Drumcliff Round Tower

Located 40m NW of Drumcliff graveyard (DG008-084002-), in the shadow of Ben Bulben, and less than a kilometre from the mouth of the Drumcliff River, on the E side of Drumcliff Bay. It stands within a small walled enclosure, bordered on the E side by a road (N15), which intervenes between the tower and the graveyard.

This round tower is a National Monument (no. 119) in state ownership. It consists of a plain, circular tower (diam. c. 5m; current H c. 9m) of coursed, mortared stone rubble, which no longer stands to its full height. At its base there is a low, narrow plinth or offset (W 0.04-0.1m; H c. 0.5m). The rectangular, flat-headed doorway (Wth 0.54m base, 0.53m top) is located on the ESE side, at a height of 1.78m above the offset. There is a square-headed window at SSW, c. 2m below the current top of the tower. (Barrow 1979, 181).

The 1836 OS Letters record that ‘The name of the tower is ‘Claictheach Dhruim Shliabh’; a great part of it was demolished for the erection of a bridge [SL008-072001-] in the neighbourhood…’ (O’Flanagan 1933, 83-5 (31-2)).

There is a high cross (SL008-084004-) c. 50m to ESE and remains of a plain cross (SL008-084005-) c. 40m to SE, both incorporated into the N boundary wall of the graveyard. The round tower and the crosses are the only visible remains of an important monastery, which St Columcille is said to have founded here c. 574 AD on a site granted by Aed son of Ainmire, King of Ireland. He appointed St Thorian (Mothorain) to be the first abbot (Gwynn and Hadcock 1970, 34). The annals make several mentions of the monastery between the late 10th to the early 16th century, recording the deaths of various abbots, and also repeated occasions when the monastery was attacked and plundered: For instance, the Annals of Connaught notes that in the year 1416 the abbey was attacked and set on fire, and the abbot Maurice O’Coincoil perished in the flames. The Annals of the Four Masters specifically mention the round tower, recording that it was struck by lightning in the year 1396.