364 Mr. PETRIE'S Inquiry into the Origin and 



ings were designed to combine with their primary object of belfries the secon- 

 dary, though not less original one, of ecclesiastical keeps. Previously, however, 

 to entering on these evidences, I should premise that they are by no means of 

 so direct a character as those adduced in support of my first conclusion. But 

 though only inferential, they will, I trust, be found scarcely less weighty. 



1. That the Round Towers were designed, in part, for ecclesiastical castles, 

 as well as belfries, must, as I think, necessarily be inferred from some of the 

 peculiarities found almost universally in their construction, and particularly 

 in their small doorways placed at so great a height from the ground. It is 

 scarcely necessary to remark, that this obvious mode of securing safety is a com- 

 mon one in ancient castles ; but I should observe, that the most ancient mili- 

 tary towers subsequent to Roman times, found in the British Isles, and which 

 are built with stone and lime cement, are invariably of this round and lofty cha- 

 racter, having their doorways small, and considerably elevated from the ground, 

 and their floors composed of wood. Such were the castles of Launceston, in 

 Cornwall; of Brunless, in Brecknockshire; of Dolbaddern.in Carnarvonshire; &c. 

 And even the Saxon, or Norman, castle of Conisborough, in Yorkshire, pre- 

 serves, in some degree, the same peculiarities. 



As an instance of this remarkable agreement of the British castles with the 

 Irish Round Towers, I annex an outline of the castle of Brunless, in its present 



state, taken from King's Munimenta Antiqua, 

 vol. iii. p. 32, a work in which much curious in- 

 formation will be found relative to the ancient 

 British castles. If we restore the outline of this 

 castle to its probable original height, it will be 

 found to be almost identical, in most of its fea- 

 tures, with several of our Irish Towers, as shown 

 in the annexed outlines of the existing Round 

 Tower of Clondalkin, and of the Tower of Ross- 

 carbery, copied from an ancient seal of the 

 diocese, as published in Harris's Ware. 



Mr. King is of opinion that this tower, or 



castle, as well as others of the same description, was erected by the Silures, or 

 Damnonii, during the occupation of the island by the Romans ; and that its form 



