Round Tower @ St. Brigid's Cathedral in Kildare, Ireland

The Round Tower @ St. Brigid's Cathedral in Kildare, Ireland

Taken on a very, very chilly but beautifully crispy clear St. Brigid's Day - 1st of February 2009.

Its interesting how the construction dates vary in the two sources of info below :-)

From Kildare County Website:-

The Round Tower is one of the finest surviving examples and, at 33 metres, the second highest in Ireland. It was built in the 12th. century, which is comparatively late for an Irish Round Tower, though the present tower may have replaced an earlier one. The bottom 3 metres are built of dressed granite blocks while the rest is constructed of limestone rubble. The tower is accessible to visitors during the summer and is well worth the necessary climb on internal ladders to the roof for the view.

The tower has a four-ordered Romanesque decorated doorway, though it is badly damaged. The bell floor has, unusually, 5 windows. The open roof is flat with a high parapet of stepped Irish battlements, a later addition to the tower which would originally have had a conical roof.

More info from The Grey Abbey Conservation Project

Orignially from "AN TOSTAL SOUVENIR PROGRAMME 1953".

Round Towers in Ireland had a twofold purpose. They were used as belfries for Churches, and served also as keeps or places of strength in which the sacred vessels, books, relics or other valuables could be placed, and into which the clergy to whom they belonged could retire in case of sudden attack. For this purpose, the doorway was usually a certain height from the ground. There are ninety-eight round towers in Ireland, thirteen of them in perfect condition. The cloichteach of Kildare is 108 feet high. It has a solid base 50 feet in circumference. The doorway is 15 feet from the ground. The internal diameter at the door is 8½ feet. The wall is 5 feet in width. The tower stands near the west end of the nave of the Cathedral and is built of two kinds of stone, 13 feet being of white granite, and the rest of a darker stone. The chief feature is the fine Irish Romanesque doorway, built of a hard silicious sandstone of light colour, with ornaments in very low relief. There are four concentric arches, one recessed beyond the other and resting on round pilasters or semi-columns with flat imposts or capitals. The ornaments on the external arch have long been destroyed and were replaced with crude masonry early in the 18th century. The ornaments on the recessed arches are also much injured but the fourth or innermost is fairly well preserved. The tower was built probably at the close of the eighth or early in the ninth century. Giraldus Cambrensis tells of a beautiful falcon that used to nestle in its summit all alone and was on familiar terms with the monks and citizens, and was known as St. Brigid’s bird. Even in the time of Giraldus the Round Tower was a venerable building. It still points heavenwards as of old, marking out the sacred city of St. Brigid in the great plain of the Liffey.

Other nice shots of this tower here.

This is a nice map of local interests.

Taken in: Ireland / Kildare / Kildare (show map)

Taken on: February 1, 2009

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round tower

st brigids cathedral

ireland

round

tower

st brigid

saint brigid

brigid

st brigids cathedral round tower

co. kildare

Cill Dara

irish round towers « less

Groups appears in: • Ireland my Ireland • ...finding ireland... more » • Irish Round Towers • Irish Light • "Ireland" • The Ruins of Ireland... • Something Old and Round « less

Camera: Fujifilm FinePix6900ZOOM, f/5.6, 7.8mm, ISO 100 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Fujifilm FinePix6900ZOOM
Aperture:	f/5.6
Focal Length:	7.8mm
ISO:	100
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	No Flash
Exposure Program:	Program AE
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Adobe Photoshop CS3 Windows
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