The thick-walled fortified Tower House (in town, merely called a Town House) became, in the late Middle Ages the ordinary and typical residence of the Irish and Anglo-Irish Gentry.
Not the Keep, but the 19th century ‘castle’ of the Hall family!
Perhaps also, of the monks in the many monasteries who clearly enjoyed a better lifestyle than the great majority of Irish people of the time. From earliest times the monasteries were targets of invaders and it was always vital for some defence to be offered.
There was no doubt a continuous development from the earlier defended residences with their towers of timber or stone. An origin for the Irish Tower House might be found in what were called the ‘