Inishcaltra Round Tower

Situated on a low hill 12m SW of St. Caimin’s church (CL029-009011-) on Inis Cealtra. A well-built round tower with a flat top. The stonework is well coursed with exceptionally large stones in the base. The wall is offset 0.1m at the base 0.3m above ground. Excavations in 1976 revealed this course to be 0.4m deep with a thin layer of small stones and natural rock below that (Barrow 1985, 61). The diameter at base is 4.58m and at the doorway at ENE it is 4.5m. The interior is dug out to 0.6m above the external offset. Large stones project from the wall corresponding to the large stones in the external wall. There is a rough offset for a floor 2m above the ground. The second floor is formed by a number of large corbels and flagstones projecting from the wall and higher up there are three more offsets. The door at ENE is round-headed (Wth 0.64m at base; H 1.6m to soffit; T 1.05m). The top of the door is cut out of three stones carried right through the wall and the sill, likewise, is a single slab. A large, finely dressed, angle-headed window faces N above the second floor level and three more square-headed windows face ENE, SSW and NW in ascending order. The excavation revealed careful preparation in advance of construction. A large oval disc of puddled clay studded with small boulders and stones was laid down, ringed by small drain-trenches. A short sequence of post-holes concentric with the tower at NW were interpreted as marking the end of a stairway which rose to the sill of the door. A number of burials were found between the round tower and St. Caimin’s (CL029-009140-). Iniscealtra is a national monument in state care, no. 5. (Macalister 1916-17, 137-9; Barrow 1979, 61-3; De Paor 2013, 41-2)