large bullaun stones in there as well, one of which is associated with St. Patrick. It seems the great snake banisher was also a dab hand at making round dents in big rocks.

One of the bullaun stones in the grave yard

By a long shot, this was the trickiest round tower to get to. For better or worse, I accessed it by driving along the Rosshill Road, then walked (carefully!) along the rocky beach that runs south of the site. Then some clambering over stone walls and navigating electric fences came into the equation. The tower is in the middle of a working farm, so naturally the animals come first.

Oughterard – Pint Sized

The original monastery at Oughterard is said to have been founded by St. Briga (aka. St Brigid). Confusingly, this isn’t the same St. Brigid who is connected with the settlement in nearby Kildare or one of the many other Brigids out there. Honestly, your head would start to spin if you try to figure all of it out. Less confusingly (and more of that in a moment), it is also the final resting place of Arthur Guinness, who founded that brewery.

Little remains of the original monastery now, apart from the round tower. It stands at the back of a cemetery which is found at the top of a hill. Indeed, the Irish name for Oughterard is Uachtar Ard or high upper place. Like many other monasteries, it was raided by the Vikings. In the case of Oughterard, it was raided by the wonderfully named Sigtrygg Silkbeard who was a well-known Dublin-based Viking. At one point, the area was owned by Dermot MacMurrough, who’s possibly buried near another round tower…

Now partially ruined, the tower here is built from shale rubble. Its doorcase is round-headed and made from granite. There is a padlocked metal door now in the doorway, ensuring that nobody’s getting in.

Close to the tower is a ruined church which dates from the 14th century. Its most striking feature, apart from the window which faces the cemetery gate, is the stairs turret which looks like it’s ready to topple over Looking at other photos online, it is still possible to climb it but it wasn’t for me!

Inside the wall of the church is a plaque which begins “In the adjoining vault are deposited the mortal remains of Arthur Guinness…..” Guinness was born locally in either 1724 or 1725 – the date and place of his birth are disputed. Tradition has it that his grandfather and his father brewed ale, so it was inevitable that he’d end up continuing that line of business. After initially leasing a brewery in Leixlip, he signed a 9,000 year lease at a site in St. James’s Gate, Dublin. This is where the Guinness brewery and adjoining tourist trap continue to operate to this day.

Getting There

These days, the cemetery is marketed as part of “Arthur’s Way”, a Guinness related tourist trail run by Kildare County Council. The entrance is near a bend in a country road but there is room to park along there. It is a well-maintained site and even though there isn’t a lot here, it’s quite a pleasant place to spend a while. There are some nice views too.

Taghadoe

I went to university in Maynooth in the early 1990s and spent my time there blissfully unaware that a 2o minute bike ride out of town would’ve taken me to a round tower. Anyway, I took the opportunity to finally take a look at the round tower in Taghadoe after all these years. What’s 30 years in the lifespan of a round tower anyway?

Sorry about the overcooked looking photo – this is exactly what came out of my phone. Visiting at 8:30pm on a summer’s evening isn’t the best time for tower snaps

Very little is known about the monastic site which once stood here. Taghadoe is attributed to St. Tua (also known as St. Ultan the Silent). The only other thing known about the monastery is that one of its abbots (Folachtach of Tech-Tua, died 770AD) had previously been abbot of Clonmacnoise.

All that remains of the monastery is the tower. It stands in a small, well-kept graveyard beside a ruined 19th century church. It is built from limestone and stands 19.9 metres high. Above the round-headed doorway is what appears to be a heavily worn head. There is a similar feature in Monasterboice, some 80km away. At one point, the tower was used as a coal store of all things and doorway was cut into the wall. It was closed up in the 19th century and my untrained eye couldn’t say for sure where the doorway once was.

Taghadoe Round tower — How dairy come along and take photos of our tower

And there you have it…. There isn’t a lot to see here other than the tower. The church beside it was built in 1821 and abandoned 40 or so years later. The site surrounded by a dairy farm and fields of cattle – as a result, my visit was soundtracked to the sound of vigorous mooing and the scent of cow dung 🙂

Getting There

The tower is easy to find – it is on the side of a country road, 5km south of Maynooth. There isn’t a lot of parking around here, so be mindful of where you leave your car and don’t block any gateways.

Kells – the one in Meath

There are two monastic sites in Ireland which are called Kells. One is in Co. Kilkenny (note to self, write about that one soon) and the other is in Co. Meath. The Co. Meath Kells has a round tower but as you’ll soon see, there is a lot more to the place than that.

The founding of the monastery here is attributed to St. Colmcille (a.k.a. St. Columba) around 554AD. Colmcille spent most of his life in Scotland and founded Iona Abbey in 563. The monastery at Kells was re-founded around 807AD, still with strong connections to Iona. This explains how the world-famous Book of Kells came to be in Kells. It isn’t clear when or where the book was written but it is generally believed that it came from Iona. It was likely moved to Kells for safekeeping because Iona, which is on an island, was frequently being raided by Vikings. The book went on to spend several centuries in Kells. It was moved to Dublin for safe keeping in 1654 and then given to Trinity College where it can still be seen. Most of what is to be found here now dates from after the monastery’s “reboot”.

The round tower stands in the corner of a churchyard and when viewed from the street, can be seen in its entirety. It has a plinth at its base, which isn’t often seen on these towers. Inside the churchyard, the ground is about 2m higher. And so, unlike many towers the doorway is now lower and can be seen without craning one’s neck 🙂

The tower no longer has its cap but is in good condition otherwise. Unusually, it has five windows on the top floor, rather than the usual four. It is thought that these were to symbolise or overlook the five ancient roads leading into Kells. Originally it had six floors but they are long gone, along with the ladders which brought people to the top.

What else is there?

The church for which the tower served as a belfry has long gone, replaced by a more modern building. Still, there are some 9th and 10 century high crosses in the churchyard. The South Cross stands near the round tower and is the oldest of these. It is somewhat worn but still fully intact.

The same can’t be said for the West Cross which is now just a shaft.

The North Cross

The East Cross was never finished. Still, it’s interesting to see how these crosses may have looked while they were being created

As for the North Cross…

Kells also has two other significant monuments, related to this monastery.

St Colmcille’s House is nearby. He never actually lived in it, being long dead before it was actually built. It is thought his remains were stored here for a while though. The Book of Kells was stored here too. You can see photos of the interior here

The Market Cross used to stand in a different location but was moved after one traffic collision too many. It now stands under a perspex roof near the old courthouse

Getting There

The round tower and crosses are in the centre of Kells and are easy to find. St. Colmcille’s house is close to the churchyard. The market cross is a little further away but hopefully safe from being hit by marauding buses.

Gallery – Click on an image to launch

Roscrea – Sliced and Diced

Unlike most of its contemporaries which are to be found in the countryside, the round tower in Roscrea is in an urban setting. It stands on the side of a street close to the town centre. The original monastic site is now split by a road, though if you stand back from the tower you can still see the tower’s relationship to the church it served as a belfry.

Roscrea Tower and Church — The tower faces the remnants St. Cronan’s church

The monastery which once stood here was founded by St. Cronan in the 7th century. Most of what is to be found here now dates from the 12th century. The tower is thought to have been built during this century. There is a record of it being struck by lightning in 1135. As it turned out, it wasn’t just lightning which caused problems for this tower. During the 1798 rebellion, it was used by insurgents to attack nearby buildings. As a result, the top of the tower was removed. This reduced its height by about 6 metres 😦 The tower has an unusual large (by round tower standards) window on its first floor. It is thought that this was to let more light into the tower so activities could take place. As to what activities they might have been, who knows?

Romanesque façade of St. Cronan’s Church

It wasn’t just the tower which was sheared of its original bulk. Across the road from it stands the gable end of the 12th century St. Cronan’s Church. Alas, it was largely demolished in 1812 to make way for the less interesting church which now stands behind it. Soem of the material from the old church was used to build the new one. A replica of a high cross stands nearby – the original is now housed in the nearby Black Mills Centre.

Getting There: This tower is easy to find. It stands on Church Street, close to the town centre

ardmore-tower-stats

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Glendalough – 1.5 towers is better than none

Glendalough is one of my favourite crumbly old ruins sites and that’s not just because it boasts 1.5 round towers. Nestled in a valley in the Wicklow Mountains, the drive to it from any direction takes in some gorgeous scenery. The ruined monastery itself isn’t too shabby when it comes to its location either. Situated an hour from Dublin city centre, the area is popular with hikers who enjoy its many walking trails. As of 2020, there are nine marked walking trails

The monastery at Glendalough was founded by St. Kevin who died in 617AD. He was a hermit so it isn’t clear how much monastery building can be ascribed to him. Still, the site went on to become quite a significant monastic settlement. Even today, there are numerous ruins to be found and not just at the main site. This is where the stand-alone round tower and the one attached to a nearby church are to be found

glendalough_round_tower

The round tower here has survived through the centuries fairly well. It is known that its roof fell in at some point. There is an old photograph taken around 1870 which shows it with its roof missing. It was rebuilt from the original stones a few years later. It stands close to the ruined cathedral and is mostly built from local granite. 30m in height, it is one of the more impressive towers.

glendalough1_stats

The Partial Tower

glendalough_st_kevins_kitchen2 — St. Kevin’s Kitchen. Not the local tea-room

St. Kevin’s Church, more commonly known as St. Kevin’s Kitchen is not too far away from the tower. This is a little 12th century church which has a partial round tower attached to its roof. It’s the “chimney” that gives the church its kitchen nickname. The tower would have served as the church’s belfry and is accessed from there. Sadly, the church is locked up so all anyone can do is look in through the gate. Still, it is an interesting variation on the classic round tower. It is believed that the church and the tower were built in the 12th century. The tower may have been a slightly later addition to the church.

Visit date: 5th March 2013

Getting There

Glendalough is easy to find and to access. The area is a popular hiking destination so there are car parks and good facilities. The monastery can be accessed by the original gateway. It is the only surviving medieval gateway to a monastic settlement in Ireland so that’s worth walking through. There is also a visitor centre on the site but unlike at Clonmacnoise, you don’t have to walk through it (and pay) in order to visit the extensive ruins.

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The third (missing) tower I haven’t visited yet

Trinity Church isn’t part of the main monastic site at Glendalough. A ruined church, there are 18th century drawings of it with a round tower attached to its roof. A storm in 1818 led to the collapse of the tower. It can be seen from the road on Google Maps.

St. Mullins – so where’s the tower?

St. Mullins in rural Carlow is one of those sites where there’s very little round tower to be seen. Yet, it is still somewhere worth visiting if you’re interested in crumbly old ruins. There is plenty more to see besides the stump of the round tower in this pretty location.

The original monastery was founded by St. Moling who was Bishop of Ferns in the 7th century. He died in 696. He may have been descended from a King of Leinster, though a lot of his back story sounds more like mythology than fact. Before establishing the monastery here, he was a monk in Glendalough. The Venerable Bede, an Anglo-Saxon scholar, referred to him as “”good and wise man, excellently versed in the knowledge of the Scriptures”. The 8th Century Book of Mulling (now digitized and available online) was possibly written here. It has been speculated that it is a copy of an earlier book. Possibly even one dating back to St. Moling’s time.

The round tower (or what’s left of it) is built from granite. It now stands just 1 metre in height, with five courses of masonry. The church it stands beside was built at a later date. While it goes without saying that it is a real shame the tower has all but disappeared, its stump does give a good idea of how these towers were constructed.

St Mullins Round Tower 2

st-mullins-stats

Getting There

The roads to St. Mullins won’t win any prizes for wideness or straightness. It is easy to find though and there’s plenty of room to park. It is something of a popular local beauty spot so there are public toilets close to the graveyard and a cafe beside the nearby river.

Visit date: 5th March 2020