Ardmore, on Ardmore Bay, is an attractive little resort with a long sandy beach and a language college. It is renowned for its fine Round Tower, 12th century beautifully proportioned monument to Irish monastic life and is one of the finest, if late, examples of this type of structure in Ireland. Round Towers were built between the 9th and 12th centuries and were used as bell towers and places of refuge for the monks and their treasury of manuscripts and altarware in times of attack.