Timahoe

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Location: Timahoe, Co. Laois

Timahoe / Tigh Mochua

One of the best-preserved roundtowers in Ireland rises 96ft above the village of Timahoe or "Mochua's house and is surrounded by trees inhabited by a large and vociferous colony or rocks. There are about 70 Round towers still standing in ireland, and there has been some disagreement about their purpose. But it is now generally accepte that they functioned as bell towers, used to call the monks to prawer from their work in the fields, and lookouts as places of retreat.

Entrances to the towers are always several feet above the ground - 16ft in the case of Timahoe - and the monks reached them using rope or wooden ladder which they could have pulled up after themselves. At timahoe the entrance has elaborate carvings around the arch which showed bearded heads.

Round towers date from AD 900 to the 13th Century and Timahoe's proberly dates from the 12th century. One theroy is that it may be older, perhaps dating from the 7th century when St Mohuca, the patron saint of Laois who died in 657, founded the monastery at Timahoe.