ROUND TOWERS
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where in the first millenium A.D. or even somewhat earlier. They
have features which make them more akin to the Nuraghi of
Sardinia than to any other British round towers, and I would not
deny the possibility of diffusion of technique from Mediterranean
tower-builders along the ancient trade-routes to Northern Britain,
but for the absence of any truly similar towers anywhere between
the Mediterranean and the Scottish Highlands, which tends to
spoil this diffusion hypothesis.
It must be clearly understood that the Nuraghi of Sardinia, or
the Scottish Brochs, cannot be the direct ancestors of the Round
Towers of East Anglia, or of Ireland. There are considerable
differences of internal arrangement and construction which would
dispel any such notion, but the purpose of roundness was un-
doubtedly strength against physical attack, and this, I do claim,
the Nuraghi have in common with our own examples, built some
2000 years later.
To sum up: when we consider the Indian and also perhaps the
Irish towers, we must feel that to build so lofty and slender a
structure, with so limited a capacity for refugees, seems to argue
a purpose beyond mere defence, unless, indeed, the primary
function was that of a look-out or watch-tower. Some alternative
purpose in the building of the Indian and Irish towers does seem
called for (and the writers of the eighteenth and nineteenth cen-
turies also thought so): belfry8, muezzin's minaret3, phallic
emblem3, burial monument, beacon tower9, astronomical observa-
tory3—all have been suggested, and no doubt in many cases there
were such additional purposes in mind at their building. But we
need not seek secondary reasons for the original purpose of the
squat massive towers of the Brochs or the Nuraghi, all fighting
fortresses which have elaborate internal passages not found in
later towers. But, as to this purpose, I am inclined to class the
majority of English Round Towers with the Brochs and Nuraghi,
constructed originally for defence, as watchtowers and for refuge.
It can be fairly claimed that Round Towers all the world over,
from 2000 B.C. to 1800 A.D. (including the 'Martello Towers')
were round in section because that was the strongest shape for a
defensive structure, and most economical of building material; in
short, it was what men built whenever urgent necessity impelled
them, rather than when they were guided by more leisurely
aesthetic or religious reasons. Diffusion from other round-tower-
building communities may sometimes have occurred, but it is
equally likely that the Round Tower is the common and spontane-
ous product of all early civilisations on the defensive.
References, and opinions of their authors on the purpose of Round Towers
1Messent, C. (1958). The Round Towers to English Parish Churches.
(Primarily, belfry: some perhaps for defence.)
2Hist. Mon. Commission Report on Essex (1916-23) (4 vols.). (Belfry.)