St Patrick’s Tower is located on Thomas Street in Dublin City. It was built in 1757 and was the largest smock windmill in Europe used to power the Roe Whiskey Distillery. A smock mill is a type of windmill that consists of a sloping sides that resembled smocks worn by farmers in the Netherlands, where their construction originated. George Roe and Company started their company here in the 1750’s and by 1887 it had expanded into the largest distillery in Europe. At that time the Thomas Street Distillery covered 17 acres and was producing 2 million gallons of whiskey annually. Roe Whiskey was exported to the United States, Canada and Australia as well as to all over Europe. The Row family became so wealthy that they even funded the restoration of Christ Church Cathedral. By the turn of the new century however the whiskey industry went into a global decline. By 1926 the distillery had ceased producing whiskey but held large quantities of unsold stock in storage. In the mid 1940′s the company finally dissolved and in 1949 the next door neighbours, a little unknown company called Guinness bought the entire site! This is now the Digital Hub of Dublin where technology, media and internet companies are encouragedto set up and thrive together in a business community.

Beautiful tower. Worth a look.

A former Windmill. A landmark that is visible from across the city and can be used as a help in finding the Guinness store house which is just across the street (although the entrance is a bit further). The tower itself is not accessible but is lit-up on holidays in appropriate colours eg green for St Patrick's day. There is a coffee shop nearby which has a good coffee.

There is not much to see are there no public access to the interior. For some reason my father always referred to this as the Guinness Malting Tower. However, this structure was not owned by Guinness and in fact it was the largest smock windmill Europe and it was and was built as part of the Roe whiskey distillery in 1757. The Thomas Street Distillery, run by the Roe Family, was once the largest in the Britain and Ireland, with an output of two million gallons per annum at its peak. After the distillery was closed in 1926, some of its buildings were purchased and incorporated into the Guinness Brewery. A few years ago Diageo, the owners of Guinness, resurrected the original brand and launched a non-chill filtered, 45% ABV premium blended whiskey under the name "Roe & Co" in March 2017.

Cool looking tower! Nothing special but a nice small cafe at the base. I think just the walk to get here is very nice. You pass a lot of churches you night not have initially planned to visit!

Lovely little cafe beside here with view of tower.

Cool building amazing to think it started life as a wind mill

One of the Dublin city most famous symbols and definitely a must see, if you are in Dublin!

Many historical references are showing that a Sylvester Costigan was the rightful owner of St Patrick's Tower. Costigan also owned a distillery on Thomas St that some 2,000 United Irishmen rebels hid in during the 1803 rebellion under Robert Emmet. The same Sylvester Costigan is still buried at St James' Church in Dublin which is being converted into a distillery now. Historical evidence shows Costigan was the one who rebuilt the windmill in 1810. Roe dynasty appears to have swindled it from Costigan. I believe history is trying to cover up a theft of property and rightful ownership to the Costigan dynasty.

Nice looking tower but nothing special

Great location for the Dublin Flea Market!

Amazing