This is one of the strangest round towers we saw in Ireland -- it's not really just a round tower, it's four of them, connected into sort of a strange tower house, attached to a church. Four towers with walls connecting them, very strange. The round tower has been incorporated into the bell tower for the church -- which one site said was probably very lucky - given the winds around here, a lone round tower of this height might have just toppled over!

There has been a monastery at Lusk since the 5th century. The monastery - with th eexceptin of the round tower - was destroyed and ths current church replaced it in the 15th or 16th century.

Like most towers, the doorway is much closer to the ground now than when it was built - estimates range from 2-3 meters. Since the tower is incorporated into the existing bell tower, it is hard to know what are original features (the linteled doorway) and what are possibly added features (a large window). The round towers on the other corners of the belry are much later, and give the church a rather odd, unbalanced look - the belfry is much too large for the existing church. THe church iteself was built in 1847, after a storm destroyed the larger, earlier church.

We weren't able to get into the church to view the tower, although descriptions say it has eight stories and a shallow timber roof. The floors and ladders were rebuilt in the 18th century, the originals long since lost to fire and demolition.