The Enigma of the Round Towers, Ireland’s Mysterious Medieval Monuments
The history of Ireland from the fifth century onward is so closely tied to the Christian church that it has now become impossible to discover the facts of what transpired before the arrival of the early Christians. There would be little exaggeration in saying that the popes considered all people pawns in the power games they were wont to play with anyone who had any clout that they might be in need of.
In view of the fact that Ireland was “given” to the English king Henry II in 1155 by Pope Adrian, the documented history from thenceforward is Anglocentric and focused on ecclesiastic affairs. So little interest is given to the well-being of the inhabitants and their manner of living in such a situation that only the wielders of power are given space in the books, solely recording their benefits and feats accomplished, if any. And so it would seem that the origins of the round towers fell into that category of convenient oblivion.
The round towers, for those not familiar with them, are the subject of a mystery which, while it has not perhaps attracted as many theories or as much ink flow as the Egyptian pyramids, is still one of those unresolved, intriguing phenomena. Not only are we still very much in the dark as to their purpose and who built them and when, but also as to why they were built only in Ireland, Scotland, and supposedly in Douglas, Isle of Man.
Round Tower at Dromiskin, County Louth, Ireland (dated to ninth century). (Kieran Campbell/Geograph Ireland/CC BY-SA 2.0).
They are singular structures that continue to confound the reasons put forward by modern writers and theorists for their presence in the Irish countryside and even in some urban areas (obviously of more recent development). Sometimes they are to be found in large open spaces where they provide a dominating view for anyone perched at the top; other times they appear in the depths of a valley. There is no apparent logic to be found there. However, given certain facts to be discussed later have never, to my knowledge, been considered either with regard to the round towers or in environmental studies, I will risk casting some light onto the enigma of the towers that would justify a reappraisal of the mainstream paradigm and more importantly, make way for further necessary research into their raison d’etre.
How Many Round Towers Are There?
According to credible resources, over the course of time, there have perhaps been a hundred or more towers, but in the general consensus now maintained, only sixty-three remain.
In The Towers and Temples of Ancient Ireland: Their Origin and History Discussed from a New Point of View, the rector of Ennis, Marcus Keane, says that lists of round towers amount to one hundred and twenty and that sixty-six or so of them remain. Some of them are dubious by my restrictive criteria, but that changes little when taking a larger view of their purpose, which could well have been to use the stone’s magnetic properties to benefit us and the immediate environment.
The dimensions and the principles of the towers vary little, which would suggest they are the work of a coherent body, such as a guild working in full understanding of what they were doing. The skill and finesse deployed in the construction of the towers is worthy of Ireland’s mythical builder Goban Saor, or more likely, his lineage.
It is unlikely that more than one hundred towers could be built in the lifespan of one man, but that is mere conjecture. If the criteria of modern guilds are anything to go by, one could project those standards backward to their predecessors as secrets retained by the guilds are only passed on to those worthy students who have demonstrated their ability over numerous years; otherwise they tend to be lost. Even though those in the building trade today rarely demonstrate the same expertise shown by the craftspeople of the guilds, the principle still remains: hold on to the good stuff and make sure it is passed on down to posterity.
Rattoo Round Tower near Ballyduff, County Kerry, Ireland. (Eileen Henderson/Geograph Ireland/CC BY-SA 2.0).
Not enough is known about Goban Saor for any constructive factual evidence to be put forward. No doubt clues are to be found in the mythology, even if those stories are interwoven and cloaked in Christian myth with a strong affiliation with the legendary Saint Patrick and other missionaries.
The Catholic Church Built Them … Or Did It?
It is a mere hypothesis to suggest that the origin of the towers was concomitant with the foundation of the monasteries. It cannot be proven for lack of dated epigraphic, literary, or any other form of evidence and serves no chronological purpose whatsoever. We should be aware, nevertheless, of the fact that the church has never actually, by means of any form of statement, encyclical or otherwise, claimed to have built the towers. It is far more subtle and pervasive than that. The church has allowed passing generations to believe it is the origin of the towers by gradually erecting ecclesiastical buildings beside them, and in some cases onto them, as in Turlough for example.
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This action is far more sinister and malevolent than simply misleading people, however, because it not only places a firm proprietary grasp on the towers and their environment, it also distorts the beneficial effect and energetic impact the towers have on the immediately available agricultural land. The church has buried numerous bodies all around and even up to the walls of the towers—a serious pollution of the immediate area of many of the towers, even if author George Lennox Barrow in his book The Round Towers of Ireland would have us believe that towers were sometimes built over existing graves.
Barrow claims that “there is no doubt that the use of lime mortar, like the principle of the arch, was unknown in Ireland before the coming of Christianity in the fifth century.”
Tower in the village of Timahoe, Count Laois, Ireland. (Curious Ireland).
That, like the horns on a hare, may well be a possibility, but it is debatable due to the scant evidence for or against it. Why Christianity was responsible for any architectural development in Ireland at that time, however, remains quite nebulous, especially since there was such clear sharing of skills in metalwork and crafts among the indigenous tribes of western Europe. The Celts being reputed, according to relatively recent academic theory, to be excellent jewelers, although the samples unearthed in Ireland, of course, do not prove that the land was necessarily inhabited by Celtic tribes.
Knowledge of those techniques would probably have come from active exchange and travel among people who had common interests. The early Christian settlements consisted of primitive structures, sufficient to provide shelter, but the concept of permanent buildings came later, when the wherewithal to provide material and labor were forthcoming, but not until then. Were Christians the only travelers to Ireland in those times?
There is no point being drawn into any polemic, so let’s stay with what we know and can discover about the towers, then as now, for that is where the truth lies; the why of the towers, not the who and how of the monasteries, churches, or stone structures added at a later date for their perverse aims.
It is relevant to note, however, that the technique used in building the towers is never used in any of the ecclesiastical buildings, reputedly associated with the church. What is more, the Roman church is silent on the application of this technique, as it is concerning the technology used in building the medieval cathedrals, so there is a strong case for the builders being totally dissociated one from the other.
Round tower, Devenish Island, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. (Kenneth Allen/Geograph Ireland/CC BY-SA-2.0)
Let’s have a closer look at the towers themselves and their chief characteristics.
A Deceptively Simple Design
In his book, Barrow usefully records the type of stone that fifty-one of the towers left standing are comprised of. Quite a few of them are made with a mixture of stones; for example limestone for the main body work and granite for the window and doorway frames. The three towers in Scotland Abernethy, Brechin and Egilsay—are made of sandstone. That information is not only of academic interest, it should also encourage us to get our thinking caps on.
Just down the road from where I live on the Sheep’s Head is a fine stonecarver who has given me insight into the work and tribulations of the modern stoneworker, as well as information concerning the ins and outs of the work itself, including the hardness of stone and the tools necessary for working on the various categories of stone.
I asked if he could give me a rough idea of how long it would take to dress a stone to be used in the building of a tower. He replied that an easy answer would be impossible to give because although the hardness of the stone would basically determine the time spent, the tools available would also be a key factor, as would the conditions of the local working facilities such as the water and shelter available to the stonecutters (you don’t work so well huddled for hours over the stone you’re working on if the wind is driving the rain into your body).
Interior of St. Patrick's Church & Round Tower at Peel Castle, Peel, Isle of Man. (Zairon/CC BY-SA 4.0).
One cannot help but wonder if the builders of the towers might have had access to more sophisticated tools than we are led to believe were available in the early days. We can justly wonder what kind of tools those masons had to work the granite and sandstone. You cannot dress granite with a copper chisel, even with the strongest will in the world! And sandstone is no picnic either. It is almost as hard as granite and requires tough tools to make an impression on it.
The round towers of Ireland continue to generate more questions than they do answers, and that is what makes them such a fascinating enigma to research and contemplate.
Top image: Round Tower in Ardmore, County Waterford, Ireland.
Source: Shutterstock.
By Christopher Freeland
Christopher Freeland is a professional radiesthesist and researcher who conducts workshops internationally on spirit release, resolving geopathic stress, geometric form, and more. A former Gurkha officer, Hindu monk, and French-English technical translator, he lives in Ireland and Thailand. His latest book is called Mysteries of the Round Towers: The Subtle Energies of the Stone Structures of Ireland.