Well...that shoots that theory down.
I assumed that some of the info I had read was correct that cannon balls were made in this way (included in the tour guide's speal about a local tower I have visited). If the issue is height, some of these structures were massively tall while others weren't. In any case, back to possible hot shot, I guess.
Here's what wikipedia had to say and a list of shot towers around the world, many of them dating to the 1780's-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shot_tower