Clondalkin Round Tower () is an

Irish round tower Irish round towers ( (singular), (plural); Literal translation, literally 'bell house') are early medieval stone towers of a type found mainly in Ireland, with two in Scotland and one on the Isle of Man. As their name indicates, they were ori ...

located in

Clondalkin Clondalkin () is a suburban village in County Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland, approximately west of Dublin city centre. It is within the administrative jurisdiction of South Dublin County Council, South Dublin. Clondalkin is also the na ...

South Dublin South Dublin () is a county in Ireland, within the province of Leinster and the Eastern and Midland Region. It is one of three successor counties to County Dublin, which was disestablished for administrative purposes in 1994. South Dublin Cou ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. Located on the site of a monastery founded by Saint Mochua (also known as Saint Cronan), the tower is protected as a

national monument A national monument is a monument constructed in order to commemorate something of importance to national heritage, such as a country's founding, independence, war, or the life and death of a historical figure. The term may also refer to a sp ...

. As of December 2024, the tower's visitor centre was reportedly closed 'until further notice'.

Location

Clondalkin Round Tower is located in central

, south of the

River Camac The River Camac (sometimes spelled ''Cammock'', or, historically, ''Cammoge'' or ''Cammoke''; Irish: or ) is one of the larger rivers in Dublin and was one of four tributaries of the Liffey critical to the early development of the city. Cou ...

. It was built on the site of a

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of Monasticism, monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in Cenobitic monasticism, communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a ...

which had been founded by Saint Mochua/Cronan in the 7th century.

History

Clondalkin Round Tower, dating from the 8th or 9th century, is one of only four remaining in

County Dublin County Dublin ( or ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland, and holds its capital city, Dublin. It is located on the island's east coast, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. Until 1994, County Dubli ...

, the others being located in

Swords A sword is an edged, bladed weapon intended for manual cutting or thrusting. Its blade, longer than a knife or dagger, is attached to a hilt and can be straight or curved. A thrusting sword tends to have a straighter blade with a pointed ti ...

, Lusk and

Rathmichael Rathmichael () is a suburb on the southside of Dublin, in the local government area of Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown, near the southern border of County Dublin with County Wicklow. It is situated west of Shankill from which it is, roughly, separa ...

. It stands over high and is thought to be an early example as the

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

on the

lintel A lintel or lintol is a type of beam (a horizontal structural element) that spans openings such as portals, doors, windows and fireplaces. It can be a decorative architectural element, or a combined ornamented/structural item. In the case ...

s is flat. The

Viking Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

King

Olaf the White Olaf the White () was a viking sea-king who lived in the latter half of the 9th century. Life Olaf was born around 820, in Ireland. His father was the Hiberno-Norse warlord Ingjald Helgasson. Some traditional sources portray Olaf as a descendan ...

built a fort in the area in AD 852. The monastery was plundered in AD 832 and AD 865.

Amlaíb Conung Amlaíb Conung ( ; died c. 874) was a Viking leader in Ireland and Scotland in the mid-late ninth century. He was the son of the king of Lochlann, identified in the non-contemporary '' Fragmentary Annals of Ireland'' as Gofraid, and brother of ...

(d. 874) built a fortress on the site in the middle of the 9th century. In 867, a force led by Cennétig mac Gaíthéne, king of Loígis, burned the fortress at Clondalkin and killed approximately 100 of Amlaíb's followers. The district remained under Danish control until the Viking defeat by

Brian Boru Brian Boru (; modern ; 23 April 1014) was the High King of Ireland from 1002 to 1014. He ended the domination of the High King of Ireland, High Kingship of Ireland by the Uí Néill, and is likely responsible for ending Vikings, Viking invasio ...

at the

Battle of Clontarf The Battle of Clontarf () took place on 23 April 1014 at Clontarf, near Dublin, on the east coast of Ireland. It pitted an army led by Brian Boru, High King of Ireland, against a Norse- Irish alliance comprising the forces of Sigtrygg Silkbea ...

in 1014. Clondalkin witnessed another historic event during the

Norman invasion of Ireland The Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland took place during the late 12th century, when Anglo-Normans gradually conquered and acquired large swathes of land in Ireland over which the monarchs of England then claimed sovereignty. The Anglo-Normans ...

when there was a battle there between Richard de Clare (Strongbow) and the

High King of Ireland High King of Ireland ( ) was a royal title in Gaelic Ireland held by those who had, or who are claimed to have had, lordship over all of Ireland. The title was held by historical kings and was later sometimes assigned anachronously or to leg ...

Ruaidrí Ua Conchobair Ruaidrí mac Tairrdelbach Ua Conchobair (Modern Irish: Ruairí Ó Conchúir; anglicised as Rory O'Conor) ( – 2 December 1198) was King of Connacht from 1156 to 1186, and High King of Ireland from 1166 to 1198. He was the last High King of Ire ...

. The tower is now the site of a museum and visitor centre, and there is also a café on the site.

Description

Built on the site of a monastery founded by Saint Mochua in the 7th century AD, the round tower at Clondalkin is one of four remaining towers in

. The Clondalkin tower, which was built in the late 8th or early 9th century, stands at high. Because the stones used in construction are of a rough undressed variety of local calp limestone, it is thought to be an early round tower. The drum is also extremely narrow, the diameter being only meters at its widest point. An unusual feature of this tower is the pronounced

buttress A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient (typically Gothic) buildings, as a means of providing support to act ...

at its base. This buttress is constructed of a different variety of stone to the main tower, and was likely added at a later date. A series of steps were cut into the buttress in the late 19th century. These wind around the buttress leading up to the base of the east facing doorway.

Granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

stones were used for the

jamb In architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and cons ...

s, sill and

of the doorway. There are 6 windows in the tower, and the top 4 of them point north, south, east and west. The bulging base is rubble work with smaller stones. The doorway, above pavement level, faces east toward St. John's Church. The plain

led doorway is composed mainly of granite. There are four square-headed windows in the top story facing the cardinal compass points. Two other windows in the drum face south (in the first story) and west (in the second story). Both are also square-headed.

Crosses

There are two stone crosses on the site. The smaller depicts both a ringed and a Latin cross on its faces, while the larger granite cross, which may have originally been a boundary or grave marker, stands proudly a few meters apart from the smaller cross. Along the boundary to the right of the nearby church is a large granite

baptismal font A baptismal font is an Church architecture, ecclesiastical architectural element, which serves as a receptacle for baptismal water used for baptism, as a part of Christian initiation for both rites of Infant baptism, infant and Believer's bapti ...

. Together with the two early crosses, this font may also be a remnant of the original monastery.

References

External links

* {{official website, https://www.dublinsoutdoors.ie/round-tower-clondalkin-village/ National monuments in County Dublin Towers in the Republic of Ireland