XXV. Observations on the Round Towers in Ireland, by the Rev. Thomas Harmer of Watesfield, Suffolk, in a Letter to the Rev. George Ashby, B.D. F.A.S.

Extract

You doubtless remember the papers in the first volume of the Archæologia relating to those antique slender towers which are found belonging to some old churches in Scotland and Ireland, but generally at some distance from them, and which, though lofty, were not capable of holding bells of any size. Very different sentiments were entertained of the uses they were designed for: some supposing they were intended for watch-towers: some, for places of refuge to which the people might repair on any sudden alarm ; some, as places of penance. The conjectures of others differed from all these. The enquiries of the learned, after all, terminated in uncertainty; and I found the uneasiness of such a state, without expecting ever to meet with any thing satisfactory upon the point.