The Round Towers. 21 



buildings which forms a striking innovation in the hitherto 

 humble character of Irish church architecture — that is, the 

 lofty pillar tower. In the beginning of the present century the 

 existence of 118 of these circular ecclesiastical towers was 

 asserted ; of these seventy-six remain to the present time in a 

 more or less perfect condition. Miss Stokes remarks that a 

 certain development of knowledge and skill in the art of build- 

 ing may be traced in these various examples, and that such 

 changes are analogous to those which took place in the church 

 architecture of Ireland after the eighth century. She then 

 attempts a rough classification of the existing round towers, 

 showing the gradation in masonry and the corresponding 

 changes in the character of the door and window opes. There 

 are four divisions into which the towers are classified. First 

 style — Rough field stones, untouched by hammer or chisel, not 

 rounded, but fitted by their length to the curve of the wall, 

 roughly coursed, wide-jointed, with spalds or small stones fitted 

 into the interstices. Mortar of coarse unsifted sand or gravel. 

 Second style — Stones roughly hammer-dressed ; rounded to 

 the curve of the wall ; decidedly, though somewhat irregularly, 

 coursed. Spalds, but often badly bonded together. Mortar 

 freely used. Third style — Stones laid in horizontal courses, 

 well dressed, and carefully worked to the round and batter ; 

 the whole cemented in strong plain mortar of lime and sand. 

 Fourth style — Strong, rough, but excellent ashlar masonry, 

 rather open-jointed, and therefore closely analogous to the 

 English-Norman masonry of the first half of the twelfth cen- 

 tury ; or, in some instances, finest possible examples of well- 

 dressed ashlar. Sandstone in squared courses. Miss Stokes 

 then follows with what she calls a broad classification of the 

 towers according to the average styles of their masonry and 

 apertures. Those which belong to the first style of masonry 

 have doorways of the same material as the rest of the building ; 

 sometimes the stones are roughly dressed ; the door-opes are 

 square-headed, with inclined sides ; about 5ft. 6in. high by 2ft. 

 wide, and 8ft. to ] 3ft. above the level of the ground. In the 

 second and third styles of masonry there will be found in the 



