Editing Irish round tower (section)

==Construction and distribution==
Surviving towers range in height from {{convert|18|m|-1}} to {{convert|40|m}}, and {{convert|12|m|-1}} to {{convert|18|m|-1}} in circumference; that at [[Kilmacduagh monastery|Kilmacduagh]] being the highest surviving in Ireland<ref>{{cite book |last=Meehan |first=Cary |date=2004 |title=Sacred Ireland |url= |location=Somerset |publisher=Gothic Image Publications |page=611|isbn=0 906362 43 1 |access-date=}}</ref> (and leaning {{convert|1.7|m}} out of perpendicular).<ref>Alan Van Dine, ''Unconventional Builders'', Doubleday Ferguson, 1977, p. 29, 34</ref> The masonry differs according to date, the earliest examples being uncut rubble, while the later ones are of neatly joined stonework ([[ashlar]]).<ref name=EB1911>{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Round Towers |volume=23 |pages=773–774 |first=John Henry |last=Middleton}}</ref> The lower portion is solid [[masonry]] with a single door raised two to three metres above, often accessible only by a ladder. Within, in some, are two or more floors (or signs of where such floors existed), usually of wood, and it is thought that there were ladders in between. The windows, which are high up, are slits in the stone. The cap (roof), is of stone, usually conical in shape, although some of the towers are now crowned by a later circle of [[battlement]]s.<ref name=EB1911/>

The main reason for the entrance-way being built above ground level was to maintain the structural integrity of the building rather than for defence. The towers were generally built with very little foundation. The tower at [[Monasterboice]] has an underground foundation of only sixty centimetres. Building the door at ground level would weaken the tower. The buildings still stand today because their round shape is [[gale]]-resistant and the section of the tower underneath the entrance is packed with soil and stones.

The distance from the ground to the raised doorway is somewhat greater than that from the first floor to the second; thus large, rigid steps would be too large for the door.  Excavations in the 1990s, revealing [[posthole]]s, confirm that wooden steps were built.  However, the use of ladders prior to the construction of such steps 
cannot be ruled out.

[[File:Kinneigh tower.jpg|thumb|The Round Tower at [[Castletown-Kinneigh|Kinneigh]] has a unique hexagonal base.]]
The towers were probably built between the 9th and 12th centuries. In Ireland about 120 examples are thought once to have existed; most are in ruins, while eighteen to twenty are almost perfect. There are three examples outside Ireland. Two are in eastern [[Scotland]]: the [[Brechin]] Round Tower and the [[Abernethy, Perth and Kinross|Abernethy]] Round Tower, and the other is in [[Peel Castle]] on [[St. Patrick's Isle]], now linked to the [[Isle of Man]].

Famous examples are to be found at [[Devenish Island]], and [[Glendalough]], while that at [[Clondalkin]] is the only round tower in Ireland to still retain its original cap. With five towers each, [[County Mayo]], [[County Kilkenny]] and [[County Kildare]] have the most. Mayo's round towers are at [[Aughagower]], [[Balla Round Tower|Balla]], [[Killala]], [[Meelick, County Mayo|Meelick]] and [[Turlough Abbey|Turlough]], while Kildare's are located at [[Kildare Cathedral]] (which is {{convert|32|m}} high), and also at [[Castledermot]], [[Oughter Ard]], Taghadoe (near [[Maynooth]]) and [[Old Kilcullen]]. The only known round tower with a hexagonal base is at [[Castletown-Kinneigh|Kinneigh]] in [[County Cork]], built in 1014. The round tower at Ardmore, County Waterford, believed to be the latest built in Ireland (c. 12th century), has the unique feature of three string courses around the exterior.<ref>[[John Windele]], 'The Round Tower of Ardmore, and Its Siege in 1642', ''[[Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland|The Journal of the Kilkenny and South-East of Ireland Archaeological Society]]'', New Series, Vol. 1, No. 1 (1856), p. 197.</ref>