round towers

round towers (Ir. cloigtheach, ‘bell house’). Associated principally with early Irish monastic settlements, these tall slender beacons functioned primarily as bell towers.

Usually at least five storeys high, the towers taper inwards towards a conical roof. The top storey is pierced by four to six windows. Recent scholarship suggests that a large bell was hung in this space. The other storeys are usually lit by one window. Originally each level would have had a wooden floor, reached by a ladder.

The doorways of most towers are about 10 feet from the ground, and were commonly designed to face the principal church of the settlement. The height of the doorway was necessary to add strength to the base of the tower, as foundations were often shallow. It also provided the tower with a defensive role, as a retreat for both people and precious possessions during attack. However, the chimney‐like form of the towers was not ideal for this purpose; for example the Annals of Ulster record that in 1097 the tower at Monasterboice was burned ‘with its books and many treasures’.

The round towers appear to have been constructed during a period of roughly 300 years. The earliest annalistic reference to one is for 950, when the Annals of Ulster record the burning of the tower at Slane, Co. Meath. The latest is for 1238, when a tower was constructed in Annaghdown, Co. Galway. Few of the surviving towers retain material evidence through which they can be securely dated. Those at Kildare, Timahoe, and Devinish incorporate sculptural detailing which suggests a 12th‐century date, but the majority of towers are plainly finished and provide no specific chronological clues.

Bibliography

Lalor, B. , The Irish Round Tower (1999)
Stalley, R. , Irish Round Towers (2000)

Rachel Moss