Editing Irish round tower (section)

==Purpose==

[[File:WalArdm.jpg|thumb|upright|Cross-section of a round tower interior]]
It is likely that the primary reason for the round tower was—as the name ''cloigtheach'' indicates—to act as a [[bell tower|belfry]]. The [[Irish language|Irish]] word<ref name=din>Patrick S. Dinneen, ''An Irish English Dictionary'', The Educational Company of Ireland, Dublin, 1927</ref><ref>Tomás de Bhaldraithe, ''English-Irish Dictionary'', An GUM, Dublin, 1959</ref> for round tower, ''cloigtheach'', literally meaning ''bellhouse'' indicates this, as noted by [[George Petrie (antiquarian)|George Petrie]] in 1845. The Irish language has greatly evolved over the last millennium. Dinneen<ref name=din /> notes the alternate pronunciations, ''cluiceach'' and ''cuilceach'' for ''cloigtheach''. The closely pronounced ''cloichtheach'' means stone-house or stone-building.<ref name=din /> The round tower seems to be the only significant stone building in Ireland before the advent of the Normans in 1169–1171 CE.

UCD Professor of Archaeology Tadhg O'Keeffe<ref>Ireland's Round Towers: Buildings, Rituals and Landscapes of the Early Irish Church, Tempus 2004</ref> has suggested that the towers were originally high-status royal chapels, citing how two of them (Kells and Duleek) were scenes of regicide. He also suggested that the windows were arranged clockwise to imitate the order of relic-carrying procession from the elevated door to the very top.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://localstudies.wordpress.com/2016/09/20/irish-round-towers-talk-with-professor-tadhg-okeeffe/ | title=Irish Round Towers talk with Professor Tadhg O'Keeffe| date=2016-09-20}}</ref>

Another possible purpose would be for taking shelter during raids.  The mostly enclosed top floors and stone rooftops would make for terrible belltowers.  The elevated doorway could have had a ladder that would be drawn up during raids, and the thick stone walls could withstand most attacks.  Since the doors always face where a church stood, this also adds weight to the theory they were where monks would evacuate to.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Tolman|first1=Stella|title=Around the World, Book Five|last2=Waldo|first2=Lillian|last3=Carroll|first3=Clarence|publisher=Silver, Burdett & Company|year=1910|location=USA|pages=20}}</ref> The oldest reference to a round tower (the one at Slane, see below) records its use as a refuge – however in this case it was burnt by the Vikings, killing everyone inside.