Every one, almost, has heard of the round towers of Ireland; and yet,
who has been able to explain their origin, or solve the mystery that
hangs over the history of their builders, and the purposes for which
they were erected?
Of these towers, one hundred and seven are known to have existed; but
probably there were many more. Some are still perfect, others are in
ruins. They bear a general resemblance to each other, seeming,
therefore, to have had the same object in view; yet there were many
minute points of difference. Some were but forty feet high; others
sixty, eighty, and one a hundred and twenty feet. The common hight is
about eighty or ninety feet. Most of them were of a cylindrical form,
and were covered with a conical roof. They were generally divided into
three stories, with a window to each. The door of entrance was from six
to twenty-four feet from the ground; but how this was reached is not
known. In some cases, they were built of hewn stone, nicely laid in
mortar; in others, the stones are merely hammered; in others still, they
are small and of all shapes, but always firmly cemented by mortar,
nearly as hard as the rock itself.
That these towers are very ancient, is clear from the fact that when
Ireland was first invaded by the English, in the twelfth century, they
were then deemed antiquities, and no one was able to tell their origin
or design. Some have been used as towers and belfries of churches; but
these churches were built in later times, and this use of the towers
was, evidently, but an adaptation of old structures to new purposes. The
fact that near them, in most cases, ancient churches, or their remains,
are found, has led to the belief that they were ecclesiastical
structures, erected by the early Christians of Ireland. This idea is
exploded by the circumstance that no such buildings have ever been known
to be erected in any other part of the world, in connection with the
Christian religion; nor is it possible to conjecture for what object, as
part of Christian worship, they could have been designed.
The more prevalent and probable opinion, on the subject, seems to be
this: that they were erected by the Phœnicians or Carthaginians, who are
known to have had settlements in Ireland before the Christian era; or
that they were built by the remote Irish, who bore the name of _Scoti_,
and who were of Asiatic origin. The object of these buildings, on this
supposition, was the preservation of the _sacred fire_, kindled in honor
of Bel, or Baal, a heathen divinity of the east, and who is known to
have been worshiped in Ireland. Indeed, to the present day, some of the
religious rites of the Irish are evidently but the perpetuation of the
ceremonies of their ancestors, turned from their pagan origin and
blended with Catholic observances. This view of the origin and object of
the round towers is strongly confirmed by the fact that in their
vicinity are still to be found the well known relics of ancient
paganism, such as the _sun-stone_, the _cromlech_, the _fire-house_, the
_spring of sacred water_, necessary in mystic rites, &c. To this it may
be added, that in Persia and India, where fire-worship originated, and
has had its most extensive and enduring seat, there are towers of
various forms and sizes, ascribed, in their origin, to this species of
idolatry. It is probable, therefore, that the early settlers of Ireland
brought from Asia, their original country, ideas of religion, which
became modified in the course of ages, but which, still remaining
essentially the same, displayed themselves in the structures which we
have described. The fact that Christian churches, or their remains, are
found near these towers in Ireland, does not controvert the opinion we
express, as, in the first place, they are evidently more modern than the
towers themselves, and are of a different style of architecture; and,
moreover, we know that the early Christians often chose, as the seat of
their churches, the very sites on which paganism had reared its
structures, and not unfrequently adapted the structures themselves to
the purposes of Christian worship; a fact which rather confirms than
opposes the common theory as to these towers.