There are special places in the world that have a particular spiritual feeling to them, Iona is one and if I were to think hard I could probably list a few more.  Glenadlough in County Wicklow in Ireland is one of these. It was way back in 2004 when I visited this ancient site, with its two loughs, the place where St Kevin founded his monastery in the 6th Century. We spent a wonderful afternoon touring the site, guided by an expert who told us the stories of St Kevin and helped us to see Glendlough in all its spiritual splendour, in a wooded valley in the Wicklow Hills.

I was looking back over some old photographs this morning and came across the picture of the round tower at Glendalough, not that ancient round towers are all that unusual in Ireland – there are about a hundred of them.  Indeed the little St Kevin’s church nearby boasts its own round tower.  These towers where bell towers, where the monks in days gone by would ring their hand bells to summon the  brothers to prayer.  They may well have been used too for storage of treasures, and for protection in violent times.

When I took this picture I had another round tower very much in my mind.  Scotland has but two ancient round towers, one in Brechin and the other in Abernethy in Fife.  I recall being told about this during my school days in Brechin where our Round Tower was a familiar sight in the Cathedral City, I could even see it from the front door of my Granny’s house, and indeed read the time on the clock on the adjacent church tower with an old pair of binoculars she had.

We were told about the history of the tower, built about 1000 AD, and used as a place of look-out and refuge during the time of Viking raids on the east coast of Scotland.  I now read that this tradition is doubted by the experts who say that the tower would not provide much safety, indeed a fire set by raiders at the wooden door would soon let smoke fill the tower like a chimney and drive these ancient Brechiners out.  However, the very narrow door which was the only access is set well up above ground level and would seem to have been built for defence.

Whatever the experts say, a good story is a good story and a little boy, or indeed an old man can picture the Culdee Monks who founded the religious site at Brechin, peering out from the tower, up the line of the River South Esk towards Montrose Basin some five or six miles away, watching for the sails of the longships and the invading Norsemen.  The Vikings were certainly seen as a threat in Angus, with King William the Lion causing the Red Castle to be build in the late 12th Century to repel Viking raids at the sandy beach at Lunan Bay.

I have never visited the Abernethy tower.  I must do that some day.  However, I recall seeing a round tower in Dunfermline, close by the route we used to take when heading from Dollar to Edinburgh, avoiding the congested town centre.  I think I assumed that this was the second round tower, but did not give it much thought.  While thinking about this piece, I looked it up and found out that it is not an ancient round tower at all, but was built just a little over a hundred years ago at St Leonard’s Church in Dunfermline, but very much inspired by the ancient round towers.