218
THE ESSEX NATURALIST
summer, both Common and Little Terns. We have seen
Cormorant on the river, particularly in the winter, and Herons
regularly visit the area from the North Kent Marshes. The
rubbish dump attracts numerous Kestrels and we have seen at
least one Kingfisher in the area.
Whilst my description of the area is imperfect I hope a little of
the fascination that the area has for me has communicated itself
to readers. Not a little of the attraction of the area lies in the
fact that it is a working area of the Essex countryside and has
long been so. Natural history study in a National Park has its
merits, of course, but I feel that natural history is more natural
when studied in the context of everyday life.
Round Towers
By L. S. Harley
Although this paper deals generally with Round Towers at
home and abroad, and is not limited to Towers of Parish Churches,
yet it has relevance to the six existing Round Towers attached to
Parish Churches in Essex.
The image conjured up by the words "Ancient Tower" is
either the typical four-square church tower or something like the
round tower of Windsor Castle: we have to ask why some towers
were built with this circular section.
I hope to show in this short account that not only in England,
but all over the world, ancient towers of this shape most probably
had their origin in civil or military watchkeeping and defence,
whatever may be the other uses (and they are many and diverse)
to which these towers have subsequently been put. More recent
structures of the same shape may, of course, have been copied
without the necessity of defensive purpose, and some were un-
doubtedly built in the first place as belfries.
Ancient round towers exist in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, the
Rhineland, SW. France, Italy, Jordan, Persia, India, and in Essex
and East Anglia generally. I shall hope to persuade the reader
that they all have in common a design to give strength against
the battering-ram or similar form of attack. I barely touch on
such relatively modern structures as the Martello-towers of the
East Coast, although these also share the same design principle.
Consider the round-headed arch, Norman or Roman: it has
considerable resistance to thrust from above (Pig. la). Imagine
such a semi-circular masonry arch laid flat on the ground and
another similar arch built on to it to complete the circle (Fig. lb).
The now circular structure would display the same degree of
resistance to a horizontal thrust (from whatever direction it might
come) as a load-bearing arch to the vertical forces from the wall