g such a statement, nor had he such antiquarian
knowledge as would have enabled him to forge a statement so consistent
with the conclusion fairly to be drawn from the entry in the chronicle,
and the characteristics of the architecture of the tower itself. It
appears to me that no rational scepticism can in future be indulged as
to the conclusion that the erection of this beautiful tower must be
referred to the last quarter of the tenth century.--P.]

[Footnote 126: The determining the age of the Brechin tower--a question
which I consider as now settled--must go far towards enabling us to come
to a right conclusion as to the age of the tower of Abernethy; for I
think that no one possessed of ordinary powers of observation and
comparison, who has examined both, can for a moment doubt that the age
of the Abernethy tower is much greater than that of the tower of
Brechin. This is the opinion which I formed many years ago, after a very
careful examination of the architectural peculiarities of each; and I
came to the conclusion that the safest opinion which could be indulged
as to the age of the Abernethy tower was, that it had been erected
during the reign of the third Nectan, _i.e._ between 712 and 727, and by
those Northumbrian architects of the monastery of Jarrow, for whose
assistance that king, according to the high authority of Bede, had
applied to build for him in his capital a stone church in the Roman
style. In the features of that style, during the eighth century, as
exhibited in its doorway, and, still more, its upper apertures, this
tower appeared to stand alone--there is nothing similar to it to be seen
either in Scotland or Ireland. The tower of Brechin has indeed a
Romanesque doorway, but it is plainly of a later age, and its other
features are quite Irish. The circumstance of the Abernethy doorway
being placed on a level with the ground, and not, as almost universally,
at a considerable height from it, seemed also to support this opinion,
as it indicated that the erection of the tower was of a period anterior
to the irruption of the Northmen, which rendered such a defensive
feature an imperative necessity. I cannot agree with you in opinion as
to the cause assigned for the preservation of the towers; for, in the
first place, it is not true that their materials were stronger or
better, or their construction in any way different from that of the
churches with which they were connected, as proved by numerous examp