The story of Glendalough

Glendalough means 'valley of two lakes', and in the 6th century St Kevin came here with a small group of monks to found a monastery where 'two rivers form a confluence'. His fame as a holy man spread, and he died in about 618, traditionally on 3 June. For the next six centuries the settlement flourished.

Around 1042, oak from Glendalough was used to build the second-longest Viking longship recorded, about 30 metres long; a modern replica built in 2004 is in Roskilde, Denmark. In its heyday the monastery had workshops, places for copying manuscripts, guest houses and an infirmary. English forces left it a ruin in 1398, yet it remained a place of pilgrimage.

You enter through the gateway, now unique in Ireland. Ahead rises the round tower, about 30 metres high, with its entrance 3.5 metres above the base. Its conical roof was rebuilt in 1876 using the original stones.