St. Michael’s Church, Rushmere, Suffolk

There are 172 churches with round towers still standing in East Anglia. This is incredible when you think how old they are – all around 1,000 years old!

The reason that so many are found in this part of England is because of the type of stone available in the area.

To build a square tower requires strong stone for building corners. The lack of conventional quarried stone for building in this area meant that the towers had to be made from the local stone which is flint - a fairly small, knobbly stone. This was not suitable for building corners, and stronger stone would have been expensive to bring in from other areas, so the towers had to be round.

The tower of St. Michael’s church

Flint-work and lancet window at St. Michael’s

When towns became more prosperous, they could afford to spend money on re-building their churches, which many did. Many round towers were replaced by square towers. The reason why most of these churches with round towers still exist is because they are located in small sparsely populated rural villages, that didn’t have much money to spend on them.

It was at one time thought that the primary reason that the Saxons built these towers was as a defence against the Vikings, providing look-out posts and somewhere for the villagers to shelter if they were to be attacked. But in fact the Viking raids had finished by the time most of these churches were built.

St. Michael’s Church from the back

Whatever the reasons were for building these round towers, I am glad they did – it is wonderful to be able to touch these old walls and wonder at their longevity. Also to imagine all the changes they have seen.

http://www.roundtowers.org.uk/