Castledermot Round Tower

The next notable structure within St. James churchyard is the Round Tower. There are many of these structures to be found around the country and each one that I have visited to date always seems to have its own unique differences. The Tower at Castledermot which is believed to have been built in the 10^th Century is certainly no exception. Round Towers were commonly situated to the West side of a church however here we find it lying to the North of the church. It is also strange in the fact that it is probably the only round tower that I have encountered which has been built so close to a church. The next difference to all other towers is the fact that the doorway seems to have been built at ground level unlike others where the enterance doorway would be located a couple of meters of the ground. Some of the information about the great history and archaeology of this great site comes from the guys at Abarta Heritage. Please take a moment and check out the link at the end of this post where you can hear the story for yourself with their free audio guides.

Also the tower is connected to the nave of the church by a small corridor, on the day I visited the church was closed so I was unable to have a look on the inside.Standing at approx 20 meters in height the usual conical rooftop has been replaced at some unknown date with battlements added. The tower itself appears to be in good repair and I will be definaltly returning here to see if I can gain access to the inside and see what else I can find.