Taghadoe in

County Kildare County Kildare ( ga, Contae Chill Dara) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Leinster and is part of the Eastern and Midland Region. It is named after the town of Kildare. Kildare County Council is the local authority for the county, ...

in Ireland is the site of an ancient monastic settlement and

round tower A fortified tower (also defensive tower or castle tower or, in context, just tower) is one of the defensive structures used in fortifications, such as castles, along with curtain walls. Castle towers can have a variety of different shapes and ful ...

. The site includes a graveyard and the ruins of a 19th-century church. It is situated 5 km from

Maynooth Maynooth (; ga, Maigh Nuad) is a university town in north County Kildare, Ireland. It is home to Maynooth University (part of the National University of Ireland and also known as the National University of Ireland, Maynooth) and St Patrick's ...

, off the Straffan Road. The name is derived from ''Teach Tua'' or 'House of Tua' in Irish, Saint Tua (Ultan the Silent) the abbot of

Clonmacnoise Clonmacnoise (Irish: ''Cluain Mhic Nóis'') is a ruined monastery situated in County Offaly in Ireland on the River Shannon south of Athlone, founded in 544 by Saint Ciarán, a young man from Rathcroghan, County Roscommon. Until the 9th ce ...

, was responsible for founding the monastic settlement here. The site dates back to the 6th century. The round tower was used for about 1000 years, but was left in ruins by the 17th century. Most of the burials in the graveyard were in the 17th and 18th century and it was used by Roman Catholics. A John Dillon of Carton had bequeathed £1,000 for the building of a church on the site; the Duke of Leinster was the executor of his will. The church which was constructed on the site in 1831 for the

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland ( ga, Eaglais na hÉireann, ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Kirk o Airlann, ) is a Christian church in Ireland and an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the second ...

by a donation from the

Board of First Fruits The Board of First Fruits () was an institution of the Church of Ireland that was established in 1711 by Anne, Queen of Great Britain to build and improve churches and glebe houses in Ireland. This was funded from taxes collected on clerical inco ...

of £830.Taghadoe Church
Maynooth Archaeology website. This church was only active for 40 years and, while derelict, its walls are quite intact. The tower was declared a

national monument A national monument is a monument constructed in order to commemorate something of importance to national heritage, such as a country's founding, independence, war, or the life and death of a historical figure. The term may also refer to a spec ...

in 1886, and the site is in the care of the

Office of Public Works The Office of Public Works (OPW) ( ga, Oifig na nOibreacha Poiblí) (legally the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland) is a major Irish Government agency, which manages most of the Irish State's property portfolio, including hundreds of ow ...

(OPW).

References

External links

* {{commons category inline Cemeteries in County Kildare Maynooth Archaeological sites in County Kildare National Monuments in County Kildare