556 



The Pillar Towers of the British Island 







^W^.^7, 



^ 



[No. 5, 



The Cloyne Pillar Tower may 

 be instanced as an example of this 

 class. The top of this graceful 

 tower was injured by lightning, and 

 a battlemented top was built upon 

 it. The reddish coloured sandstone 

 of which the tower is built, was 

 obtained in the neighbourhood, and 

 is still in excellent preservation. 

 The curvature of the tower was 

 worked with a chisel -pointed 

 hammer. The stones are large and 

 flat-bedded, and carefully worked 

 into the form required. The thick- 

 ness of the wall at the door is3Jfeet, 



Cloyne, Ireland. Abernethy, Scotland. and tlle diameter is 9 feet 2 inches 



throughout. The door- way looks 



S E by E. and is 11 J feet from the ground. It is flat topped, being covered 



with a lintel, and is wider below than above. The tower has six stories ; 



the first being on a level with the door, and the others resting upon 



ledges projecting from the wall ; the height of these chambers is 11J 



feet. The four top windows face the cardinal points, and like the door> 



are broader below than above, in the Pelasgic and Egyptian style. 



Below, there are , several small openings, one of which, over the door, 



is larger than the others, and has a marked modification of the arch. 



Only two round Pillar Towers exist in Scotland. These have the 

 same peculiar form and structure as those of Ireland, appear to have 

 been built at the same early period, and afford good examples of the 

 two varieties already described, while they are surrounded by the same 

 mystery as to their uses. 



The following description of the Abernethy tower is extracted from 

 a previous essay of mine. 



'Abernethy,* in Fifeshire, was the capital of one of the Pictish 

 Governments, but the Pillar Tower which is situated there is not men- 

 tioned in any of our ancient histories. We only know that the people 



# The name is derived from aber confluence, of the small stream Nethy, that 

 passes clown to the town and into the river Earn ; and the town is sometimes still 

 called by the Scoto-Irish name Invemethy, 



