Clondalkin Round Tower

Built on the site of a monastery founded by Saint Mochua in the 7th century AD, the round tower at Clondalkin is one of four remaining towers in County Dublin. The Clondalkin tower, which was built in the late 8th or early 9th century,^[5] stands at 25.6 m (84 ft) high.^{[citation needed]} Because the stones used in construction are of a rough undressed variety of local calp limestone, it is thought to be an early round tower. The drum is also extremely narrow, the diameter being only 4.04 m (13.3 ft) meters at its widest point. An unusual feature of this tower is the pronounced buttress at its base.^[8] This buttress is constructed of a different variety of stone to the main tower, and was likely added at a later date.^[9]

A series of steps were cut into the buttress in the late 19th century. These wind around the buttress leading up 3.9 m (13 ft) to the base of the east facing doorway. Granite stones were used for the jambs, sill and lintel of the doorway.^[10] There are 6 windows in the tower, and the top 4 of them point north, south, east and west.

The bulging base is rubble work with smaller stones. The doorway, 3.9 m (13 ft) above pavement level, faces east toward St. John's Church. The plain lintelled doorway is composed mainly of granite. There are four square-headed windows in the top story facing the cardinal compass points. Two other windows in the drum face south (in the first story) and west (in the second story). Both are also square-headed.

There are two stone crosses on the site. The smaller depicts both a ringed and a Latin cross on its faces, while the larger granite cross, which may have originally been a boundary or grave marker, stands proudly a few meters apart from the smaller cross.

Along the boundary to the right of the nearby church is a large granite baptismal font. Together with the two early crosses, this font may also be a remnant of the original monastery.^[10]

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