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Publications | Down Survey | 1997 Issue Contents The
round tower of Down The precise location of the Round Tower at Down Cathedral has long been a matter of speculation. The mystery has recently taken a fresh turn by the emergence of a scale plan of the ruins of the Cathedral, drawn in the mid-eighteenth century, and presently in the National Library of Ireland.1 As the plan is accurate in other ways, it must be taken as a true scale of what existed on the ground before the restoration commenced in 1790. Before we discuss that plan, however, it is opportune to review the evidence, both pictorial and written, which we have for the existence of the tower. We have been able to discover no less than eight variants of the well-known engraving of the Cathedral ruins. The fact that these have all been drawn - or appear to have been drawn - from a single point to the south east of the building, suggests that they are all copied from one original. It may also have been the case that this was the only point, in what is known as The Grove, from which a reasonable view could be had, as the ground sloped away fairly steeply on all other sides, although it has to be said that it would be impossible today to get a perspective from a like position. In so far as it is possible to place these illustrations in chronological order, they are: l. Illustrated in the 1872 and 1890 Guides to the Cathedral, this sketch is stated to be by Charles Lilly, who was the architect employed by the Dean, Rev the Hon William Annesley, and probably recommended by Wills Hill, the first Marquis of Downshire, to reconstruct the old abbey in the late eighteenth century. As a prudent architect and builder, he would have taken the trouble to make a sketch of the ruins before work commenced. With this provenance, this sketch, in my opinion, should be taken as the most accurate depiction of what was actually there. There is a south aisle with only one central window on the south wall, which is complete. The five bays of the nave are intact with the five clerestory windows directly above them. The Round Tower seems to be set at a point more south than west, a location which is repeated in all the variants. According to the guide book, this drawing was given by Lilly to John Brett, who was the actuary to the Chapter and from there it passed to William Johnston of Ballykilbeg with another copy, not surprisingly, being given to the Marquis of Downshire. Its present location is unknown. 2. An engraving in the British Library.2 This differs from the Lilly sketch in a number of details. There is considerable dislocation of masonry above one clerestory window and the aisle window, shown complete by Lilly, has also been damaged. The most remarkable difference, however, is the presence of a fairly large east door opening under the east window of the nave, with the actual door, off its hinges, leaning against the nearby wall. This feature does not appear in any other variant. Mr Anthony Wilson, to whom I am indebted for bringing this engraving to my notice, considers that this was commissioned by the King in return for the £1000 which he had granted through parliament for the restoration of the Cathedral. This might explain its present location in the British Library. 3.A pencil drawing by Samuel Wooley, later painted by Dr James Moore, RHA. This painting is in the possession of the Cathedral, where postcards of it may be purchased. It is very close to the Lilly sketch; all clerestory windows are entire, the tracery of the east window and the east aisle window can be seen and a statue can be seen in the central of the three niches above the east window. Vegetation is shown growing over the ruins, right up to roof level, but this may have been added by the painter, as apparently were the three figures to the left and the bare tree to the right. 4. A variant almost identical to 3, but with much less vegetation and without the tree to right, but it does include the three figures to the left. The perspective seems different in that one gets the impression of a taller, narrower building. This painting is in private possession. 5. A sketch by 'Beta' appeared in the Irish Penny Magazine of 26 October 1833. This is a fanciful sketch at the head of a short article on Down Abbey. It bears a recognisable similarity to the others but clearly 'Beta' had not personally visited the ruins. There is no slope evident and the east window opening is considerably reduced by infilling in the upper half. 6. A view of the 'Old Abbey of Downpatrick' was published in the Ulster Journal of Archaeology in 1854.'3 This is quoted as being taken from a drawing in the possession of DR William Reeves. The artist in this case has put a roof on the building although the five clerestory windows appear like dormer windows in the roof! The damaged upper masonry of the east wall remains standing above the roof level but overall only the upper half of the building is visible, the remainder being obscured by trees. This variant can only be said to have curiosity value. 7. A version drawn by the architect J.J.Phillips and published in the Cathedral Guide Book for 1904. This shows the aisle intact with a double lancet at its east end and some infill in the east window opening. It also shows the east end of the north aisle. Clearly based on Lilly, this probably represents Phillips' view on what the abbey should have looked like, part of a larger complex of buildings, the suggested plans of which he had recently published. 8. In the Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries for 1911, R.J.Welch published a photograph 'from an old painting'.4 Close study suggests that it is based on a painting from the Lilly sketch, although the two are by no means identical in all detail. In all of these, the Round Tower appears to be in the same place, rather more south than west and approximately where the present Saint Patrick memorial stone is placed. It is well documented that the Round Tower was demolished when the Cathedral was restored in the last decade of the eighteenth century and its stones were no doubt used in that restoration. Harris, in 1744, refers to a high pillar at the west end of the Cathedral, but gives no dimensions.
Scale plan of cathedral ruins copied in 1799 by Austin Cooper. (National Library of Ireland) Copy presented to Down County Museum by the Royal Irish Academy: (size 335 x 230mm) Click here for larger image Atkinson, however, in Ireland exhibited to
England, published in London in 1823, stated that it was 66 feet
in eight, its walls were 3 feet thick and 8 feet in diameter, to
which the writer of the article in the Irish Irish On the occasion of the recent launch in Down County Museum of the Downpatrick fascicle in the Historic Towns Atlas series published by the Royal Irish Academy, a copy was presented to the Museum Director of the scale plan of the Cathedral ruins which has come to light a few months ago and is now deposited in the National Library of Ireland. The plan was copied in 1799 by Austin Cooper, a well-known antiquary of the time, from an original by Gabriel Beranger, whose sketches of many buildings throughout Ireland are held in the collections of the Academy and who flourished around the middle of the eighteenth century. It appears that the plan had been in the possession of the Cooper family until a few years ago. The plan is drawn to scale and shows the Round Tower at a point 42 feet and six inches to the west of the building, bearing in mind that the present tower was a post-restoration addition. With hindsight, it is now easy to go back to the documentary evidence rather than the pictorial evidence by which succeeding generations have been misled. Indeed, the well-known 1729 Southwell map of the Demesne of Down quite clearly shows the Round Tower at the same spot as the Beranger/Cooper plan!
Needless to say, archaeologists from the Environment and Heritage Service of the Department of the Environment, led by Mr Nick Brannon, were quite excited about this discovery; Mr Brannon led the archaeological team which excavated on the Hill of Down during the 1980s, at the time closely examining the structure of the Cathedral, which was itself being restored at that time. In September 1997 the archaeological 'Time Team' from Channel 4 television spent three days on the Hill of Down. The prime motive for their visit was to locate the foundations of the Round Tower, if they still existed. Of course, permission from the Cathedral authorities had to be obtained to excavate so close to its present west door and, in the event, the Bishop issued a Faculty to enable the work to proceed.
On the first morning of the dig the exact site of the tower was drawn out in chalk on the tarmac and, after stone saws were used to outline the trench to be dug across the tower, careful digging was started. About six inches down stones were encountered which sent a ripple of excitement around the Team. However, these proved to be too small to have formed part of a wall and, in fact, appeared to be set out as a pavement. Eventually, at a depth of almost three feet, a large flat stone was found which, on being raised, was revealed to cover a drain, lined with (probably) eighteenth century bricks. Reluctantly the Team decided to concentrate their efforts elsewhere on the Hill, concluding that the eighteenth century restorers of the Cathedral who demolished the Round Tower had removed every vestige of it, including the foundations. No doubt the stones of the Round Tower of Down now form part of the present Cathedral. J Frederick Rankin: Chairman of the Lecale Historical Society; representative of the Diocese of Down on the Representative Church Body of the Church of Ireland, and author of the definitive work Down Cathedral: The Church of Saint Patrick of Down. (Belfast 1997). References
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