You can't imagine the strengh of an Irish Tower until you've stood above the city and felt the wind whip you this way and that as if you were insubstantial as a leaf. To imagine that the Scrabo Tower has been standing on its blustery hill since the 1800s is a testament to the stonemasonry that went into it.
The twoer was built as a memorial to Charles Stewart, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry who was one of the Duke of Wellington's generals during the Napoleonic Wars.
To give you an idea of how quickly the weather can change in Northern Ireland, just look at the clouds in these pictures. One moment you might be facing imminent rain, the next, enjoying patchy sunshine. As my host family explained; "If the Irish waited for the rain to stop, no work would get done in Ireland."
Though closed during my stay, (weather had fried the electricity) Scarbo Tower itself looks as if it were hewn from the very rocks it stands on, boldly braving the weather of the Irish terrain.
