Timahoe Round Tower & Heritage Centre
Welcome to Timahoe
Only fifteen minute’s drive southeast of Portlaoise, you’ll uncover a story of redemption and faith at the medieval masterpiece that is Timahoe Round Tower. A Christian icon for the ages, the tower was a beacon for a once-thriving monastic community and now proudly overlooks a peaceful village green.
Founded by soldier-turned-saint Mo Chua, the tower’s bells would both summon for prayer and sound the alarm following an era of regular Viking plunder. Haunting bells toll no more, and the serenity of this picture-postcard setting is broken now only by the laughter of children across the road in the village playground.
Elegant Round Tower
A extraordinary carved doorway makes this the most elegant round tower in Ireland. Carvings of human heads, with flowing beards and moustaches, decorate the main entrance, about five metres from the ground. Smaller carvings decorate a second story window. No one knows why the monks at Timahoe carved such a beautiful doorway. They may have used it to display a sacred relic to pilgrims, or the elegant decoration could reflect the monastery buildings that have disappeared from this site.
