This vanished round tower at Ardfert was one of Ireland’s most impressive medieval structures until its dramatic collapse in 1771. Standing beside the cathedral in County Kerry’s most important ecclesiastical center, the tower dominated the landscape for centuries before falling victim to one of the worst storms in Irish history.

Extraordinary Height and Unique Construction

Historical accounts vary regarding the tower’s exact height, but all agree it was exceptionally tall. Charles Smith described it as “near a hundred feet high,” O’Halloran and the Parliamentary Gazetteer recorded 120 feet, while Dr. Pococke measured it at 150 feet. Even the lowest estimate of 100 feet would have made it one of Ireland’s tallest round towers, while the highest estimate of 150 feet (approximately 46 meters) would have made it absolutely extraordinary.

What made the tower unique was its construction material. Smith noted it was “built mostly of a dark kind of marble, which is the first I have met with, that was not composed of freestone.” This distinctive building material set Ardfert apart from all other Irish round towers, which are typically built from local limestone or sandstone.

Symbolic Positioning and Function

The tower’s location “opposite to the west of the cathedral” created a deliberate architectural relationship between the two structures. Smith recorded that “the door of this tower faces the west entrance of the cathedral, that the penitents who were formerly enclosed therein might receive the pardon and prayers of the congregation as they went in and out of the church.” This arrangement suggests the tower served specific liturgical functions beyond simple bell-ringing, possibly including the confinement of penitents as part of medieval ecclesiastical discipline.

The Great Storm of 1771

The tower’s destruction is well-documented but with conflicting details about both date and manner of collapse. Most sources agree on 1771, though some suggest 1770. What’s remarkable is the description of how it fell—not to one side as might be expected, but collapsing straight down. De Latocnayne observed that “it crushed itself… because one would expect that such a building would naturally fall to one side or other, but in this case the stones appeared to tumble straight down forming a large mass on the spot where the tower had stood.”

Local folklore, recorded by Ó Ríordáin, provides the most dramatic account: “It was 120 feet high and weathered the storms of 3,000 years before it fell in A.D. 1771. The storm that felled it was the worst in the history of our country. Tradition says it lay intact full length towards the west – the storm blew from the east. Thus it lay several years until broken up with difficulty.”

Vandalism and Final Destruction

The folklore account suggests that vandalism may have weakened the structure before the storm: “Vandals drew away some of the foundation stones of the tower before the great storm, or else it would be today a proud and precious relic of our pagan past.” This detail, if accurate, indicates that stone-robbing had compromised the tower’s structural integrity, making it vulnerable to the extreme weather that finally brought it down.

Reuse of Materials and Archaeological Evidence

After lying “intact full length towards the west” for several years, the fallen tower was eventually broken up with difficulty. The massive stones were reused practically: “It provided stones for enclosing the graveyard and building the houses of old Ardfert.” This means fragments of Ireland’s most unusual round tower are likely incorporated into various structures throughout the old town.

Archaeological evidence of the tower’s location was uncovered in 1949 when the foundations were located, and a 2012 graveyard survey by Laurence Dunne precisely identified the site. A few in-situ stones from the basal courses remain visible, along with scattered ex-situ stones in the immediate area. A 19th-century tomb belonging to the Harmon family partially extends over the original tower site.

Historical Documentation

The earliest visual record appears on Henry Pratt’s 1697 drawing of the Ardfert ecclesiastical site, marking the tower as one of the complex’s significant buildings. The tower’s documentation by multiple 17th and 18th-century observers provides unusually detailed accounts of a structure that few people alive today have seen.