Uses of the Round Towers of Ireland, fyc. 389 



It might be inferred, however, from the following entry in the Chronicon 

 Scotorum, that this Tower was of much later date than that ascribed to it in 

 the Registry: 



"A. D. 1124. Qn cloicreach mop Cluana TTIac Noif o'opbuo la JJ'olla Cpipc h-UalTlaoil- 

 eom, 7 la CoipoealBac h-Ua Concupaip." 



"A. D. 1 124. The great doictheach of Clonmacnoise was finished by Giolla Christ O'Malone, and 

 by Turlogh O'Conor." 



Thus also in a similar entry in the Annals of the Four Masters at the same 

 year: 



" A. D. 1124. Popbao cloicccije Cluana ITIac Noip la h-Ua TTIaoileoin corhapba Chia- 

 pam." 



" A. D. 1124. The finishing of the doictheach of Clonmacnoise by O'Malone, successor of St. 

 Ciaran." 



Dr. O'Conor, indeed, translates the preceding entry as if it only recorded 

 the covering or roofing of the Tower, thus : 



" A. D. 1124. Operimentum Campanilis Cluanse Mac Nois factum per O'Maloneum, Vicarium 

 Ciarani." 



But though it is possible that the annalists intended to record the making 

 or restoration of the roof only, the verb pojibao, which they employ, properly 

 signifies to finish, or complete. However, it seems in the highest degree un- 

 likely that an ecclesiastical establishment of such high importance for many 

 centuries earlier, and the seat of a bishopric at least from the ninth century, 

 should have been without an abbey or cathedral belfry till so late a period : 

 and this improbability will appear stronger when we call to mind that one of 

 the inferior churches of the place had its own little doictheach, as I have already 

 shown, of a much earlier date, and that one of its abbots was the erector of the 

 doictheach of Tomgraney nearly two centuries previously : and it is therefore not 

 likely that this abbot would have left Clonmacnoise without such a usual and 

 necessary appendage, if it had been previously wanting. I am, therefore, of 

 opinion that the great doictheach of this place was erected at least as early as 

 the year 908, when the daimliag mor, or cathedral, standing opposite it, in the 

 usual position, was erected by the monarch Flann O'Melaghlin and the abbot 

 Colman ; and I think it most probable that the fact relative to its erection by 

 Fergal O'Kourke, as stated in the Registry, was only a tradition founded on 



