Reproduction of the original: The Round Towers of Ireland by Henry O ́Brien

The round tower is Ireland’s most distinctive medieval monument. This book explores the towers’ qualities as works of architecture as well as examining their relationships with other buildings at the sites on which they stand. The author suggests how the towers were employed in ceremonies and other ritualised activities of the Viking Age church in Ireland. They prove to be crucial evidence in a new history of Irish Christianity between the Viking raids and the late 12th-century invasion.

The history of this unique Irish structure, Including their construction, Architectural design and function

A guide to Ireland's unique form of architecture, the round tower. Fully illustrated, this book examines the architectural design, setting, and function of these towers.

The remains of over 70 Christian/early-medieval Round Towers survive in Ireland, with the bulk of them located north of the Dingle Peninsula and south of Lough Neagh. Many of those that remain are in association with surviving monastic settlements and are sited in some of the most beautiful and historic areas of the country.

Reproduction of the original: The Round Towers of Ireland by Henry O ́Brien

Lying at Europe's remote western edge, Ireland long has been seen as having an artistic heritage that owes little to influences beyond its borders. This publication, the first to focus on Irish art from the eighth century AD to the end of the sixteenth century, challenges the idea that the best-known Irish monuments of that period-the high crosses, the Book of Kells, the Tara Brooch, the round towers-reflect isolated, insular traditions. Seventeen essays examine the iconography, history, and structure of these familiar works, as well as a number of previously unpublished pieces, and demonstrate that they do have a place in the main currents of European art. While this book reveals unexpected links between Ireland, Late-Antique Italy, the Byzantine Empire, and the Anglo-Saxons, its center is always the artistic culture of Ireland itself. It includes new research on the Sheela-na-gigs, often thought to be merely erotic sculptures; on the larger cultural meanings of the Tuam Market Cross and its nineteenth-century re-erection; and on late-medieval Irish stone crosses and metalwork. The emphasis on later monuments makes this one of the first volumes to deal with Irish art after the Norman invasion. The contributors are Cormac Bourke, Mildred Budny, Tessa Garton, Peter Harbison, Jane Hawkes, Colum Hourihane, Catherine E. Karkov, Heather King, Susanne McNab, Raghnall Floinn, Emmanuelle Pirotte, Roger Stalley, Kees Veelenturf, Dorothy Hoogland Verkerk, Niamh Whitfield, Maggie McEnchroe Williams, and Susan Youngs.

A history of the round tower in Clondalkin, Dublin 22 and its association with St. Mochua.