Round tower

The National Monuments Service's description

Located towards the top of a N-facing slope with a N-S ravine to the E. Unusually, it is situated S of the Cathedral (WA040-008002-), the principal church within the graveyard (WA040-008008-), rather than to the SW, which leads O’Keeffe (1992, 81-5) to suggest that the tower may predate the cathedral (WA040-008002-) and relate to a now missing church.
This is a 12th-century round tower (diam. at base 5m; H c. 29m) with a cut-stone plinth and four of floors; the upper three floors are recessed externally with a string course (diam. at top 3.05m). A round-arched doorway (H c. 1.76m; Wth at base c. 0.7m), about 4m above ground level, is decorated by a continuous roll-moulding. The tower has three small lights and there are four windows, one at each of the cardinal points of the compass, beneath the cap which is surmounted by a modern cross. Internally there are sixteen corbels to support wooden floors, five of which are carved with grotesque faces.
The tower was conserved in the 1840s by Mr. Odell, a local landowner, when a truncated inhumation was discovered inside the tower (J.C. 1914). The original capstone is now inside the N doorway of the Cathedral (WA040-008002-) (Anon. 1867, 72). Excavation in 1996 (Lynch 1997) revealed a solid base of stone beneath the plinth and some recent burials. The tower was recently reconserved. (Power 1898b, 158-9; Power 1932, 20-2; Westropp 1903, 362-6; Barrow 1979, 192- 5; Harbison 1992b, 324-5; Lalor 1999, 225-7)

Anon. (1867) Proceedings. JRSAI, vol. 9, 1010, 69-73, 101-109, 205-220.
Barrow, G. L. (1979) The round towers of Ireland: a study and gazetteer. Academy Press, Dublin.
Harbison, P. (1992b) Guide to the national and historic monuments of Ireland. Gill and Macmillan Ltd., Dublin.
J. C. (1914) South Munster antiquarian researches at Ardmore and Cashel. JCHAS vol 20, 100-102.
Lalor, B. (1999) The Irish round tower. The Collins Press. Cork.
Lynch, A. (1997) Ardocheasty, Ardmore. Round tower. in I. Bennett (ed.) Excavations 1996: summary accounts of excavations in Ireland, 109-10, No. 385. Wordwell. Bray.
O’Keefe, T. (1992) Romanesque architecture and sculpture at Ardmore. in C. Nolan, T. P. Power and D. Cowman, (eds), Waterford – history and socitey, 73-104, Geography Publications, Dublin.
Power, Rev. P. (1898b) Excursion guides – 2: Ardmore. WAJ 4, 147-63.
Power, Rev. P. (1932c) Ardmore; its founder and early Christian monuments. Catholic Truth Society. Dublin
Westropp, T. J. (1903) Notes on the antiquities of Ardmore. JRSAI, 33, 353-80.

The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Waterford' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1999). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research.

Compiled by: Michael Moore

Date of upload/revision: 14 November 2011