13/06/2026
Hello and welcome to this weekend’s virtual walk.
As you know , over the last few weekends I have brought you to visit various round towers and monastic settlements.
Today, I’m going to finish my “mini-series” by bring you to see the tallest round tower in the land – come along with me to Kilmacduagh.
Today we are in county Galway , not far from the town of Gort. We are lucky with the weather, and as we drive through the narrow lanes and tiny stone walled fields the monastic settlement and round tower of Kilmacduagh comes onto view.
There is a car park and information boards ; so let’s set off on our walk . The first thing that we learn is that name of the place translates as "church of Duagh's son". And the monastic settlement was started in the 7th Century by saint Colman. Over the centuries the settlement grew in importance that in medieval times that it became the center of a new diocese, the Diocese of Kilmacduagh. Like so many of the Irish monasteries, it was victim of multiple raids and finally ruined by William de Burgh in the early 13th century.
Let’s head off to take a look at the ruins that are all around us . The ruins of the monastery are sometimes referred to as "the seven churches". However, not all these buildings were actually churches, but buildings associated with monastic life.
As we stroll along, we can see The church of Mary, the church of John The Baptist, the Abbots house , Tempuil beag – the small church and the imposing Monastery church that stands beside the round tower .
Let’s take a look at the round tower – and your eyes are not deceiving you – its tilting a bit like the leaning tower of Pisa !
The round tower is reckoned to have been built in the 10th century and stands over 34.5 meters (113 feet) tall, making it the tallest of the round towers. Clearly the impressive height was a statement that this was an important monastery.
You can see that the tower is well preserved but has a heavy lean, and tilts 1.7 meters (5 ft 7 in) from the vertical. A sign tells us that the walls of the tower are believed to be almost 2 ( over 6 feet ) meters thick at the base. Because of the thickness of the walls and the height of the tower we were not surprised to learn that the monument has a diameter of over 5.5 meters ( about 18 feet ) . Amazingly the foundations are only 60 centimeters ( about 2 feet ) deep.
Take a look at the height of the doorway. It stands at over 8 meters ( about 26 feet ) above ground level. This raises a question about access to the tower -obviously they did not use a 8 meter high wooden ladder and it would have been quite a feat to scale the tower using a rope ladder.
The tower was restored in 1879,and I’m told that it’s not tilting any more so not as likely to collapse – fingers crossed !! Near the base of the tower lies the 7th Century tomb of the monastery’s founder Coleman .
I have to say that there is a lot to see here, we could spend hours exploring the ruins that span several centuries of monastic life .
This is a very peaceful place and because of its remote location not many people come here. Apart for a few signs there are no visitor facilities, and we are all alone in the sunshine with the spirits of the past, and the sound of the gentle breeze through the graveyard.
Before we go I must remind you that our Colors of Ireland offer will end soon so don't miss out - it's still our best selling piece of jewelry and remains my favorite design as it encompasses the 4 corners of Ireland all set in our Irish silver.
Thanks for coming along with me today and see you next week.
Stephen
