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  The Round Towers of Ireland

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Scattered with a seeming randomness across the rolling hills of Ireland
are the remains of sixty-five round towers. Soaring as high as 34 meters
above the ground, the towers are in remarkably fine condition
considering the antiquity of their construction. When exactly the towers
were constructed is unknown. Scholars have suggested that the most
probable construction period was between the 7th and 10th centuries AD,
and this hypothesis is based on the fact that nearly every tower is at
the site of a known Celtic church dating from the 5th to 12th centuries.
Initially each of the towers were freestanding structures but in later
times other buildings, primarily churches and monastic foundations, were
constructed around some of the towers.

Thirteen towers retain a conical cap and it is assumed that all the
other towers once had similar caps that have fallen over the centuries.
On a small number of towers battlements have been built on to the top
but it is known that these battlements were added at a later date in the
Middle Ages. The principles used in construction of the towers is always
the same: two walls of block and mortar construction are built a few
feet from one another and the space between is filled in with a core of
rock rubble. This was a standard method of wall construction utilized by
the Romans. Scholars believe that Christian missionaries learned the
technique in England or continental Europe and then brought the building
technology to Ireland, incorporating it in the building of the massive
round towers.

Writing of the dimensions of the towers in his book, Irish Round Towers,
Lennox Barrow states: "It is remarkable how little the main dimensions
vary. In the great majority of towers the circumference at the base lies
between 14 meters and 17 meters and the thickness of the wall at the
lowest point at which it can be measured varies from 0.9 meters to 1.4
meters. Doorways, windows, storey heights and diameters also follow
clearly defined patterns, and we may well conclude that most of the
towers were the work of teams of builders who moved from one monastery
to another using standard designs." Barrow goes onto say that: "Most
doorways are raised1.5 meters to 4.5 meters above theground.This is
usually explained as beingfor security, to enable the monks totakerefuge
inside the towers during timeswhen Viking raiders or bandits
wereattacking the monasteries. There isprobably some truth in this
theorybutit is possible that the stability ofthe tower had as much to do
with thedoor heights. The higher you couldbuildbefore making an opening
in the wallthe stronger the base would be. Veryoften the towers were
filled in, evenas high as the doorways."

This idea that the round towers were erected and used primarily as watch
towers and places of protection is strongly debated by an American
scientist, Philip Callahan. Writing in his book, /Ancient Mysteries,
Modern Visions/, Callahan discusses research which indicates that the
round towers may have been designed, constructed and utilized as huge
resonant systems for collecting and storing meter-long wavelengths of
magnetic and electromagnetic energy coming from the earth and skies.
Based on fascinating studies of the forms of insect antenna and their
capacity to resonate to micrometer-long electromagnetic waves, Professor
Callahan suggests that the Irish round towers (and similarly shaped
religious structures throughout the ancient world) were human-made
antenna which collected subtle magnetic radiation from the sun and
passed it on to monks meditating in the tower and plants growing around
the tower's base. The round towers were able to function in this way
because of their form and also because of their materials of
construction. Of the sixty-five towers, twenty-five were built of
limestone, thirteen of iron-rich, red sandstone, and the rest of basalt,
clay slate or granite - all of these being minerals which have
paramagnetic properties and can thus act as magnetic antenna and energy
conductors. Callahan further states that the mysterious fact of various
towers being filled with rubble for portions of their interiors was not
random but rather may have been a method of "tuning" the tower antenna
so that it more precisely resonated with various cosmic frequencies.

Equally intriguing, Callahan shows that the seemingly random
geographical arrangement of the round towers throughout the Irish
countryside actually mirrors the positions of the stars in the northern
sky during the time of winter solstice. Archaeological excavations at
the bases of the towers have revealed that many towers were erected upon
the tops of much older graves and it is known that many of the tower
sites were considered sacred places long before the arrival of
Christianity in Ireland. These facts compel us to wonder if the ancient
Irish, like the Egyptians, the Mayans and many other archaic cultures
understood there to be an energetic resonance between specific
terrestrial locations and different celestial bodies. This certainly
seems to be the case. All across the Irish countryside particular
locations were chosen, precisely designed structures were erected to
gather and store various energies, and a tradition of humans' spiritual
use of the sites arose over the millennia. While many of the round
towers are now crumbling and therefore their antenna function may no
longer be operative, a field of holiness still permeates the sites today.

In another article (The Mysterious Round Towers of Ireland: Low Energy
Radio in Nature; The Explorer's Journal; Summer, 1993) Callahan gives
further details of his discoveries:

"Most books will tell you that the towers were places of refuge for the
monks to hide from Vikings raiding Ireland. They were, no doubt, bell
towers and lookouts for approaching raiders, but the speculations that
monks escaped raiders, who no doubt knew how to smoke bees out of hives
or climb the 9 to 15 feet to the door, borders on the ludicrous. Round
towers are perfectly designed to be totally useless for hiding people or
church treasures.....Another strange thing about the towers is the dirt
that fills the base below the high doors. Each door has a different
level of dirt filling the base as if they were "tuned" like a pipe
organ....I had long postulated that the towers were powerful amplifiers
of radio resonance from the atmosphere generated by lightning flashes
around the world.....The round towers proved to be powerful amplifiers
in the alpha brain wave region, 2 to 24 Hz, in the electrical anesthesia
region, 1000 to 3000 Hz, and the electronic induction heating region,
5000 Hz to 1000 KHz....It is fascinating that just above the surface of
the ground to about 2 to 4 feet up there is a null of atmospheric
frequencies that get stronger and stronger until at 9 to 15 feet above
the surface they are extremely strong. The Irish monks were well aware
of this for that is where they built their high doors. At every tower we
measured there was a direct correlation between tower door height and
the strongest waves.....That the highly amplified waves occur in the
meditative and electrical anesthesia portion of the electromagnetic
spectrum is of utmost significance. In 1963, G. Walter researched brain
EEG waves from 0.5 to 3 Hz (Delta region) and found anti-infectious
effects. There is an elegant but short list of research projects
demonstrating the beneficial effects of low ELF wavelengths on sick people."

*Round tower of Cashel*

Jutting high above the plain of Tipperaryagainst the backdrop of the
Galteemountains is the 28 meter round towerof Cashel. While the tower
dates fromthe 11th century, the rock outcropupon which it stands has
fortificationsfrom the early 4th century when itwas the stronghold and
ceremonialcenter of a powerful clan. Patrickis said to have visited the
site in450 AD and hence one of its popularnames, St. Patrick's Rock.

*Round Tower of Glendalough*

The tower of Glendalough is considered by scholars to be the most finely
constructed and beautiful tower in all Ireland. Situated in the cleft of
a steep and thickly forested valley, the 30 meter tall tower is built of
mica schist with a granite doorway. Glendalough was an ancient gathering
place of pre-Christian hermits and the first Christian monastery was
established by St. Kevin who lived in the enchanted valley from 498-618
AD. Clustered about the base of the tower are remains of a 1200 year old
cathedral and the first functioning university in the western world.
Nearby the tower is the healing cross of St. Kevin. A local legend
states that if one encircles the cross with one's arms and makes a wish
concerned with healing, that wish will be fulfilled according to the
depth of one's love of God.


Round Tower of Glendalough, Ireland     (Order Print)
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Hugging the miraculous healing cross at Glendalough, Ireland     (Order
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*Round Tower of Kilmacduagh*

Kilmacduagh, north of Limerick in county Galway, is the tallest of the
Irish towers at 34 meters and, while quite stable, appears to be tilting
precariously. Little is known of the adjoining monastery, probably
founded in the early 7th century, and it is assumed that the round tower
was erected sometime in the 10th or 11th centuries.


Round Tower and monastery of Kilmacduagh, Ireland     (Order Print)
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Detail of Round Tower of Kilmacduagh, Ireland     (Order Print)
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Clonmacnoise Round Tower, Offaly     (Order Print)
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Clonmacnoise Round Tower, Offaly     (Order Print)
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Ardmore Round Tower, Waterford     (Order Print)
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Scattery Island Round Tower, Clare     (Order Print)
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      Round Tower Monasteries Map

		
	
	


      Ireland

    * Sacred Sites Map of Ireland </europe/ireland/ireland_map.html>
    * Blarney Stone </europe/ireland/blarney_stone.html>
    * Blarney Stone Facts </europe/ireland/blarney-stone-facts.html>
    * Mt. Croach Patrick </europe/ireland/mt_croach_patrick.html>
    * Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth </europe/ireland/newgrange.html>
    * The Round Towers of Ireland </europe/ireland/tower_of_cashel.html>
    * Skellig Michael </europe/ireland/skellig_michael.html>
    * Loughcrew </europe/ireland/loughcrew.html>
    * Carrowmore </europe/ireland/carrowmore.html>
    * Holy Wells of Ireland </europe/ireland/holy_wells.html>
    * Carrowkeel </europe/ireland/carrowkeel.html>
    * Stone Rings of Ireland </europe/ireland/stone_rings_of_ireland.html>
    * Other Megalithic Sites of Ireland
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