Irish round tower Totally Explained

Everything about Irish Round Tower totally explained

ť 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, with three in Scotland and one on the Isle of Man. Though there's no certain agreement as to their purpose, it's 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.

Construction and distribution

The towers today range in height from eighteen to forty metres, that at Kilmacduagh being the highest surviving 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 two to three metres above, often accessible only by a ladder. Within, in some, are two or more floors, or signs of where floors existed, usually of wood, and it's thought that there were 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.
The towers were probably built between the 9th and 12th centuries. In Ireland about 120 examples are thought once to have existed; most are in ruins, while eighteen to twenty are almost perfect. There are three surviving examples in northeastern Scotland, the Brechin Round Tower, the Abernethy Round Tower, and the Muthill Round Tower, .
Famous examples include Devenish Island, on Lough Erne, in County Fermanagh, Glendalough, County Wicklow, and Kildare Town, Co. Kildare, while that at Clondalkin is the only Round Tower in Ireland to still retain its original cap. 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.

Purpose

The purpose of the towers has been somewhat murky until recent times. A popular theory in the past was 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.
   However, there are many problems with this theory. Many towers are built in positions which are not ideal to survey the surrounding countryside and wouldn't work efficiently as watch towers for incoming attacks.
   The doors to these towers would have been wooden and therefore easily burned down. Due to the almost chimney-like design of the towers, the smoke from the burning door would have been carried upwards inside the tower causing any occupants to suffocate.
   The main reason for the entrance-way being built above ground level was to maintain the structural integrity of the building rather than for defense. The towers were generally built with very little foundation. The tower at Monasterboice has an underground foundation of only sixty centimeters. Building the door at ground level would weaken the tower. The buildings still stand today because their round shape is gale resistant and the section of the tower underneath the entrance is packed with soil and stones.
   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 can't be ruled out.
   Therefore, the primary reason for the round tower was to act as a belfry imitating the continental European style of bell tower which was popular at the time. The Irish word for round towers, cloictheach, literally meaning bellhouse indicates this, as noted by George Petrie in 1845.

Modern symbolic towers

Daniel O'Connell's tomb at Glasnevin Cemetery had a round tower built above it after his burial in 1847.
   At Saint Mary Cemetery in Milford, Massachusetts a round tower was built of Milford granite in the late 19th century as a memorial to central Massachusetts' Irish immigrants, of whom thousands are buried there.
   In 2002 Tony Ryan, a native of Tipperary, built a round tower at his Castleton Lyons Stud in Kentucky.
   Another "revival" round tower was built in the Island of Ireland Peace Park in Belgium, as a war memorial to the soldiers of the island of Ireland who died, were wounded or are missing from World War I. The tower is in the traditional design of an Irish round tower and is partially built with stone from a former British Army barracks in Tipperary.

Examples

Image:Round tower Antrim Ireland.jpg|Antrim Image:Aghagower Round Tower 2007 08 12.jpg|Aghagower Image:Ardpatrick RoundTower.JPG|Ardpatrick Image:Armoy round tower County Antrim.jpg|Armoy Image:Round Tower, Dromiskin.JPG|Dromiskin Image:Turlough round tower.jpg|Turlough Further Information

Get more info on 'Irish Round Tower'.

External Link Exchanges

Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:

<a href="http://irish_round_tower.totallyexplained.com">Irish round tower Totally Explained</a>

Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned.