Walking in Ireland

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Glendalough Monuments - Lower Valley

The Gateway

The gateway to the monastic city of Glendalough is one of the most important monuments, now totally unique in Ireland. It was originally two-storeyed with two fine granite arches. The antae or projecting walls at each end suggest that it had a timber roof. Inside the gateway is a cross-inscribed stone. This denoted the sanctuary, the boundary of the area of refuge. The paving of the causeway in the monastic city is still preserved in part but very little remains of the enclosure wall.

Glendalough Round Tower

This incredible tower, one of the great examples still in existence, is built of mica-slate interspersed with granite is about 30 meters high, with an entrance 3.5 metres from the base. The conical roof was rebuilt in 1876 using the original stones. The tower originally had six timber floors, connected by ladders. The four stories above entrance level are each lit by a small window; while the top storey has four windows facing the cardinal compass points. Round towers, landmarks for approaching visitors, were built as bell towers, but also served on occasion as store-houses and as places of refuge in times of attack.

The Cathedral

The largest and most imposing of the buildings at Glendalough, the Cathedral had several phases of construction, the earliest, consisting of the present nave with its antae. The large mica-shist stones which can be seen up to the height of the square-headed west doorway were re-used from an earlier church. The chancel and sacristy date from the late 12 and early 13th centuries. The chancel arch and east window were finely decorated through many of the stone are now missing. The north doorway to the nave also dates from this period. Under the southern window of the chancel is an aumbry or wall cupboard and a piscina, a basin used for washing the scared vessels.

A few metres south of the Cathedral an early cross of local granite, with an un pierced ring, is commonly known as St Kevin's cross.

The Priests' House

Almost totally reconstructed from the original stones, based on a 1779 sketch by Beranger, the Priests' house is a small Romanesque building, with a decorative arch at the east end. It gets its name from the practice if interring priests there in the 18th and 19th centuries. Its original purpose is unknown although it may have been used to house relics of St Kevin.

St Kevin's Church or "Kitchen"

This stone roofed building originally had a nave only, with entrance at the west end and a small round headed window in the east gable. The upper part of the window can be seen above what became the chancel arch, when the chancel, now missing, and the sacristy were added later. The steep roof, formed of overlapping stones, is supported internally by a semicircular vault. Access to the croft or roof chamber was through a rectangular opening towards the western end of the vault. The church also had a timber first floor. The belfry with its conical cap and four small windows rises from the west end of the stone roof in the form of a miniature round tower.

St Kieran's Church

The remains of this nave-and-chancel church were uncovered in 1875. The church probably commemorates St Kieran, the founder of Clonmacnoise, a monastic settlement that had associations with Glendalough during the 10th century.

St Mary or Our Lady's Church

One of the earliest and best constructed of the churches, St Mary's or Our Lady's Church consists of a nave with a later chancel. Its granite west doorway, with an architrave, has inclined jambs and a massive lintel. The under-side of the lintel is inscribed with an unusual saltire (x-shaped) cross. The east window is round-headed, with a hood moulding and two very worn carved heads on the outside.

Trinity Church

A simple nave-and-chancel church with a fine chancel arch; Trinity Church is beside the main road. A square headed doorway in the west gable leads into a later annexe, possibly a sacristy. A Round Tower or belfry was constructed over a vault in this chamber. This fell in a storm in 1818. The doorway inserted in the south wall of the nave also dates from this period. Projecting corbels at the gables would have carried the verge timbers of the roof.

St Saviour's Church

The most recent of the Glendalough churches, St Saviour's was built in the 12th century, probably at the time of St Laurence O'Toole. The nave and chancel with their fine decorated stones were restored in the 1870's using stones found on the site. The Romanesque chancel arch has three orders, with highly ornamented capitals. The east window has two round headed lights. Its decorated features include a serpent, a lion and two birds holding a human head between their beaks. A staircase in the eastern wall leading from an adjoining domestic building would have given access to a room over the chancel.