Famous Viking Battles at the Rare Round Tower and Heritage Village of Cluain Dolcain

Dublin is full of history, especially outside of the City Centre, but the bustling village of Clondalkin holds one very special wonderful treasure... It's very own 7th Century Monastic Round tower.

The Clondalkin Round Tower is only one of four remaining round towers in Dublin, and this one has its own free visitors centre (The Heritage Village) where you can learn about the history of the Tower, it’s occupants and Clondalkin itself through the ages.

The Round Tower itself is 27.5 meters high and made from limestone. It is considered to be one of the older Round Towers in Ireland. The inside of the tower is quite small being only four meters wide, and considering its purpose, it must have been quite cramped.

The history of this tower is vast. It was home to a fortress constructed by the Viking King, Olaf the White in 852 AD.

It was under Viking control for hundreds of years until 1014 AD when the historic Brian Boru defeated the Vikings at the Battle of Clontarf. Richard de Clare, or as he was more famously known as Strongbow was also involved at a battle in Clondalkin where he was defeated during his Norman invasion by The High King of Ireland, Ruaidri Ua Conchobair.

The Museum has tons of interactive displays to learn about the history of the Tower and Clondalkin and you can also visit the attached old farmhouses and see what farming life was like in Clondalkin.

The Tower also has a beautifully designed garden where free yoga classes take place at the weekends, coinciding with the famous Happy Pear Cafe where you can grab a delicious coffee and some of the famous happy pear vegetarian foods. If you’re lucky, you might get to meet the ‘happy pair’ themselves; the twins who founded the Happy Pear.

The entrance to the museum is completely FREE and a fantastic way to spend a few hours taking in the history of Clondalkin.

When you are finished, why not take a trip to Corkagh Park which is only a 5-minute drive or 10-minute walk from the Round Tower? You can find out more about Corkagh park here.

Additional Information: Suitable for all ages and great for families, plenty for the kids to play with while learning some really cool facts about Vikings!

Price: Free

Opening hours: Monday – Friday: 9 am – 5 pm, Saturday & Sunday: 9 am – 6 pm

Official Website: https://www.dublinsoutdoors.ie/round-tower-clondalkin-village

Email: info@theroundtower.ie

Phone Number: + 353 1 555 4648

Google map location: Round Tower Clondalkin