Cloyne

Round Tower

The monastery at Cloyne was founded by St Colman Mac Lénine in the sixth century. The 30.5 metre high round tower is situated on Church Street in the centre of the town. The doorway of the 10th/11th century tower faces the Cathedral of St Colman on the opposite side of the road which suggests the 13th century Cathedral may have been built on the site of an earlier church. This is an almost complete round tower with wooden floors and ladders at the side of each floor giving maximum floor space. It is not known when the tower lost it's conical cap but we do know the tower was hit by lightning in 1749 and that the cap was already missing at that time and had been replaced with a parapet and battlements. There are a total of nine windows in the tower, four on the bell floor are facing the cardinal points and the other five in the drum.

All the windows are lintelled except the single window on the 3rd and fifth floor, these two are angled. The tower was built with dark purplish sandstone and stands on a rocky outcrop. The offset at the base of the tower is clearly visible, see image below. Because of the high cost of insurance the tower is no longer open to the public.

Situated: Very easy located on Church Street in the heart of Cloyne opposite St Colman's Church of Ireland Cathedral.

Discovery Map 81: W 9171 6774. Last visit May 2014.

Longitude: 8° 7' 13" W

Latitude: 51° 51' 43" N

Google Map

Photos: Jim Dempsey.

Approx date: 10th/11th century.

Dimensions: Height 30.5 metres. Diameter: 5.17 metres

Door: Above ground 3.4 metres Type: lintelled

Windows: Nine. 7 Lintelled and 2 Angled

Features: Composed of purplish sandstone

Cap: Missing replaced with battlements

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