Customer Reviews

The Irish Round Tower: Origins and Architecture Explored

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Round Towers were Celtic architectural creations. Seventy-three early medieval Round Towers still survive in Ireland and are the focus of Brian Lalor's impressive and illustrated history. Most Round Towers stand in association with surviving ecclesiastical settlements and are to be found in some of Ireland's most beautiful and historic areas. The Irish Round Tower: Origins And Architecture Explored represents a seminal contribution to the debate on the origin of the Round Tower and in a fully-illustrated study presents them an integral units of ecclesiastical compounds. Their architectural design, construction, function and landscape setting are surveyed in detail with the unique properties of each of the surviving towers noted. The Irish Round Towers is highly recommended reading for students of architecture and Irish history.

The book is a wonderful introduction to Irish Round Towers. The illustrations, descriptions and pictures are beautifully done by a writer who is extremely well qualified with a background in Architecture and Archaeology. Historical references to the towers in Irish history are also included and researched with a view to placing a date on their erection and purpose. Unfortunately this is the only area where the book fails to convince. The origins and purposes of the towers have been debated for over a century and despite this book's contribution to the debate, the controversy looks set to continue for at least another while due to a lack of archaeological evidence.

The author of Irish Round Towers places the date of the towers somewhere between the 9th century and 12th century and believes they were created by monks as bell-towers (cloig-theach)for use in early Irish monasteries. This argument has been countered elsewhere by the criticism that Irish round towers are not found on the Continent or England, where many Irish monasteries were founded. The authors principal argument in support of his case is that the tower's are located in the gounds of old churches and monasteries. Where this is not the case, the author suggests the evidence has been erased by time. As shown in the book, many of the towers are clearly positioned on the site of early Christian monasteries, but I personally do not think the juxtaposition of one with the other proves one is contemporary with the other. The Towers could quite easily have predated the monasteries and were an attractive location for the new Christian orders when they set up in Ireland.

Though the age and purpose of the towers remain in question, this in no ways takes from the value of this book. The author pays great attention to detail throughout. The towers are placed in a chronological order based on the style of window, construction style and door positions. This book is essential reading whether you believe the towers are 1000 years old or 3000 years old. If the Towers retain a certain mystery, this book sheds more light on them than has hitherto been the case. This book is excellent value, a great read and a great reference book.

This book goes step-by-step through the history, construction and purposes of those wonderful round towers which dot the Irish landscape. It includes a brief description of each, a photo of each and a nice over-all approach. It's the best book I've seen and explains a lot more than what I found by actually visiting many of the towers in Ireland.