Most visitors to the area, and indeed many Dubliners, pass it without any awareness that the stonework they are looking at pre-dates the surrounding Victorian building by roughly two centuries.

The chapel of St. Michael was founded around 1038 by Donatus, the first Bishop of Dublin, on land donated by Sitric Silkbeard, the Norse king of Dublin who is perhaps better remembered for his role in the Battle of Clontarf. It served as a chapel for several centuries before being elevated to the status of a parochial church in the fifteenth century. A survey of 1630 found it in very good condition, though by the 1670s it had fallen into disrepair; repairs were completed before the end of the seventeenth century. The church was rebuilt again in 1815, by which point its churchyard to the north had been taken over by parochial schools. Despite all of this effort at preservation, the church was demolished before the close of the nineteenth century to make way for the Synod Hall, a meeting place built for the Church of Ireland. The seventeenth-century tower, however, was retained and absorbed into the new complex rather than cleared away entirely.

The Synod Hall itself is probably best known today as the entrance building to Dublinia, the Viking and medieval history exhibition, which connects to Christ Church Cathedral by a covered bridge. If you are visiting Dublinia or Christ Church, the tower is worth a moment of attention from the outside. It sits within the Synod Hall complex on Winetavern Street, and while it does not announce itself, the contrast between the Victorian stonework and the older tower is visible on close inspection. There is no dedicated access to the tower as a standalone site, but the surrounding area is freely walkable.