Eryfairytale in one of my articles shared a link about round towers in Ireland. She also translated the text from the site. I quote it after her comment:
Ireland alone has 65. The average height is 34 meters. For what purpose they were put - no one knows. I read the version that they somehow have a positive effect on the harvest.
In his article (The Mysterious Round Towers of Ireland: Low Frequency Radio in Nature; The Explorer's Journal; Summer, 1993) Callahan gives more details on his findings (Philip Callahan is an American scientist with a pronounced Irish last name):
“Each door has a different level of mud filling in the base, as if they were 'tuned' like organ pipes … I have long assumed that the towers were powerful amplifiers of radio resonance from the atmosphere, generated by lightning blazing around the world.
The round towers have proven to be powerful amplifiers in the alpha brain wave region, 2 to 24 Hz, in the electrical anesthesia region, 1000 to 3000 Hz, and the electronic induction heating region, 5000 Hz to 1000 kHz.
Interestingly, there are zero atmospheric frequencies just above the earth's surface about 2 to 4 feet, which are amplified as they rise to 9-15 feet above the surface, where they are particularly strong. The Irish monks were well aware of this, since it was there that they put their high doors. In every tower we measured, there was a direct correlation between the height of the tower door and the strength of the waves.
Promotional video:
The fact that amplified waves occur in the meditative and electrical anesthetic parts of the electromagnetic spectrum is of paramount importance. In 1963, G. Walter studied EEG brain waves from 0.5 to 3 Hz (Delta region) and discovered anti-infectious effects. There is an elegant but short list of research projects demonstrating the beneficial effects of low frequency ELF waves on sick people.”
The version is interesting. But not the only one. Let's take a closer look at what different sources say.
Official information. The Round Towers of Ireland are stone towers from the early Middle Ages, built between the 9th and 12th centuries. Located primarily in Ireland, there are two towers in Scotland and one in the Isle of Man.
The purpose of the towers has not been precisely established. It is believed that they could be a kind of bell towers, calling the people to prayer - this assumption is supported by the fact that the tower was almost always located near the church - or they served as a refuge during enemy raids.
Height varies from 18 to 30 m. The tallest tower - 34 m - is located in Kilmakdoo, County Galway. The way of construction and the internal arrangement of all towers is practically the same. Another wall was built inside the circular wall, and the cavity between them was filled with rubble. The entrance to the towers was located at an average distance of 2-3 m from the base level. This was probably done for security reasons, to make it harder for enemies to get inside. The inner space of the tower was divided into several tiers connected by wooden staircases.
Round tower on Mount Cashel.
Some of the towers are crowned with a conical roof. It is believed that the rest of the towers were arranged in a similar way, but after centuries their roof collapsed.
In total, there are about 120 round towers in Ireland. Most of them have turned into ruins over time, and only about twenty have survived in a relatively unchanged state.
Link (and a list of the main surviving towers).
What's unusual about these towers:
1. Height. What is this for? If this is a watchtower, then it's understandable. But the small number of loopholes in the dome area speaks against this. There are no more than four of them at the very top, and on some cardinal points there are no loopholes at all.
They also do not fit under the bell tower - there is no required number of "windows", yes, and the structure of the dome is not intended for the bell.
2. Stone dome. Why is it so complex and massive? We would have made a wooden roof easier. It means that it did not fit for certain reasons.
3. Double wall with rubble inside. Reliable construction. Withstands severe deformation and destruction.
Celtic cross.
This block is not of high-tech production, but the accuracy of the masonry is excellent.
Almost all of them are located in the area of monasteries and ancient cemeteries.
Some are partially destroyed.
Some - to the core.
Brikhinskaya tower. A narrow entrance high above the ground. Not the most convenient size and location for "getting in" quickly.
The tower was originally crowned with a circular conical roof, but at a later time it was replaced by an octagonal roof with a spire.
Tower at Ebernathy. There is no conical roof.
I believe that these towers (or most of them) are definitely not watchtowers. Take a look at this:
and in the photo of the tower, which is in the title of the post - why they stand at the foot of the hills. To have maximum watchdog functions, they need to be placed on the tops.
Large selection of photographs of Irish towers
And more about 52 towers
By the way, the towers in Ireland have a certain analogy with the Caucasian watchtowers.
Only these towers have square bases. And their close proximity to each other says that they may not be a sentry.
Maybe all these towers are for defense after all? They have modern counterparts with just this purpose!
kesar_civ suggested that the Irish towers are like the bomb shelter towers of the Winckel project in Germany 1936-1945:
This is a purely utilitarian and very simple structure and structure called "Luftschuetztuerme", which means "air defense towers". Simply put, these are bomb shelters for the personnel of nearby institutions and enterprises. And for the population of nearby houses.
Why not underground, but above it? But simply the architect Leo Winkel, who proposed this idea, calculated that the resistance of such towers to aerial bombs is no less than underground shelters, with significantly lower costs for their construction and further operation. Of the 34 towers built for the Wehrmacht, 7 survived at the beginning of the 21st century. The rest were gradually demolished in the period from 1947 to 1997.
The tower of the first project, designed by Winkel in 1934, had a conical shape, a height of 20 meters and could accommodate 200 people. Occupied area 25 sq. m., i.e. only 5.6 - 5.8 meters in diameter.
Could it be that the Irish towers are similar in purpose to the air defense towers of Germany? If so, from whom did the inhabitants of those times hide in them? Aliens? Dragons? Meteorites? Tsunami / Flood? Fantastic, but I have no logical and simple explanation for their construction (except for the official ones). Or could someone suggest such an explanation?