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Tower Houses In Britain And Ireland
Tower houses ( ga, caisleán) appeared on the Islands of Ireland and Great Britain starting from the High Middle Ages. They were constructed in the wilder parts of Great Britain and Ireland, particularly in Scotland, and throughout Ireland, until at least up to the 17th century. The remains of such structures are dotted around the Irish and Scottish countryside, with a particular concentration in the Scottish Borders where they include peel towers and bastle houses. Some are still intact and even inhabited today, while others stand as ruined shells. Scottish tower houses Tower houses are often called castles, and despite their characteristic compact footprint size, they are formidable habitations and there is no clear distinction between a castle and a tower house. In Scotland a classification system has been widely accepted based on ground plan, such as the L-plan castle style, one example being the original layout (prior to enlargement) of Muchalls Castle in Scotland. The few ...
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Tower House Distribution
A tower is a tall structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting structures. Towers are specifically distinguished from buildings in that they are built not to be habitable but to serve other functions using the height of the tower. For example, the height of a clock tower improves the visibility of the clock, and the height of a tower in a fortified building such as a castle increases the visibility of the surroundings for defensive purposes. Towers may also be built for observation, leisure, or telecommunication purposes. A tower can stand alone or be supported by adjacent buildings, or it may be a feature on top of a larger structure or building. Etymology Old English ''torr'' is from Latin ''turris'' via Old French ''tor''. The Latin term together with Greek τύρσις was loaned from a pre-Indo-European Mediterranean langua ...
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Tower Houses In The Republic Of Ireland
A tower is a tall structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting structures. Towers are specifically distinguished from buildings in that they are built not to be habitable but to serve other functions using the height of the tower. For example, the height of a clock tower improves the visibility of the clock, and the height of a tower in a fortified building such as a castle increases the visibility of the surroundings for defensive purposes. Towers may also be built for observation, leisure, or telecommunication purposes. A tower can stand alone or be supported by adjacent buildings, or it may be a feature on top of a larger structure or building. Etymology Old English ''torr'' is from Latin ''turris'' via Old French ''tor''. The Latin term together with Greek τύρσις was loaned from a pre-Indo-European Mediterranean language, ...
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Welsh Tower Houses
Welsh tower houses were fortified stone houses that were built between the early 14th and 15th centuries. They are related to tower houses, which occur in considerable numbers in Ireland and Scotland and to a much lesser extent in England. A map showing the distribution of tower houses within the United Kingdom is given in ''Houses of the Welsh Countryside''. Distribution of tower houses in Wales The main concentration of tower houses is in southern Pembrokeshire, Wales. These were first published with detailed drawings in 1877–8 by Rev. E L Barnwell. The Pembrokeshire examples have a coastal distribution; this is also true of the Monmouth and Glamorgan tower houses, as well as the demolished examples at Penhryn (in Caernarfonshire) and Ty Gwyn (in Abermo). Otherwise, the tower houses are distributed along the Welsh—English border, with one example, Wattlesborourgh, just over the border in Shropshire. In 1976, Hilling produced a map (with listing) showing seventeen ex ...
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Vernacular Architecture
Vernacular architecture is building done outside any academic tradition, and without professional guidance. This category encompasses a wide range and variety of building types, with differing methods of construction, from around the world, both historical and extant, representing the majority of buildings and settlements created in pre-industrial societies. Vernacular architecture constitutes 95% of the world's built environment, as estimated in 1995 by Amos Rapoport, as measured against the small percentage of new buildings every year designed by architects and built by engineers. Vernacular architecture usually serves immediate, local needs; is constrained by the materials available in its particular region; and reflects local traditions and cultural practices. Traditionally, the study of vernacular architecture did not examine formally schooled architects, but instead that of the design skills and tradition of local builders, who were rarely given any attribution for the w ...
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Scottish Vernacular
Scottish Vernacular architecture is a form of vernacular architecture that uses local materials. Overview In Scotland, as elsewhere, vernacular architecture employs readily available local materials and methods handed down from generation to generation. The builders of vernacular structures remain unknown. Peasant homes were typically of very simple construction. In Scotland, where stone is plentiful and long-span timber in short supply, stone was a common building material, employed in both mortared and dry stone construction. Types of vernacular residences :*Bastle house: bastle houses are most often found along the Anglo-Scottish border. They are multi-storey farmhouses with sophisticated security measures designed to provide defense against the frequent border raiding parties. The characteristic features include: thick stone walls (of around one metre deep); a stone vault separating the first and second levels of the building and exterior windows of narrow slits and a roof m ...
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Bawn
A bawn is the defensive wall surrounding an Irish tower house. It is the anglicised version of the Irish word ''bábhún'' (sometimes spelt ''badhún''), possibly meaning "cattle-stronghold" or "cattle-enclosure".See alternative traditional spellings under ''badhbhdhún'' in ''Foclóir Uí Dhuinnín'': http://www.scriobh.ie/Page.aspx?id=26&l=1. The standard modern spelling is ''bábhún'': Ó Domhnaill, Niall (eag.), ''Foclóir Gaeilge Béarla'', Baile Átha Cliath: Oifig an tSoláthair (1977), p. 73. The Irish word for "cow" is ''bó'' and its plural is ''ba''. The Irish word for "stronghold, enclosure" is ''dún'', whose genitive case is ''dúin'". The original purpose of bawns was to protect cattle from attack. They included trenches that were often strengthened with stakes or hedges. Over time, these were gradually replaced by walls. The name then began to be used for the walls that were built around tower houses. English and Scottish names for the same thing include "pele" ...
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Architecture In Early Modern Scotland
Architecture in early modern Scotland encompasses all building within the borders of the kingdom of Scotland, from the early sixteenth century to the mid-eighteenth century. The time period roughly corresponds to the early modern era in Europe, beginning with the Renaissance and Reformation and ending with the start of the Enlightenment and Industrialisation. Vernacular architecture made use of local materials such as stone, turf and, where available, wood. Most of the population was housed in small hamlets and isolated dwellings. The most common form of dwelling throughout Scotland was the long house, shared by humans and animals. About ten percent of the population lived in the burghs, in a mixture of half-timbered and stone houses. The impact of the Renaissance on Scottish architecture began in the reign of James III in the late fifteenth century with the rebuilding of royal palaces such as Linlithgow, and reached its peak under James V. The Reformation had a major impact o ...
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Bawn
A bawn is the defensive wall surrounding an Irish tower house. It is the anglicised version of the Irish word ''bábhún'' (sometimes spelt ''badhún''), possibly meaning "cattle-stronghold" or "cattle-enclosure".See alternative traditional spellings under ''badhbhdhún'' in ''Foclóir Uí Dhuinnín'': http://www.scriobh.ie/Page.aspx?id=26&l=1. The standard modern spelling is ''bábhún'': Ó Domhnaill, Niall (eag.), ''Foclóir Gaeilge Béarla'', Baile Átha Cliath: Oifig an tSoláthair (1977), p. 73. The Irish word for "cow" is ''bó'' and its plural is ''ba''. The Irish word for "stronghold, enclosure" is ''dún'', whose genitive case is ''dúin'". The original purpose of bawns was to protect cattle from attack. They included trenches that were often strengthened with stakes or hedges. Over time, these were gradually replaced by walls. The name then began to be used for the walls that were built around tower houses. English and Scottish names for the same thing include "pele" ...
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County Clare
County Clare ( ga, Contae an Chláir) is a county in Ireland, in the Southern Region and the province of Munster, bordered on the west by the Atlantic Ocean. Clare County Council is the local authority. The county had a population of 118,817 at the 2016 census. The county town and largest settlement is Ennis. Geography and subdivisions Clare is north-west of the River Shannon covering a total area of . Clare is the seventh largest of Ireland's 32 traditional counties in area and the 19th largest in terms of population. It is bordered by two counties in Munster and one county in Connacht: County Limerick to the south, County Tipperary to the east and County Galway to the north. Clare's nickname is ''the Banner County''. Baronies, parishes and townlands The county is divided into the baronies of Bunratty Lower, Bunratty Upper, Burren, Clonderalaw, Corcomroe, Ibrickan, Inchiquin, Islands, Moyarta, Tulla Lower and Tulla Upper. These in turn are divided into civil parishes, ...
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County Kilkenny
County Kilkenny ( gle, Contae Chill Chainnigh) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Leinster and is part of the South-East Region. It is named after the city of Kilkenny. Kilkenny County Council is the local authority for the county. As of the 2022 census the population of the county was just over 100,000. The county was based on the historic Gaelic kingdom of Ossory (''Osraighe''), which was coterminous with the Diocese of Ossory. Geography and subdivisions Kilkenny is the 16th-largest of Ireland's 32 counties by area, and the 21st largest in terms of population. It is the third-largest of Leinster's 12 counties in size, the seventh-largest in terms of population, and has a population density of 48 people per km2. Kilkenny borders five counties - Tipperary to the west, Waterford to the south, Carlow and Wexford to the east, and Laois to the north. Kilkenny city is the county's seat of local government and largest settlement, and is situated on the River Nore i ...
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The Pale
The Pale (Irish: ''An Pháil'') or the English Pale (' or ') was the part of Ireland directly under the control of the English government in the Late Middle Ages. It had been reduced by the late 15th century to an area along the east coast stretching from Dalkey, south of Dublin, to the garrison town of Dundalk. The inland boundary went to Naas and Leixlip around the Earldom of Kildare, towards Trim and north towards Kells. In this district, many townlands have English or French names, the latter associated with Norman influence in England. Etymology The word ''pale'', meaning a fence, is derived from the Latin word ', meaning "stake", specifically a stake used to support a fence. A paling fence is made of pales ganged side by side, and the word ''palisade'' is derived from the same root. From this came the figurative meaning of "boundary". The Oxford English Dictionary is dubious about the popular notion that the phrase '' beyond the pale'', as something outside the boundary ...
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