ABERNETHY ROUND TOWER, Perthshire.
This remarkable edifice stands on the south-west side of the Churchyard of Abernethy, a small town situated at some distance from the south side of the Tay, and about three miles west from Newburgh. There can be no doubt that this peculiar form of round tower owes its existence to the presence of the Irish clergy, who returned to Scotland in the ninth century.[137] Abernethy was distinguished as an ecclesiastical site at a very early date, a church having been founded here in the sixth century by King Gastnaid[138] in honour of St. Bridget. Abernethy was then, and for a long period thereafter, the chief seat of the Government of Pictland. In the ninth century, Constantin, the son of Kenneth M‘Alpine, removed the see of the Scottish Bishopric from Dunkeld to Abernethy, where it remained till transferred by Kenneth III., 966-970, to St. Andrews.
Fig. 143.—Abernethy Tower. Plans.
The monastery at Abernethy was in the hands of a Culdee establishment in the eleventh century, but about 1200 the church was granted by William the Lion to his favourite Abbey of Arbroath, and the Abbey was secularised. In 1272, the monastery was revived as a Priory of Canons regular of St. Augustine.
The once important place of Abernethy has now dwindled into a small quiet country town, of which the ancient Round Tower is the only important feature.
The tower stands partly within the churchyard and partly without it, on the east side of the adjoining roadway, and the level of the ground on the side next the latter is two or three feet deeper than that of the churchyard. The doorway ([Fig. 143]) is situated on the north side of the tower and within the burial-ground. It stands ([Fig. 144]) about 2 feet 6 inches above the ground, and has had in recent times a few steps built in front of it. The doorway has a plain fillet, 6 inches broad and projecting 2 inches, wrought on the jambs and round the circular arched head. It is 7 feet 8 inches from the sill to the crown of the arch. The jambs incline inwards, the opening being 2 feet 8 inches at the base, and 2 feet 4 inches at the spring of the arch. The round head is hollowed out of a single stone, and the thickness of the wall behind it is arched with several voussoirs. The jambs are each in two stones, which extend through the thickness of the wall. The wall is 3 feet 6 inches thick at the doorway, and the internal diameter of the tower at that level is 8 feet 2 inches.
The structure is over 72 feet in height, and is divided in the interior into six stories in the height by projecting string courses, 10 inches by 8 inches, bevelled on the lower side, which carried the joists. There was no staircase, access from floor to floor being by means of ladders. The second, third, and fourth stories are lighted by means of small round-headed and angle-headed windows, with inclined jambs.
The top story has four large windows facing the cardinal points. These windows are the most remarkable features of the edifice.
The openings have inclined jambs, being 1 foot 8 inches at base and 1 foot 5 inches at top, and the height from the sill to the springing is 4 feet 9 inches. Each window has two orders on the exterior—a plain inner order and an outer order, containing a shaft wrought on the jamb angle. The inner order has plain square-edged jambs and round arch. The outer order has also a square-edged round arch, springing from the caps of the shafts. This arch, however, is not concentric with the inner arch, but is carried considerably above it, leaving a flat space or shield between the arches. The caps and bases of the shafts are now much decayed, but they have a distinctly Norman character.
Above the highest string course the wall rises about two feet, so as to form a parapet. The diameter within this wall is 8 feet 8 inches, and the wall is about 2 feet 6 inches thick. The top of the wall is covered with broad stones, each the full width, which have an ogee moulding wrought on the outer edge.
The masonry of the tower is constructed in regular courses of ashlar work, carefully wrought to the circle. The lower twelve courses are of a hard grey freestone, and the portion above consists of a yellowish freestone of similar workmanship, which is softer, and has decayed considerably both on the exterior and interior. This difference in the materials of the lower and upper portions has led to the belief that the upper part has been rebuilt at a later date than the lower part.
Fig. 144.—Abernethy Tower. View from North-East.
The tower is slightly less in diameter at the top than at the bottom, but it tapers so little that the difference is scarcely observable.
In this tower we find features which belong both to the Celtic and Norman styles of building. The circular form of the tower and the disposition of its parts, the door raised some feet above the ground, the small windows in the lower stories, the four large windows in the top story, and the inclining jambs of door and windows, all point to the Irish origin of the design; while the distinctly Norman character of the details of the four upper windows, and the regular coursing and dressing of the masonry, show the influence of the Continental style of the twelfth century.