Drumbo Round tower

Grid reference: J321651 Geology (round tower): greywacke sandstone, siltstone, quartz-rich sandstone, vein quartz

date: 10th/11th century

The Martyrology of Tallaght of around 800 gives two names, lugbe and Cummine, associated with Drumbo, providing us thereby with the best literary evidence we have for the presence of an old Irish monastery here. to support this, we have the survival of a Round tower, but not of the church which would originally have stood near it.

Drumbo Round Tower.

The tower stands behind the modern Presbyterian church to a height of about 35 feet, but the evenly-levelled top shows that the uppermost few feet are likely to be the result of a modern restoration. Though the walls are almost four feet thick, they are not particularly well built – their comparatively small silurian stones making the tower bulge noticeably on the north side, where there is a lintelled window near the top. burials down the centuries have raised the level of the earth around the tower, so that its doorway would have been considerably higher than the present five feet separating it from the present ground-level. The upper part of the doorway retains its original upright jambs supporting a flat lintel which has been dressed to conform with the general curve of the tower. The sill of the doorway no longer survives, and recent repairs around the bottom of the door are now outlined with small pieces of quartz. excavations in the interior of the tower in 1841 produced charcoal and bones of animals – but not of humans.

The greatest pleasure in visiting the tower is the great panorama it provides over the lagan Valley, with its sides falling steeply towards the river and providing a splendid distant vista of the city of belfast. At its original height, probably of around 80 feet, the tower would have provided a landmark and beacon for anyone proceeding along the valley floor, and beckoning to visitors – probably including pilgrims – to come to ‘the ridge of the cow’ as the meaning of the place-name implies.

Before returning to Downpatrick, for well-earned refreshments in Denvir’s, Downpatrick’s oldest inn (founded in 1642), head towards Nendrum, to see one of the best-preserved Early Christian monasteries in Ireland, located on the largest island in Strangford Lough. [Insert map 9 here, showing route between Drumbo and nendrum].