Round Tower Monasterboice Ireland When the Vikings came over the hill looking for loot etc the locals in this neighbourhood (the monks etc of the abbey) would head for the tower and climb the 10 or so feet (people were much shorter back then) into said building take the steps with them and make faces at the raiders who were only interested in anything the monks could not get into the tower in time. After a while the Vikings would head off looking for more raping and pillaging as they were good at doing and the monks would return to the abbey and fix what the recent visitors had broken.. There are a number of examples of this type of building in Ireland, this one is in Co Louth Ireland. 12/8/04

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