Ireland’s most famous monastic site

Glendalough is Ireland’s most famous and beautiful monastic site. It can be found deep in the Wicklow Mountains in a glaciated valley containing 2 lakes. The ‘monastic city’ contains 2 of Ireland’s most iconic buildings – The Roundtower and Kevin’s Kitchen. Round towers were built between the 9th and 12th centuries and were used as bell tower for calling people to prayer. In the late 1800s, the cone-shaped part of this round tower was struck by lightning and split down the center. When the repairs were being carried out by a local man: Sam Kennedy, it was said that ‘he danced the hornpipe around the rim of the tower’ (there’s always one in the village!)

Thanks to the National Monuments Service for excellent video