1932 – Round Tower, College Green, Dublin

The Roman Catholic equivalent of the Royal Archways constructed in the previous century. This wood and canvas Round Tower, 45 feet high, was erected on the site of the statue of King William for the Eucharistic Congress in June 1932.

The Irish Times wrote that “Messrs. Watson of Killiney” produced the round tower, and that “no visitor, let alone a Dubliner, can readily miss this, as it stands some 45 feet high, on the site formerly occupied by the King William statue.” William’s statue had been subject to many attacks, in fact one publication went as far as to say “It has been insulted, mutilated and blown up so many times, that the original figure, never particularly graceful, is now a battered wreck, pieced and patched together, like an old, worn out garment.” An explosion in November 1929 led to its removal from College Green, where it had stood since 1701.