From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is about Irish-style round towers. See round tower for other types of towers.

Irish round towers are early medieval stone towers of a type found mainly in Ireland and a few in Scotland. Though there is no certain agreement as to their purpose, it is thought they were principally bell towers, places of refuge, or a mixture of these.

Generally found in the vicinity of a church or monastery, the door of the tower faces the west doorway of the church. In this way it has been possible to determine without excavation the rough site of lost churches, where the tower still exists.

Contents 1 Construction and distribution 2 Purpose 3 See also 4 External links 5 References

The towers range in height from 18 to 40 metres (60 to 130 feet), that at Kilmacduagh being the highest in Ireland. The masonry differs according to date, the earliest examples being uncut rubble, while the later ones are of neatly joined stone work. The lower portion is solid masonry with a single door raised six to twenty feet above, often accessible only by a ladder. Within are two or more floors, usually of wood, with ladders in between. The windows, which are high up, are slits in the stone. The cap (roof), is of stone, usually conical in shape, although some of the towers are now crowned by a later circle of battlements.

They were built probably between the 9th and 12th centuries. In Ireland about 120 examples are thought once to have existed; most are in ruins, while eighteen or twenty are almost perfect. There are two surviving examples in northeastern Scotland, the Brechin Round Tower and the Abernethy Round Tower.

The only known round tower with a hexagonal base is at Kinneigh, near Enniskeane, in Co. Cork, built in 1014 known as the Kinneigh Round Tower.

A famous example of a round tower is at Devenish Island, on Lough Erne, in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. There is also a well-known Irish tower at Glendalough, a popular tourist destination. A round tower exists at Clondalkin which is the only Round Tower in Ireland which still retains its original cap. The best example of a round tower in Scotland is at Brechin, in the grounds of the cathedral.

At Saint Mary Cemetery in Milford, Massachusetts a round tower was built in the late 19th century as a memorial to central Massachusetts' Irish immigrants, of whom thousands are buried there. Built of Milford granite, it is the only such structure in North America.

The purpose of the towers is somewhat mysterious. A popular theory is that the towers were originally a redoubt against raiders such as Vikings. If a lookout posted in the tower spotted a Viking force, the local population (or at least the clerics) would enter, using a ladder which could be raised from within. The towers would be used to store religious relics and other plunderables.

One problem with this theory is that the distance from the ground to the raised doorway is somewhat greater than that from the first floor to the second; thus large, rigid steps would be too large for the door. Excavations in the 1990s, revealing postholes, confirm that wooden steps were built. However, the use of ladders prior to the construction of such steps cannot be ruled out.

Certainly, an important use of the historic towers was to act as a belfry. The Irish word for such towers, cloictheach, indicates this, as noted by George Petrie in 1845.

• Broch
• Pele tower
• Rock of Cashel
• Kinneigh Round Tower

• Irish Round Towers — detailed photographic archive and information for fifty two Irish round towers.
• The Round Towers of Ireland — article about round towers.
• Kinneigh Round Tower — articles and photos about Kinneigh Round Tower

• Brian Lalor (1999), The Irish Round Tower: Origins and Architecture Explored, ISBN 1-898256-64-0
• Roger Stalley (2000), Irish Round Towers, ISBN 1-86059-114-0
• T. O'Keeffe (2004), Ireland's Round Towers. Building, Rituals and Landscapes of the Early Irish Church, ISBN 0-7524-2571-4
• George L. Barrow (1979), The Round Towers of Ireland. A Study and Gazette
• George Petrie (1845), The Ecclesiastical Architecture of Ireland: An Essay on the Origins of Round Towers in Ireland
• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.