Irish round towers irish cloigtheach singular cloigthithe plural literally bell house are early mediaeval stone towers of a type found mainly in ireland with two in scotland and one on the isle of man. The irish round towers have long intrigued scholars and history buffs who have studied these free standing pillars across the emerald isle in irish the towers are known as cloigtheach or bell towers in english. Along with high crosses the round towers of ireland are the most distinctive architectural feature or irish monasteries there are a couple of round towers also in scotland which were probably built to imitate what was happening in ireland