The Round Tower

In 1893, Fr. Cuddihy began the development of the land north of Hamilton Street that he had purchased and donated to the parish for use in enlarging the cemetery.  A focal point of the cemetery would be an Irish Round Tower constructed out of Milford granite, a unique reminder of the Emerald Isle, his land of birth and that of most of his parishioners.  On October 17, 1893, Fr. Cuddihy made a visit to the Boston Public Library where he took out two books on Irish architecture.  He then wrote a friend in Ireland and sent money for the purchase of the same books in Ireland to have them waiting for him on his arrival there.  It would be offset by an ornamental artificial lake with a diameter of 200 feet that would welcome those approaching the cemetery from Cedar St.

Local workers were hired to construct the round tower.  By April of 1894, the construction of the tower was underway.  At its base, it is fourteen feet in diameter with walls two feet thick.  John F. Kellett was hired to construct the wooden staging that the laborers would use.  Local Milfordians who had immigrated from Italy were hired for their expertise in working with stone while Patrick Ferguson of Westport County, Ireland was one of the lead stone masons for the work.  It is said that, Fr. Cuddihy ‘prowled the site during the construction, scrutinizing each stone and consulting architectural books; he reportedly enlisted the technical guidance of a RI architect, who showed up at the site on several occasions.’  A year later, the Milford Journal reports on May 29, 1895, that the tower was 55 feet high and was progressing at twelve feet a month.  It was expected to be completed in the near future.  That article guessed that the tower would rise to 80 feet in height.

The tower in its final form stands seventy-three and a half feet in height.  It has a stone conical roof with four windows at the top, two midway, and a door at the ground level.  It is capped with a stone shamrock.  While many surmised that the Milford tower was inspired by that of Saint Kevin in Glendalough or the one at Cashel, where Fr. Cuddihy was born, he actually admitted that it was based on the tower on Devenish Island, an island in Lower Lough Erne in County Fermanagh.  This detail was referenced by Alfred Webb who was a traveling companion with Fr. Cuddihy on a voyage to his native land on the Scythia that sailed from Boston in May of 1896 to Ireland.  In The Irish Monthly of May, 1899, Mr. Webb details his conversation and the inspiration that the Devenish Island tower had on Fr. Cuddihy.

Some history is written that the tower was not finished during Fr. Cuddihy’s lifetime, but that is not true.  Perhaps that is because when the tower was finished in 1896, then dedicated that summer, Fr. Cuddihy was in Ireland.  He had made his final trip home that May on the Scythia, missing the dedication on July 10, 1896, by the bishop, who also blessed the cemetery and confirmed the youth that afternoon.  Fr. Cuddihy shared with Mr. Webb on that journey that he had hoped people would come to Milford to admire the round tower and be reminded of Ireland. His hope was articulated in a memory of Fr. William Rafferty in The Milford Daily News (May 9, 1978) that it ‘kept the tragic image of suffering Ireland in his patriotic mind and heart.’  Perhaps before the ability to imagine global jet travel and immediate digital exchange of information, Fr. Cuddihy hoped that the story and image of his homeland would inspire later generations as it stands guard over the mortal remains of his flock as their souls await the final judgment.  Though one can now more easily make the trip to Ireland to take in the original round towers, the one that stands in Milford from the imagination and dedication of Fr. Cuddihy also inspires as it keeps its sentinel over our family and friends who await the promised resurrection of the dead.