Clonmacnoise Tower, Ireland

High round towers are one of the historical symbols of Ireland. You can see them in many areas. In total, about 120 such architectural monuments have been preserved in Ireland to this day. The tower located on the territory of the monastery of Clonmacnoise is considered one of the most interesting. Its height is 34.5 meters. The deviation of this tower from the vertical axis exceeds a meter. The construction of the monastery took place in the 13th century. All its buildings have been in ruins for a long time.

Only the tower managed to be perfectly preserved despite the huge tilt. Specific rehabilitation works and reconstruction was not carried out in it. The exact purpose of the Clonmacnoise tower is unknown. According to some assumptions, it served as a kind of bell tower. People were called to prayer from it. You can see similar towers in Ireland today. All of them are necessarily located near churches and monasteries.

Clonmacnoise tower is the tallest one that has been preserved. Other towers do not exceed 30 meters in height. According to some reports, such towers could serve as a shelter for locals during enemy raids. The structure of all towers is similar. The presence of a double wall is typical for them. The space between the walls is filled with rubble. The entrance to the towers is also quite unusual. It is located at a height of 2-3 meters from ground level. All these features suggest that the Clonmacnoise tower was also used as a defensive structure hundreds of years ago. Next - Tiger Hill Pagoda