Ardpatrick Round Tower

Ardpatrick Round Tower stands near the village of the same name, in County Limerick, in Ireland.

Irish Round Towers are slender stone towers which were built between the 9th and 12th century. They are generally found in the vicinity of a church or monastery.

Their purpose seems to have been to act as a belfry. However, other purposes are also suggested, like high-status royal chapels, lookout towers, status symbols, defendable places to store religious valuables, hiding places for monks in times of trouble or just markers of religious sites. The lower portion is often solid masonry with a single door raised 2 to 3 meters above, often accessible only by a ladder. Usually they originally had a stone conical roof.

Not much remains of the Ardpatrick Round Tower but a ruined stump. Based on the remaining masonry, it is thought to have been built in the 11th/12th century. It is situated next to the Ardpatrick graveyard, where there is also a ruined church, dating back to the same period. In 1655 the tower was described as being 3 stories high with a broken top. It fell down sometime before 1826.

The Ardpatrick Round Tower can freely be visited. Though the remains are not much to look at, the views from its location, a high, and steep hill, are worth the walk up the hill alone.

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