Glendalough Blue & Green
Looking across the graveyard towards the Round Tower and the blue skies beyond.
Glendalough (Irish: Gleann Dá Loch, meaning "glen of two lakes") is a glacial valley in County Wicklow, Ireland. It is renowned for its Early Medieval monastic settlement founded in the 6th century by St Kevin, a hermit priest, and partly destroyed in 1398 by English troops. The monastery in its heyday included workshops, areas for manuscript writing and copying, guest houses, an infirmary, farm buildings and dwellings for both the monks and a large lay population. The valley was formed during the last ice age by a glacier which left a moraine across the valley mouth. The Poulanass river, which plunges into the valley from the south, created a delta, which eventually divided the original lake in two.
The Round Tower, built of mica-slate interspersed with granite is about 30 metres 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 storeys 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 (Wikipedia).
Glendalough Blue & Green
Looking across the graveyard towards the Round Tower and the blue skies beyond.
Glendalough (Irish: Gleann Dá Loch, meaning "glen of two lakes") is a glacial valley in County Wicklow, Ireland. It is renowned for its Early Medieval monastic settlement founded in the 6th century by St Kevin, a hermit priest, and partly destroyed in 1398 by English troops. The monastery in its heyday included workshops, areas for manuscript writing and copying, guest houses, an infirmary, farm buildings and dwellings for both the monks and a large lay population. The valley was formed during the last ice age by a glacier which left a moraine across the valley mouth. The Poulanass river, which plunges into the valley from the south, created a delta, which eventually divided the original lake in two.
The Round Tower, built of mica-slate interspersed with granite is about 30 metres 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 storeys 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 (Wikipedia).