School: Ceannanus Mór, Scoil na mBráthar

Location:
Kells, Co. Meath
Teacher:
An Br. M.L. Ó Séaghdha
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The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0703, Page 213

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The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0703, Page 213

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  3. XML “The Round Tower of Kells”

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  1. The Round Tower of Kells is a circular building about eighty feet high, and about eighteen feet in external diameter. The origin of this Tower and other of its kind scattered over Ireland has been the subject of much conjecture in the past.
    It is evident that the Round Tower of Kells situated so near the Church was used either as a belfry or as a place for storing the sacred vessels and other valuables, or as a watchtower, or probably for all three purposes.
    The doorway of this tower is placed at a considerable elevation above the ground, and was likely furnished with double doors. The date of its erection is not known with any degree of accuracy and it as once suggested that this tower and others of its kind were of Phoenician or Indo-Scythic origin, and to have contained the sacred fire from which all the fires in the kingdom were annually kindled. The tower was divided into storeys, supported by projections in the masonry, and was capped by a conical roof. The Round Tower of Kells has lost this conical top but some of the towers still have them. The date of its erection cannot be accurately known but it must date somewhere between the sixth and twelfth centuries. In the seventeenth and even the eighteenth
    (continues on next page)
    Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.
    Language
    English
    Collector
    Terence Timmons
    Gender
    Male
    Address
    Farrell Street, Co. Meath
    Informant
    Mr Patrick O Connell
    Gender
    Male
    Age
    50