Prof. Roger Stalley, who has recently retired as Professor of the History of Art at Trinity College, where he is now a fellow emeritus, will be the guest speaker at a meeting of the Mayo Historical & Archaeological Society in the Michael Davitt Room, GMIT Campus, Castlebar, on Tuesday, March 29th at 8 pm. All are welcome.

The title of his illustrated talk is ‘Myth and Mystery: the round towers of ancient Ireland‘.

For over two hundred years the round towers of Ireland have been the focus of speculation and eccentric theorising. For some they were designed as fire temples, designed for sun worship; others saw them as primitive astronomical observatories or even ‘penitential towers'.

Prof. Roger Stalley.TCD.

While their main function as belfries is now well understood, mysteries still remain. Why were they built in such numbers in Ireland (and not elsewhere), how did the fashion become established, why were they built so high and what sort of bells were rung from them? Were they a uniquely Irish phenomenon or were they inspired by examples abroad?  In this lecture Roger Stalley will explore the many theories - both ancient and modern - that are associated with the towers, over eighty of which are known to have existed across the country, five of them in Co. Mayo - at Turlough, Balla, Killala, Meelick and Aghagower.

Prof. Stalley is best known for his work on architecture. He was awarded the Alice Davis Hitchcock medal for his book The Cistercian Monasteries of Ireland (1987), following which he published Early Medieval Architecture (Oxford, 2000), a general account of building in Europe from c.300-1200 AD that has sold some 20,000 copies worldwide. Altogether he has published seven books and over 100 scholarly articles. His first book, Architecture and Sculpture in Ireland 1150-1350, was published in conjunction with a photographic exhibition he organised in Ballintober Abbey in the summer of 1971. Honours received include election to Academia Europaea, the European Academy of scholars, and the award of honorary fellowship of the Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland.