the most notable being the story of the conversion of
Loíguire’s daughters (§26), with its rhythmic, quasi-
poetical language. However, some scholars would
attribute these characteristics to his dependence on an
Irish poetical source.
The traditional view holds that Tírechán wrote his
memoir to establish a list of the ecclesiastical founda-
tions in Meath and Connacht, which by virtue of hav-
ing been founded by Patrick owed allegiance to the
Patrician community of his own time, centered at
Armagh. Certainly, Tírechán was a partisan of that
cause, as evident from his lament that ecclesiastical
enemies were encroaching on such foundations, espe-
cially the powerful communities of Colum Cille and
Clonmacnoise, Armagh’s main rivals in the second half
of the seventh century. But an alternative theory pro-
poses that Tírechán’s concern was not Armagh but two
other churches, one in his native Tirawley and the other
(more important) in Meath, at the site of Patrick’s first
celebration of Easter. According to this interpretation,
Tírechán addressed his work to the Uí Néill kings of
Meath (a dynasty that had long supported the Patrician
churches) in an effort to curry favor by supporting their
claim to lands in Connacht.
References and Further Reading
Bieler, Ludwig. The Patrician Texts in the Book of Armagh.
Dublin: The Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1979.
Kenney, James F. The Sources for the Early History of Ireland:
Ecclesiastical. New York: Columbia University Press, 1929,
pp. 329–331.
Swift, Catherine. “Tírechán’s Motives in Compiling the Collec-
tanea: An Alternative Interpretation.” Ériu45 (1994): 53–82.
Swift, Catherine. “Patrick, Skerries and the Earliest Evidence
for Local Church Organization in Ireland.” In A. MacSham-
hráin, ed., The Island of St. Patrick.Dublin: Four Courts
Press, 2004, pp. 61–78.
PÁDRAIGÓ NÉILL
See alsoArmagh, Book of; Connacht; Ecclesiastical
Organization; Hagiography and Martyrologies;
Hiberno-Latin; Mide; Patrick; Uí Néill
TOWER HOUSES
Thousands of small castles (known to contemporaries
as such), which consisted primarily of towers, were
built in late medieval Ireland. The normal form is of
a square tower, with a vaulted ground floor and at least
two (usually three) upper floors. Each floor has one
main room; the first floor provided the principal one,
with a good chamber normally above, and then lesser
rooms in the attics. Some towers have attached turrets
which housed stairs, latrines, or small chambers; a
few towers are circular in plan. They provided accom-
modation for the lord and family alone, without the
trappings of English lordship, law, and administration,
which needed a hall. Many had attached enclosures
(in Ireland called bawns; in Scotland, barmkins)
which may have held halls, farm buildings, and so
forth made of perishable materials, but the core was
the stone tower. The great majority date from the late
fourteenth to the sixteenth centuries, sharing some
architectural details with the friaries of the time. Their
origin lies in the chamber towers of halls of the thir-
teenth century. Ireland shares the common use of the
tower in late medieval castles with other European
countries, but principally with Scotland and northern
England. They overlap with the large residential tow-
ers for magnates (e.g., Askeaton), but seem to be a
separate type.
Because tower houses are thick-walled and equipped
with battlements, narrow loops, machicolations or
“murder holes” (to drop rocks on people below), and
other defensive features, they are often seen as prima-
rily defensive in purpose, sometimes falsely contrasted
with the more peaceful manor houses of lowland
England. The defensive features are oftenimpractical,
such as rooftop battlements where it is impossible
to move around the wall-walk unimpeded by gables,
chimneys, and so forth. Doors are at ground level
(in earlier, more defensive, castles tower doors were
raised to first floor level) and wells are universally
lacking. Side towers are common in the Pale area
but do not flank the doors with archery or gun loops.
The defensive features are part of display, not evi-
dence that even low-intensity war was common in
fifteenth-century Ireland.Knockane Tower House, Co. Tipperary. © Department of the
Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Dublin.TÍRECHÁN