The Ten Wonders of Ireland’s West: Part 1 – Kilmacduagh Round Tower

The Round Tower at Kilmacduagh points towards the heavens, as it has done for centuries. Just not as directly as before [it slants a couple of feet off of the vertical]. When it was built, a glow on the horizon would mean danger – a sign that pillagers were torching nearby settlements. Now, it is merely the sign of increased urbanization – the lights are from the nearby town of Gort.

I’ve decided to compile a list of Ten Wonders of Ireland’s West – a sort of personal top ten of places to see or things to experience. The list isn’t in any particular order but Kilmacduagh Round Tower and monastic settlement is as good a place to start as anywhere. The tower is the highest in Ireland (at over 100 feet) and was built in the 12th century. It only began to subside (causing the slant) in the last 200 years (that’s my guess, since 18th century books don’t mention the slant).

The site is right at the edge of the Burren, and in Winter, it is practically surrounded by turloughs and floodwater. Though it is close to a town (and there is a farmhouse right across the road), it is a peaceful place, particularly in the morning or evening. It was a visit to Kilmacduagh [my first to the site] almost a decade ago (just after I had returned from a four year stint in Sweden) that fired my enthusiasm for exploring the west of Ireland and inspired me to begin taking pictures of what I saw. This website, and the various incarnations thereof, began as a direct result of that visit.

More on Kilmacduagh here and here.