Round tower

The National Monuments Service's description

Standing at the N end of a graveyard (CL017-020002-) on a low E-W ridge in pasture, overlooking a shallow valley to the S. Drawn as a circular building and named ‘Cloigtheach (Round Tower)’ on the both the first (1842) and Cassini (1920) editions of the OS 6-inch map. Traditionally said to have been destroyed by Cromwellian forces, with cannon damage reputedly still visible in 1839 (Barrow 1979, 62; Comber 1997, 13; Westropp 1894, 28). The monument was first documented in 1808, when it was in a similar condition to its present state (Barrow, 1979, 62.). Westropp (1894, 28) considered the tower ‘very well built of crag blocks, in irregular courses, with close joints.’ The OS Letters of 1839 record the tower’s then-surviving height as ‘13ft’ [c. 3.96m] (Comber 1997, 13).  

 

This round tower (H 3.1-3.6m; int. diam. at top c. 2m; ext. diam. at base c. 5.08m; circumference 15.95m) is built of roughly squared, hammer-dressed limestone blocks (wall T 1.5m at top) which follow the wall’s curvature smoothly and survive up to eleven/twelve rough courses in height (Barrow 1979, 62-3; Lalor 1999, 117). The interior is filled with earth and stones (ibid.). In the 1990s, rubbish and debris had apparently accumulated in the interior, and the top was covered by ivy (Lalor 1999, 117). A graveslab is attached to the outer wall-face (ibid.). The medieval church (CL017-020001-) of Killinaboy stands c. 15m to the S and, according to Barrow (1979, 63), the small round-headed, blocked doorway (Wth 0.67m; max. D 0.25m) in the N wall of the church may have been taken from the round tower. 

 

Compiled by: Gearóid Conroy and Conn Herriott 

 

Date of upload: 9-10-2025

References

Lalor, B. 1999 The Irish round tower. Wilton, Cork. Collins Press.

Westropp, T.J. 1894 Churches with round towers in Northern Clare. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries 24, part 2, 150-59.

Comber, M. (ed.) 1997 The antiquities of County Clare: John O’Donovan and Eugene Curry: Ordnance Survey Letters 1839. Clasp Press. Ennis. Barrow, G.L. 1979 The round towers of Ireland: a study and gazetteer. Dublin. The Academy Press.