138 



square structure for that purpose, attached to some of the churches, 

 immediately near which the round towers are found, as at Brechin,* 

 at Cormac's chapel on the rock of Cashel, and close to the beautiful 

 round tower of Lusk, shews that the Irish clergy of the middle ages 

 did not recognise from tradition the use of the round towers as bel- 

 fries, and completes the refutation of this hypothesis. It may not be 

 impertinent also to add a confirmatory notice in the annals of the 

 Four Masters, at A. D. 997, of the burning of Armagh by lightning, 

 and the destruction of its houses, stone churches, belfries, and celes- 

 tial towers. (In the version of Dr. O'Conor it runs " Ardmacha com- 

 busta a fulmine domus et ecclesiae lapideee, et campanilia et ejus turres 

 calestes omnes destructae.")-f- The surmise that they were for places 

 of security and retreat in danger, is met by their small capacity 

 for any such effective accommodation. Nor is the opinion more 

 tenable that they were for defensive keeps or depositories for the 

 MSS. relics, plate, and muniments of the abbeys to which they were 

 annexed ; the general destruction of these valued pledges by the 

 Danes, while the round towers remained unassailable unless by light- 

 ning or earthquake, wholly repels the inference. 



Another school of antiquaries, with Dean Richardson, Harris, 

 and Dr. Milner, insist they were built for Anchorets of an order 

 called Inclusi, that are said to have commenced their vocation in Ire- 

 land in A. D. 732, J and who used these as places wherein to immure 

 themselves. But the pillars of the Stylites, which are cited as their 

 models, are quite different and diminished structures ; and it is wild 

 and improbable to imagine such edifices were raised so durable, so 

 lofty, so divided into stages for the use of a single anchoret, or even 



• See the drawing of Brechin in Ledwich's Antiquities. 



t O'Conor's Rer. Hib. Script, v. 3. p. 627 ; and see post, Period 3. section 1. 



X See post, Period 4. section 3. 



