round tower
Monastic Irish refuge
A round tower is a tall, slender, circular stone tower, especially the distinctive medieval structures found at Irish monastery sites.
These towers, typically 60 to 100 feet tall with conical caps, served as bell towers, lookouts, and refuges during Viking raids.
The term also applies more generally to any tower with a circular floor plan: The castle's round tower offered views in every direction.
- lookoutWatcher or vista point
- keepRetain or fortified tower
- turretProtruding fortified structure
- Viking raidsScandinavian seaborne plundering expeditions
- defensive structureBuilt protection against attack
monastery · Ireland · lighthouse · beacon · cylindrical · abbey · wall · Celtic cross · early medieval · spiral · crypt · stone steps · belfry · rotunda · stone · staircase · stronghold · Irish
- Irish MonasteriesBangor, monastic ruins, Book of Kells, illuminated manuscripts, priories
- castle partsmoat, keep, drawbridge, battlement, gatehouse
- fortificationsfort, fortress, fortresses, citadel, citadels
- historic buildingsfarmhouse, heritage building, landmark, cottage, manor
- Irish symbolsshamrock, Celtic cross, Celtic knot, Irish harp, four-leaf clover
- towerswatchtower, monopole, Space Needle, Big Ben, Babel
structural form
round towercastle keep
Fortified main tower
fortress · citadel · curtain wall · gatehouse · blockhouse