Magdalen Tower

A priory of the Dominican order founded c. 1224 by Luke Netterville, archbishop of Armagh. The only standing remains now to be seen are those of the central tower, built of coursed limestone blocks, greywacke and rough stone. It has two floor levels above the arch, the lower one having a twin-light window with transom and tracery in each of the four walls. The window arches are two-centred, are constructed of hard grey sandstone and are typical of the late medieval period. The windows of the upper floor level are also twin-lighted with transom and Y-shaped tracery but are taller than those of the lower stage. The stairwell is contained in the NW angle which projects northwards. In its N façade it has a doorway c. 6m above the present ground level. It has a two-centred arch of limestone with cut limestone jambs and several plain window slits for light. The lower floor level is roofed with a ribbed vault which springs from stylised human heads.

The arch of the tower at both the nave and chancel sides is constructed of hard grey moulded sandstone in three orders which descend onto single jambs of chamfered limestone. The remains of jambs of a sandstone arch can be seen in the SW angle of the tower, presumably part of the original arcading at the S side of the nave. The line of the roofs of the nave and chancel is also clearly to be seen in the E and W façades of the tower. The treatment of the stonework in the windows and the doorway to the stairwell indicates a late medieval date, probably early fifteenth-century. In 1949 house foundations were dug just to the W of the tower and a small number of line-impressed tiles were found (CLAJ 1950, 182), and in 1951 further excavations in the same area revealed the foundations of a wall. (CLAJ 1906, 77; CLAJ 1941, 32-6; CLAJ 1945, 23-4; CLAJ 1949, 97)