The Belleek network is lately waiting for the resolution of plans from Fermanagh and Omagh District Council to see if Keenaghan Abbey in County Fermanagh will be protected, but can there be a lost Irish circular tower at Keenaghan Abbey?
This Irish heritage is one of Ireland’s oldest churches and is “currently under attack through a glamping proposal with giant service buildings and parking for approximately one hundred cars that would destroy the natural environment and desecrate the historic landscape. “
I recently wrote an article for IrishCentral about my family’s connection to Keenaghan in an effort to shed light on the history of the abbey, as well as the efforts of Lisa McWilliams of Keenaghan Cottage and Stephen Heron of the Belleek History Society as they actively search for Keenaghan. Abbey.
The article resulted in support from the award-winning chartered Landscape Architects with Park Hood. The Directors of Park Hood, Stuart Hood and Andrew Bunbury, prepared a comprehensive landscape report that advocates for the protection of Keenaghan Abbey. Their help is a testament to their character and to the integrity of their well-established Landscape Architectural practice.
Since this progression task put Keenaghan in the spotlight, I rediscovered the Irish-American, Dr. Philip S. Callahan, and his physician at Keenaghan Abbey.
Dr. Callahan was stationed as a radio technician near Belleek during World War II, at a complex radio transmission site. As he states: “Our anti-submarine radio station was not three hundred meters from this ancient cemetery. Perhaps I will see it from the windows of the cabin where we lived through the Second World War” (p. 14).
Dr. Callahan conducted fascinating research which he explains in his 1984 book, “Ancient Mysteries, Modern Visions: The Magnetic Life of Agriculture.” His essential thesis argues that “The round towers of Ireland are placed on the ground to match the night sky constellations” and that they have a healthy impact on the magnetic life of the agricultural landscape.
According to Dr. Callahan, Celtic priests and their professional stonemasons built Keenaghan Abbey and, in all likelihood, a circular tower as one of their “stone observatories of the harmonious affairs of the Earth. “
As a respected scientist, Dr. Callahan addresses the two commonly misheld theories about the function of Irish round towers: “Theory has it that the towers were built for protective sanctuary from Viking attacks. Another theory is that they were monastery bell towers.
“I’ve thought both explanations are almost ridiculous. Giant bells were not launched until the Middle Ages (except in China) and Viking attacks began long after the towers were built in the 7th century. The priests were not so prophetic!” (p. 3).
His refutation is based on the empirical attitude that an undeniable clinical study he has conducted proves that a protective shrine and bell tower are fantastic and structurally illogical. The basic nature of his studies shows that there is a correspondence between the earthly and the heavenly at Keenaghan Abbey. This correspondence also occurs with many other Irish circular towers such as Clonmacnoise in Co Offaly and Devenish in Co Fermanagh. These historic sites are and fortunately have never been threatened by irresponsible development.
Keenaghan Abbey is believed to be the missing component of the Draco constellation, as detailed by Dr. Callahan in his study. After plotting the geographical positions of many of Ireland’s circular towers, he decided “where the missing star Draco would fall”. on your Irish Ordnance Survey map (e. g. 14). Keenaghan Abbey “was a magical place” as it topped the map of the Draco constellation on the ground (p. 14).
Through Dr. Callahan’s extensive studies of magnetic forces, he links St. Patrick’s Lough Derg to the saint who founded Keenaghan: “It will be observed that the sacred Lough Derg, where St. Patrick is believed to have meditated (Figure 3, more sensible right) centre), and its surrounding hills (seven mountains with clear contours) are almost white with lines of force, and that from this domain, long lines of paramagnetic force extend southward to Breesy Hill (a remote mountain with contours). They are concentrated right on the shores of Lake Keenaghan, where the ancient Celtic abbey and the healthy domain are located” (p. 25).
Dr. Callahan describes this dating between the stars and the Irish circular towers as one of “the 4 apparent alignments. “Draco is the perfect ultimate. Cassiopeia’s bureaucracy has two W’s: one from west to east and one from north to south. The Big Dipper (Big Dipper) is out of place. Camelopardalis is also close to perfection. The ecclesiastical centre of the south of Ireland, Clonmacnoise, is the North Star. The ecclesiastical centre of Northern Ireland, Armagh, is the pole of the ecliptic. The Round Tower of Meelick is situated on the Star of Thuban, and the Round Tower of Devenish, my favorite, is situated on the Star of Eta Draconis. Both were used to align the Great Pyramid” (p. 9).
Dr. Callahan concludes that the Celtic priests and their stonemason architects intentionally imagined the evening sky on the ground and states, “I am sure that possibly a circular tower base would have been discovered in the ruins of Keenaghan Abbey, completing the constellation Draco” (p. 9).
After WWII, Dr. Callahan returned to the US to continue his studies. He had only spent several years at Keenaghan, but it left an indelible impression upon him for the rest of his life, and especially on his research. As the years passed, the whereabouts of this lost round tower still remain a mystery.
Whether there are remains of a circular circular tower from Keenaghan Abbey, Dr. Callahan’s pioneering studies further emphasize the importance of the historic landscape and natural environment, as highlighted by Lisa McWilliams of Keenaghan Cottage, Stephen Heron of the Belleek History Society, the Historic Environmental Division. (HED) and Park Hood Landscape Architects.
There’s also the Belleek network, as well as the thousands of Irish people who have signed the petition, and they’re all on full board with wanting Keenaghan Abbey. Of all those who have fished non-violently at Keenaghan Lough, walked non-violently around the Abbey and enjoyed Keenaghan Cottage non-violently, all will attest to the non-violent atmosphere of Keenaghan.
Dr. Callahan’s studies also speak of this nonviolent position, as he poetically expresses it in his book: “For more than a day I had descended into this mystical position and sat among its headstones and groves, watching curlews and shorebirds landing along the banks of the nearby Keenaghan Lough River. Keenaghan is a lovely little lake that straddles the border with Northern Ireland. It’s a place where a soldier with 20 years of experience can dream of the long, long mind of his youth; a wild, lonely, magnetic position that caught the winds from the slopes of Breesy Mountain and meandered them into the valley of the River Erne.
He also talks about the magic of Keenaghan and Breesy Hill “where I went to recharge my batteries during the Second World War” (p. 123).
If this proposed development is approved, there will never again be an experience like Callahan’s where one’s spirits can be revived, and sadly this peace will be lost.
Keenaghan “was a sacred Celtic position and, of course, had to do with a monastery” (p. 15). Dr. Callahan extra reiterates that “I’d like to bet that if one conscientiously searches the circulars of the old Keenaghan cemetery, the base of a circular tower is buried somewhere on the edge of its ruined stone wall” (p. 15). ).
As for the mystery of this yet-to-be-discovered circular tower, I know for myself that I read Dr. Callahan’s e-book before immigrating to the United States, and at first I was skeptical, thinking that these studies might be pseudoscience. I replaced my brain when I found the clinical content of his study credible and discovered Dr. Callahan’s outstanding career as a teacher and scientist.
On a crisp autumn day, when the water of Keenaghan Lough reflected a calm Yeatsian sky, my father, John, and I had the opportunity to explore and search for the basic remains of a circular tower. As the curlew’s twilight approached, we felt that ancient magnetic power in Keenaghan’s circular Abbey, as do many who venture there.
The power charged through the stone walls, visual and invisible, spread across the lake and resonated through the rich, green agricultural fields teeming with flora and fauna that surround it. Now I can relate to Dr. Callahan’s experience because it’s a nonviolent place. where I too, when I’m 20 years old, can just “dream the very, very long mind of youth; a wild, lonely, magnetic position. “
As an ancient site and one of the oldest churches in Ireland, maybe there is a lost Irish round tower to be found there at Keenaghan Abbey. I thank my cousin, Joseph, and my father again for bringing Dr. Callahan’s scientific research in “Ancient Mysteries, Modern Visions: The Magnetic Life of Agriculture” to my attention. I would imagine every Irish person who reads this article would be curious to know about another possible understanding of the function of Irish round towers, grounded in scientific analysis now within the growing scientific field of archeoastronomy. We know Newgrange in Co Meath, Stonehenge, and the Pyramids of Giza are all aligned to star constellations, solstices, and equinoxes, so it makes sense to think that some of these early Irish abbeys and their round towers have a connection to the stars, too.
So, while the Belleek community waits on a decision from the Fermanagh and Omagh District Council to see if Keenaghan Abbey will be protected—we as Irish people here and afar can all realize the paramount importance of preserving peaceful places, especially given the troubled waters of Irish history.
For there is no monetary profit on a place of peace, for there is no price point on a place of peace—for a place of peace— just like the one around Keenaghan Abbey is perpetually priceless.
*Eamon O’Caoineachan, originally from Co Donegal, completed his MA in Irish Studies at the University of St. Petersburg. John’s. Thomas moved to Houston and now works as a freelancer and poet.