Timahoe
A village skirting a
goosegreen. It takes its name from teach mo-Chua Mochua's House. St.
Mochua established a monastery here in the seventh century. Burned in
1142, it was re-founded by the O'Mores. The twelfth century Round Tower
with its impressively decorated Romanesque doorways is all that remains
of the original monastic foundation. (It was climbed and safely
descended on the outside in 1827 for a large wager by a Daniel Keane
without any assistance). It came under the control of the Normans (Ballinclough
motte and bailey nearby was built by Hugh de Lacy). There was a monastic
community here as late as 1650 when the friars were murdered by Colonel
Hewson's troops at a spot known locally as "Boher a wurther" or the
murdering road.
Timahoe Round Tower
Source: South Dublin Libraries |
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Source: South Dublin Libraries |
Round towers are among the few subjects that are almost as
controversial today, as they were a hundred and fifty years ago. Their
function has been subject to endless speculation, despite the generally
accepted opinion that George Petrie put forward in his 1845 book, An
Essay on the Origins and Uses of the Round Towers of Ireland that
they were, as their Irish name cloigthech suggests, belfries or
bell towers. Constructed in Ireland from the 10th century onwards, they
are fairly difficult to date, but despite the controversy over the
chronology of round towers, it is clear that Timahoe round tower is 12th
century, as the Romanesque doorway is closely related to nearby
Killeshin church.
Few round towers show decorative detail around the doorway - even towers
built at the height of the Romanesque often had plain doorways, such as
Devenish, Co. Fermanagh, and Ardmore, Co. Waterford, with decorative
detailing elsewhere on the tower. However at Timahoe, the capitals and
bases of the doorway are ornamented with human masks, with interlace
hair, while the arch is decorated with chevrons. Petrie described it as
'the finest of its kind remaining in Ireland' (Petrie, 1845, p.232.) The
comparisons with Killeshin are so striking, that it is very likely that
they are both by same workshop, which raises interesting questions with
regard to specialisation among stone masons in early Ireland, as the
building of a round tower was a technically difficult task in comparison
with the simple stone churches which were in vogue.
Features: Timahoe is a complete tower,
though without floors or ladders. It has one of the finest four-order
Romanesque doorways in Ireland, with elaborately carved and decorated
with interlace, human heads, chevrons and capitals. It is unique in
round tower architecture.
Timahoe round Tower and Church
Images above are by Mr William
Muldowney and are © 2006
The only remnant of the early monastery founded by St. Mochua (died
657) is a very well-preserved Round Tower, 96 feet high. It is one of
the fattest Round Towers in the country. It is unique in that it has a
double Romanesque doorway with fine ornamentation including heads with
intertwined hair. Bring a pair of binoculars with you to see the detail,
as it is high up off the ground. There is also a Romanesque window in
the their floor. The dearth's of monks in the old monastery are reported
between 880 and 1007, and reference is made to a church in 1069. But the
Round Tower probably dates to the 12th century. The monastery was
re-founded in later medieval times by the O'Mores. After the
Suppression, the monastery and lands were granted to Sir Thomas Loftus
and later (1609) to Richard Cosby. It was probably one of the Cosby
family who transformed what was a medieval church into a castle; only
the east wall of the castle, incorporating an arch of the 15th century
church remains. The last friar of the monastery was killed in 1650.
