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What's the tower on the hill near Kells?

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  • 23-04-2007 4:26pm
    #1
    telecaster
    Registered Users Posts: 528 ✭✭✭


    Off the N3 there is what looks like a lighthouse on a hill. I haven't seen any signposts to suggest what happens there.....anyone here know?


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    #2
    Silverfish
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 16,696 Mod ✭✭✭✭Silverfish


    Its the Tower of Loyd.


    It is as creepy as hell, imo.


    Here's some info on it.

    Tower of Loyd


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    #3
    Ruu_Old
    Closed Accounts Posts: 36,634 ✭✭✭✭Ruu_Old


    Do they still let people go to the very top? We went there on a 'school tour' (we are only like 15 or so miles away!) :mad: I won't say what went on when a few of the trouble makers got out onto the part with the metal bars. :(


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    #4
    telecaster
    Registered Users Posts: 528 ✭✭✭telecaster


    That's bizarre, I'll have to go and check it out

    Fairplay for the lightining quick reply Silverfish :)


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    #5
    upmeath
    Registered Users Posts: 1,492 ✭✭✭upmeath


    Ruu wrote:
    Do they still let people go to the very top? We went there on a 'school tour' (we are only like 15 or so miles away!) :mad: I won't say what went on when a few of the trouble makers got out onto the part with the metal bars. :(

    Any time I've ventured up that end of the county in the last 5 or 10 years it's been closed, much to my dismay!


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    #6
    PeteK*
    Registered Users Posts: 995 ✭✭✭PeteK*


    I've been up once, but it was the middle of the night.

    I'd like to go into it..


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    #7
    DMC
    Registered Users Posts: 10,726 ✭✭✭✭DMC


    Its still open on Sundays afaik.

    The tower is more commonly called the Spire of Lloyd.

    http://meathtourism.ie/Tourism/Heritage/HeritageTrails/KellsHeritageTrail/
    The first Earl of Bective erected the Spire of Lloyd, a mock lighthouse, in 1791,in memory of his father Sir Thomas Taylor. The architect was Henry Baker.


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    #8
    Dubh Geannain
    Registered Users Posts: 3,397 ✭✭✭Dubh Geannain


    I was up there as a kid. If I remember correctly you were told you could see 5 or 6 different counties. I presume Dublin, Meath, Cavan, Westmeath and Lought anyway.


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    #9
    Access
    Registered Users Posts: 2,359 ✭✭✭Access


    Ah! And there was me thinking it was the control tower for the new Kells international airport! :D

    (How they will ever get a runway built on that hill... i dont know!)


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    #10
    gipi
    Registered Users Posts: 2,903 ✭✭✭gipi


    Access wrote:
    Ah! And there was me thinking it was the control tower for the new Kells international airport! :D

    (How they will ever get a runway built on that hill... i dont know!)

    Simple - they'll use vertical take-off and landing planes!! :D


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    #11
    Ruu_Old
    Closed Accounts Posts: 36,634 ✭✭✭✭Ruu_Old


    "Just making our final descent into Kells International, on your right there you see Supervalu for all your shopping needs, thanks for flying Air Kells and hope to see you in the near future". :)


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    #12
    mickrourke
    Registered Users Posts: 686 ✭✭✭mickrourke


    Ruu wrote:
    "Just making our final descent into Kells International, on your right there you see Supervalu for all your shopping needs, thanks for flying Air Kells and hope to see you in the near future". :)


    .....and there's always "The Vibe" for all your dancing needs......


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    #13
    muincav
    Registered Users Posts: 810 ✭✭✭muincav


    whilst driving past the TOWER OF LLOYD a few years ago, I had some English people in the car who asked what was the tower on the hill?I replied, it was a lighthouse..just as we were pulling into Dublin Airport, one of the English people said, "what do you mean its a lighthouse"? And there we have the lightning response of a dim witted Englishman...true story....:)


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    #14
    ambman
    Registered Users Posts: 295 ✭✭ambman


    welcome to kells airport now get ready for the two mile tail back into the town. but dont worry when you get to the top of the hill you find no reason what caused the traffic jam in the first place :confused:
    roll on the m3 ;)


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    #15
    marco murphy
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,715 ✭✭✭marco murphy


    Just in case no one knows, it was built in famine times. The Lord of Headfort Estate had schemes for people to built in an effort to make money, known as follies. He also gave people jobs to build the walls around the estate to give them some sort of wage.


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    #16
    JMSE
    Registered Users Posts: 902 ✭✭✭JMSE


    Just read that last post....I often wondered how those big estates managed to pay the dozen or two dozen men it must have took to build those endless walls. Charity after the crime. Imagine thinking your family are only goin to make it thru the winter coz some mad old fart fancies seeing a lighthouse built in the middle of the country.


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    #17
    europerson
    Registered Users Posts: 2,909 ✭✭✭europerson


    JMSE wrote:
    Just read that last post....I often wondered how those big estates managed to pay the dozen or two dozen men it must have took to build those endless walls. Charity after the crime. Imagine thinking your family are only goin to make it thru the winter coz some mad old fart fancies seeing a lighthouse built in the middle of the country.
    So, you're saying that allowing the people to work for a wage is wrong? The Marquess of Headfort paid the workers a fair wage, with which they could purchase food, so that their family would survive. It was a win-win situation. Admittedly, some land-owners went further and gave food out for free, but, then, the people were idle, because they had no-one for whom to work. The work they did on their own plots of land was pointless, because of the blight, and there wasn't enough everyday work for them on the estate, so Lord Headfort came up with this idea. I fail to see the "crime".


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