Dromiskin Round Tower

Monastic site with the remains of a round tower (LH012-046003-), church and high cross (LH012-046004-). The round tower (LH012-046003-) was almost certainly truncated at some stage, judging by its odd proportions. The doorway, which is at the E side, is c. 3.75m above present ground level and has two orders constructed with cut sandstone. The outer order has a round arch springing from capitals, the N one being of grey sandstone with a carved head; the S one, of red sandstone, is also carved but is too worn to identify the image. The pillars of the outer order are missing, though there remain square-cut sandstone jambs outside the line of where they were originally positioned. The pillar bases are extant but appear at slightly different levels. The inner order consists of square-cut sandstone jambs with round arch over.

There are rectangular openings, at each of the four compass points, just below the present roof level, that at the E having been slightly truncated by the lowering of the height of the tower. At the N side there is a small pointed window constructed of two limestone slabs and two limestone jambs. The rectangular openings and possibly the window are later insertions. The doorway could well be twelfth-century because of the use of sandstone blocks dressed by diagonal tooling and the type of arch (Romanesque). The roof is corbelled with large slabs and has the remains of plaster with impressions of wicker centring. There were three floor levels above the ground, the first and third being carried on the wall thickness while the second has beam holes. It would appear that the church and the round tower were remodelled and repaired in late medieval times (Barrow 1979, 148-9). (CLAJ 1942, 101-3; Stubbs 1897, 102-10; Macalister 1946, 56; Henry 1933, 126, figs 93 and 95; Roe 1954, 113-4; Buckley and Sweetman, 225-7)

This is a national monument in State ownership (No. 92).