THE ROUND TOWERS OF IRELAND
Author of “The Round Towers of Ireland.”
THE ROUND TOWERS
OF IRELAND
OR
THE HISTORY OF THE TUATH-DE-DANAANS
BY
HENRY O’BRIEN
A NEW EDITION
WITH INTRODUCTION, SYNOPSIS, INDEX, ETC.
London: W. THACKER & CO., 2 Creed Lane, E.C.
Calcutta: THACKER, SPINK & CO.
1898
[All Rights Reserved]
750 Copies only of this Edition have been printed for Sale and the Typedistributed, of which this is No. 324.
CONTENTS
| PAGE | |
| Introduction | vii |
| Synopsis | xxxvii |
| Dedication (First Edition) | lxi |
| Preface (First Edition) | lxiii |
| Dedication (Second Edition) | xciii |
| List of Illustrations | xcv |
| Author’s Text (Second Edition) | 1 |
| List of the Principal Irish Towers and Crosses | 525 |
| Index | 529 |
INTRODUCTION
“When all is dark, who would object to a ray of light, merely becauseof the faulty or flickering medium by which it is transmitted? And ifthose round towers have been hitherto a dark puzzle and a mystery,must we scare away O’Brien, because he approaches with a rude andunpolished but serviceable lantern?”—Fraser’s Magazine for August 1835.
Henry O’Brien, the most daring and ingenious explorer of that reconditemystery, the origin and purpose of Irish Round Towers, was born in 1808.On both his father’s and his mother’s side he came of good descent,[1]being connected with two of the oldest and most influential families