Located on the outskirts of Piltown, County Kilkenny, this early 19th century octagonal neo-gothic tower was erected by the third Earl of Bessborough as a monument to his second son Frederick Cavendish Ponsonby who was presumed to have been killed in battle during the Napoleonic Wars. The story is told that work began c.1810 when the young man was reported dead while participating in the Peninsula Campaign. However, it seems more likely that the tower was constructed in 1815 after Ponsonby was gravely injured at the Battle of Waterloo. Among his injuries on that occasion, he was knocked off his horse and wounded in both arms, then stabbed in the back while lying on the ground, ridden over by members of the Prussian cavalry and beaten up by other soldiers looking for plunder. Somehow, he survived all this and was brought to Brussels where months of recuperation followed. Ponsonby later went on to become a Major-General and Governor of Malta. As for this building, it was left incomplete until the middle of the last century when another storey was added so that it could be used as a water tower. Today it stands marooned in the middle of a traffic roundabout.