Sectionally Constructed Tower Houses: A Review of the Evidence from County Limerick

A small number of medieval Irish tower houses display evidence of having been constructed in two separate but interlocking sections, one section containing the spiral staircase and subsidiary chamber and the other section containing the building's main chamber block. The following paper identifies the sectionally constructed tower houses to be found among the building series in County Limerick. The paper also discusses the possible reasons why this construction technique was adopted at these sites.