402 



Mr. PETRIE'S Inquiry into the Origin and 



I have already stated, at p. 175, that the great church of Kilmacduagh was 

 erected about the year 610, for St. Colman Mac Duach, by his kinsman, Guaire 

 Aidhne, king of Connaught ; and the perfect similarity of the masonry of the 

 Tower to that of the original portions of the great church, leave no doubt of 

 their being cotemporaneous structures. In the popular traditions of the coun- 

 try the erection of both is assigned to the Goban Saer, and these traditions are 

 not falsified by being at variance with the known period at which he flou- 

 rished. 



The doorway of the Tower of Glendalough, it will be perceived, has a 



perfect similarity of form and style of construction to that of the Tower of 

 Kilmacduagh; and it is not unlikely that both are the work of the same eminent 

 builder, with whose era the erection of the great church of Glendalough would 

 very well synchronise. It is placed at an elevation of about ten feet from the 

 present level of the ground, which, however, is now considerably raised by old 

 interments. It is constructed of blocks of granite, chiselled, though the wall 

 of the Tower generally is formed of rubble masonry of the mica slate of the 



