Brechin Cathedral and Round Tower

I was preaching in Brechin Baptist Church today and on the way home we stopped at the Cathedral, with its round Tower.

The present cathedral building (not large by cathedral standards) dates from the early 13th century and the square tower from the 14th century.
Within the cathedral, there are some excellent stained-glass windows. These are of more recent origin - the cathedral fell into disrepair after the Reformation in the 16th century but has since been restored. It is now used as the local parish church.

Detached round towers, mainly of Italian inspiration, were built in Ireland between 900 and the 1180's. They were called 'cloichtheach' in Gaelic, literally meaning bell-house. There are remains of sixty-odd in Ireland, but only a dozen complete. The others are either substantial stumps, or only foundation courses discovered by excavation. There are only two round towers in Scotland, the other being at Abernethy, and one at Peel cathedral on the Isle of Man.

The tower at Brechin is 86 feet to the wallhead and over 106 feet to the apex of the octagonal cap-house (which replaced a conical one in the late 14th century. Although externally the tower narrows towards the top the internal diameter does not change much through the seven floors to the top. The towers were used as libraries and for keeping valuables and as refuges in times of violent attack.

If you would like to see the beautiful stained glass windows see my Flikr set