Down a lane by a stream lies the ruins of Cill Chuanna (church of Cuanna) - Kilcoona. Sir William Wilde noted that the base of a round tower was not described in the Ordnance Survey map of his time - it still isn't. The tower sits near the remains of an old church in a graveyard that looks to be still in use. When Sir William visited the site fourteen decades ago, none of the people buried here were even born. He noted that some of the gravestones had clearly been taken from the tower, but that he had been assured by the [then] currrent landowner that the stump of tower would be preserved.
Sir William speculated (pp. 78-79) as to the origin of the tower - "Is it the veritable Cloightheach referred to by the Four Masters, as having being erected at Annaghdown sixty-six year after the Anglo-Norman invasion" and concludes that it probably was. There's no proof that the tower, started in 1238, was ever finished - the stump is filled with building rubble, as it was when Sir William visited. The stump is 8 foot tall, and 52 feet in diameter.
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| Damage | Gate Post | Top of tower | Church door |
This entry is part of my 'tour', following Sir William Wilde's tour of Lough Corrib, which he described in his 1867 book, "Wilde's Lough Corrib".