About a mile northwest of Dysert O’Dea, across the valley from its famous counterpart, lies the site of an ancient monastery with a fascinating tale of disappearance and survival. Founded around 540 AD by St. Blamaic, this religious settlement once boasted its own round tower, until it met an unfortunate end in 1838.

According to local records, the tower’s 8-foot stump was deliberately demolished that year, with its stones repurposed to build the cemetery wall that still stands today. But the story doesn’t end there. Local legend spins a more mystical tale: that the round tower at nearby Dysert O’Dea originally stood here at Rath Blamaic, until St. Mawnaula miraculously transported it across the valley.

While the miraculous transportation makes for a good story, historians suggest this legend might preserve a grain of truth about the early history of Irish monasticism. It’s possible that when the original monastery at Rath Blamaic declined or was abandoned, the religious community relocated to Dysert O’Dea, where they built a new tower to replace the one they’d left behind, which may have already been falling into ruin.

The tower at Rath Blamaic escaped notice in early 19th-century surveys, but in 1915, antiquarian Thomas Johnson Westropp examined and photographed the cemetery wall. He became convinced that many of its stones had indeed come from the demolished round tower. A modern examination of the wall supports this theory—many stones show the characteristic shape and construction typical of round tower masonry.

Today, visitors to this quiet site can still see these ancient stones, recycled but not entirely lost, forming part of the cemetery boundary. It’s a poignant reminder of how Ireland’s medieval heritage has been preserved, transformed, and sometimes hidden in plain sight.