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Show Irish Round Towers Unique The most remarkable examples of early Irish buildings are the round towers, of which over 100 remain in Ireland, though scarcely an example exam-ple elsewhere. Tall, circular columns, col-umns, rising to 60 feet high and averaging 15 feet in diameter, they were used as belfries, as look-out posts and chiefly as places of refuge. ref-uge. The lowest opening was high above the ground, reached by a ladder lad-der which could be drawn up; inside was a wooden framework of four or five stories, and in here the monks carried their treasures, vessels of price and chiefly written books, when marauders came. |