OS1/25/3/33
| List of names as written | Various modes of spelling | Authorities for spelling | Situation | Description remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| THE ROUND TOWER [Abernethy Churchyard] | Round Tower | Rev. [Reverend] Mr. Duncan, Abernethy David Anderson, Sexton. Abernethy |
110 | [Situation] In the central part of the town This name applies to a circular building about 14½ feet in diameter & about 72 feet high, which stands in the S.W. [South West] Corner of Abernethy Ch. [Church] yard. It is of evident and acknowledged Antiquity, & is supposed to have been erected by the Picts long before the christian era. The Tradition of the people in the locality regarding it is that it was built in one night, that the way it was performed was that the Picts stood in a row from the Lomond Hill (Fife) to the Site of the Tower & that the Stones (having been previously dressed) were handed from Person to Person until finally placed in position on the Tower, - I have been informed that Antiqaries & others have demonstrated very clearly that the Stone was actually brought from the Lomonds, & that they Succeeded in finding out apparently the very spot from which it was taken. The Stone of the Tower is Freestone and appears of a soft gritty nature: Regarding its having been built in one day. I must appear hyperbolical to say the least of it, but still is not impossible as the place the Stones came from is only 5 miles distant, & supposing each man conveyed the stone only 2 yards, less than 6000 men could have the Tower up to its present height in a summers day. With regard to the purposes for which it was erected There appears to be no satisfactory account. It may only have been for Signalling from, but I am inclined to agree with the tradition of the place, that it, as well as all other "round Towers of other days" was erected as a mausoleum for the King & digntaries of the Kingdom. I am the more inclined to this belief as I never yet came across one in Ireland or Scotland which had not a very ancient graveyard adjoining. In support of this latter belief I may add that in 1821 Several gentlemen, with assistants, dug down to a considerable depth within this Tower, and were rewarded for their pains by finding Several Human bones. Skulls &cv and the fragments of a |
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[Page] 33Ph. [Parish] Abernethy -- Sheet No. 8. Trace 6.
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Trondragirl- Moderator, Christine
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