Kilmallock Round Tower

The Kilmallock Round Tower stands in the town 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.

The Kilmallock Round Tower is incorporated into a 13th century Collegiate Church, which was probably built upon the site of a 7th century monastic site. The building date of the round tower can not be determined, as only the lower 3 meters of it seem to be of the original tower. The rest of the tower was either built later or severely altered during the Middle Ages.

The Kilmallock Round Tower can freely be visited. The ruined church is also worth seeing. As a matter of fact, Kilmallock itself is an interesting little town, because there are several other historical sites to see; a ruined Dominican abbey, stretches of the medieval town wall, the medieval Blossom Gate, several medieval merchants houses and King John's Castle. So a visit to Kilmallock is recommended.

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