Uses of the Round Towers of Ireland, fyc. 375 



Towers in Scotland, he thus writes in the advertisement prefixed to the new 

 edition of his Enquiry into the History of Scotland, published in 1814: 



" There was probably a round tower at Dunkeld, as at Abernethy and Brechin, &c." 

 " That these round towers were belfries is sufficiently evident, from the simple circumstance of 

 their having windows, or openings at the usual height, necessary to emit the sound of a bell. Se- 

 parate belfries are not uncommon in many countries, and even in some parts of England at this 

 day ; and must have been necessary for security, when the rude churches were of wood. When 

 the cathedral of Brechin was built, the round tower was preserved as a memorable relic, like the 

 chapel of St. Regulus, close by the cathedral of St. Andrews." pp. be. and x. 



In the confident belief that I have now satisfactorily established the two 

 primary and essential objects for which the Round Towers were erected, I pro- 

 ceed to a consideration of the grounds on which I rest the arguments for my 

 third conclusion, namely, that they may, very probably, have also been occa- 

 sionally used as beacons, and watch-towers. 



It will be observed that I put this conclusion forward only as a probability, 

 and it is but fair that I should acknowledge that a most careful examination 

 of our ancient Irish manuscripts has led to no discovery that would give 

 it certainty. Yet, the probability of their having been occasionally used for 

 such a purpose seems to me by no means a weak one, for, in the first place, the 

 very fact of their having been used as places of defence and safety, coupled 

 with their great height and aptitude for such a purpose, almost necessarily 

 leads to the conclusion that they would be used as watch-towers, and perhaps 

 signal towers, at least in times of trouble. 



In like manner, if we consider the usages of the monastic establishments, to 

 which these Towers belonged, the hospitality and protection which they 

 afforded to travellers and strangers, in times when roads were few, and the 

 country generally covered with wood, we will find it difficult to resist the con- 

 viction that the Towers would be used at night as beacons to attract and guide 

 the benighted traveller or pious pilgrim to the house of hospitality or prayer. 

 Their general fitness for such a purpose must be at once obvious ; and this 

 fitness seems, in a great degree, to have led the learned Doctor Lingard to the 

 opinion that our Irish Round Towers were chiefly, if not exclusively, intended 

 for this purpose. In a passage in his Antiquities of the Anglo-Saxon Church, 

 for calling my attention to which I acknowledge myself indebted to my re- 



