Irish round tower

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

The round tower at Glendalough, Ireland, is approximately thirty metres tall

Irish round towers (Irish: Cloigtheach (singular), Cloigthithe (plural) – literally "bell house") are early medieval stone towers of a type found mainly in Ireland, with two in Scotland and one on the Isle of Man. Though there is no certain agreement as to their purpose, it is thought they were principally bell towers, places of refuge, or a combination 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 approximate site of lost churches, where the tower still exists.

Construction and distribution

Surviving towers range in height from 18 metres (59 ft) to 40 metres (130 ft), and 12 metres (39 ft) to 18 metres (59 ft) in circumference; that at Kilmacduagh being the highest surviving in Ireland (and leaning 1.7 metres (5 ft 7 in) out of perpendicular). 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 such floors existed), usually of wood, and it is 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 Round Tower at Kinneigh has a unique hexagonal base.

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 four examples outside Ireland. Two are in north-eastern Scotland: the Brechin Round Tower and the Abernethy Round Tower.

Famous examples are to be found at Devenish Island, and Glendalough, while that at Clondalkin is the only Round Tower in Ireland to still retain its original cap. With five towers each, County Mayo and County Kildare have the most. Mayo's round towers are at Aughagower, Balla, Killala, Meelick and Turlough, while Kildare's are located at Kildare Cathedral (which is 32 metres (105 ft) high), and also at Castledermot, Oughter Ard, Taghadoe (near Maynooth) and Old Kilcullen. The only known round tower with a hexagonal base is at Kinneigh in County Cork, built in 1014.

Purpose

The purpose of the towers has been somewhat unclear until recent times. A popular hypothesis 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 hypothesis. Many towers are built in positions which are not ideal to survey the surrounding countryside and would not 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. Indeed, the round towers at Dysert O'Dea and Aghagower show evidence of fire damage around the doorway. There are also records of people being burned to death in round towers.

The main reason for the entrance-way being built above ground level was to maintain the structural integrity of the building rather than for defence. The towers were generally built with very little foundation. The tower at Monasterboice has an underground foundation of only sixty centimetres. 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 cannot be ruled out.

Therefore, according to the arguments immediately above, 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.^{[citation needed]} The Irish word for round tower, cloigtheach, literally meaning bellhouse indicates this, as noted by George Petrie in 1845.

However, the Irish language has greatly evolved over the last millennium. Dinneen notes the alternate pronunciations, cluiceach and cuilceach for cloigtheach. The closely pronounced cloichtheach means stone-house or stone-building,. The round tower seems to be the only significant stone building in Ireland before the advent of the Normans in 1167 AD. Although the physical evidence pointing towards a bell tower is strong, we must await confirmation from original sources such as glyphs on medieval manuscripts.

Modern symbolic towers

Tower at Milford, Massachusetts

Daniel O'Connell's tomb at Glasnevin Cemetery had a round tower built above it after his burial in 1847.

At Saint Mary's 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.

Another "revival" round tower was built in 1997 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 110-foot (34 m) tower is in the traditional design of an Irish round tower and is partially built with stone from a former army barracks in Tipperary.

In 2002 Tony Ryan, a native of Tipperary, built a round tower at his Castleton Lyons Stud in Kentucky.^{[citation needed]}

List of Irish round towers

The following is a list of surviving Irish round towers, excluding modern reconstructions.

Picture	Location	County	Province	Condition	Height	Notes
	Aghadoe	Kerry	Munster	Incomplete	05.4m
	Aghagower	Mayo	Connacht	Incomplete	16m
	Aghaviller	Kilkenny	Leinster	Incomplete	09.6m
	Ardmore	Waterford	Munster	Complete	30.0m	has three string courses and a noticeable lean
	Ardrahan	Galway	Connacht	Incomplete	03m
	Armoy	Antrim	Ulster	Incomplete	10.8m
	Balla	Mayo	Connacht	Incomplete	10.0m
	Castledermot	Kildare	Leinster	Complete to cornice	20.0m	the conical cap has been replaced with battlements and the tower has been attached to a church (which was built later)
	Clondalkin	Dublin	Leinster	Complete	27.5m	strengthened by a stone buttress
	Clones	Monaghan	Ulster	Complete to cornice	22.9m
	Clonmacnoise O’Rourke’s Tower McCarthy’s Tower	Offaly	Leinster	Incomplete Complete	19.3m 17.7m	two towers a short distance from each-other O'Rourke: full height but capless; has 8 windows at top McCarthy: attached to a church
	Cloyne	Cork	Munster	Complete to cornice	30.5m	the conical cap has been replaced with battlements
	Devenish	Fermanagh	Ulster	Complete	25.0m	climbable
	Donaghmore	Meath	Leinster	Complete to cornice	26.6m	full height but without cap
	Dromiskin	Louth	Leinster	Incomplete	15.2m	a conical cap was added to what remains of the tower
	Drumbo	Down	Ulster	Incomplete	10.25m
	Drumcliffe (near Ennis)	Clare	Munster	Incomplete	11.0m
	Drumcliff (near Sligo)	Sligo	Connacht	Incomplete	09.0m
	Drumlane	Cavan	Ulster	Incomplete	12.0m
	Glendalough	Wicklow	Leinster	Complete	30.5m	nearby Saint Kevin’s Church includes a miniature round tower
	Grangefertagh	Kilkenny	Leinster	Complete to cornice	30.0m	full height but without cap, located in the parish of Johnstown
	Inishcaltra (in Lough Derg)	Clare	Munster	Incomplete	22.3m
	Inishkeen	Monaghan	Ulster	Incomplete	12.6m	the top has been sealed with brick and cement
	Kells	Meath	Leinster	Complete to cornice	26.0m	full height but without cap
	Kilbennan	Galway	Connacht	Incomplete	16.5m
	Kildare	Kildare	Leinster	Complete to cornice	32.0m	climable; the conical cap has been replaced with battlements
	Kilkenny	Kilkenny	Leinster	Complete to cornice	30.0m	climable; the conical cap has been replaced with battlements
	Killala	Mayo	Connacht	Complete	25.5m	there is a noticeable bulge about halfway up the tower
	Killinaboy	Clare	Munster	Incomplete	03.5m
	Kilmacduagh	Galway	Connacht	Complete	34.5m	has 11 windows (more than any other tower) and the door is 8m from the ground (higher than any other tower)
	Kilree	Kilkenny	Leinster	Complete to cornice	27.0m	the conical cap has been replaced with battlements
	Kinneigh	Cork	Munster	Complete to cornice	24.5m	has a hexagonal base and a sealed top
	Lusk	Dublin	Leinster	Complete to cornice	26.6m	full height but without cap; is attached to a church (which was built later)
	Maghera	Down	Ulster	Incomplete	05.4m	stump with a large hole in the side
	Meelick	Mayo	Connacht	Incomplete	21.0m
	Mollaneen (Dysert O'Dea Monastery)	Clare	Munster	Incomplete	15.0m
	Monasterboice	Louth	Leinster	Incomplete	28.0m
	Old Kilcullen	Kildare	Leinster	Incomplete	11.0m
	Oughter Ard	Kildare	Leinster	Incomplete	09.5m
	Rattoo	Kerry	Munster	Complete	27.4m	includes a Sheela na Gig
	Roscrea	Tipperary	Munster	Incomplete	20m
	Scattery Island	Clare	Munster	Complete to cornice	36.5m
	Seir Kieran	Offaly	Leinster	Incomplete	02.6m
	St Mullin's	Carlow	Leinster	Incomplete	01m
	St Patrick’s Rock (near Cashel)	Tipperary	Munster	Complete	28.0m	attached to a church (which was built later)
	Steeple (near Antrim)	Antrim	Ulster	Complete	28.0m
	Swords	Dublin	Leinster	Complete	26.0m	has a deformed top floor, which is topped by a stone cross
	Taghadoe	Kildare	Leinster	Incomplete	19.8m
	Timahoe	Laois	Leinster	Complete	29m
	Tory Island	Donegal	Ulster	Incomplete	12.8m
	Tullaherin	Kilkenny	Leinster	Incomplete	22.5m
	Turlough	Mayo	Connacht	Complete	22.9m

Source: roundtowers.org

See also

• Broch
• Chaine Memorial, a relatively modern tower lighthouse at Larne, in the style of a round tower.
• Pele tower
• Rock of Cashel

References

• 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 a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 

External links

• Irish Round Towers — detailed photographic archive and information for fifty two Irish round towers.
• Irish Round Towers from "A Handbook of Irish Antiquities (1848)" by William Wakeman
• Kinneigh Round Tower — articles and photos about Kinneigh Round Tower
• Irish round towers in Google Earth — A link to a Google Earth forum post containing a Google Earth overlay file of all Irish round towers.