[RightWhale]

Newport Tower

They know it is Viking, but was there originally more to it? It might be nothing more than a tower, a lookout.

[crystalk]

This is just the stone central cylinder: see design of Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem. This was a replica of that Dome, smaller of course. An octagonal wooden ambulatory surrounded the central cylinder.

A church just like it, on same scale, is in Cambridge, England. There are others in Scandinavia. All date to the 1050- 1300 era.

[crystalk]

Like medieval churches on the fringes of Christendom everywhere, it had to serve as lookout, fortress, treasury, and-- in this case-- also a lighthouse/observatory. From its top some 35 feet high on top of the main ridge of what is now called "Rhode" island or Aquidneck, ships approaching from any direction could be observed (except due north, but that is land so ships could not approach).