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 NOTICES OF TIIE ROUND TOWERS OF ULSTER 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 " Those lonely Columns stand sublime, 
 Flinging their shadow? from on high, 
 Like dials which the wizard, Time, 
 Had raised to count his ages bj- V— Moore. 
 
 A casual remark made by Giraldus Cambrensis has been often quoted to show that during his visit 
 to Ireland, in the reign of Henry II., as secretary to John, hisattentionhadbeenattractedby the Round 
 towers, which he considered to be ecclesiastical buildings of a style peculiar to the country. The brevity 
 of his notice, however, and the fact of smiliar edifices not existing in other countries — with the ex- 
 ception of two examples in Scotland, believed to be the work of a kindred people — left an impression 
 that he had not examined their history with sufficient care to enable him to decide on their purpose 
 with much accuracy. These buildings have, in consequence, continued to present so interesting 
 a subject for investigation that even persons usually indifferent to such inquiries have caught 
 some antiquarian enthusiasm, and expressed an anxiety that the mystery wherein their origin is 
 involved should be despelled, and a definite reply given to the often-repeated questions — what was 
 their use? — by whom where they erected? In recent times it was expected that a final solu- 
 tion of this national enigma would be given by some of the numerous class of inquirers who now, 
 with equal zeal but much better preparation for the task than their predecessors, direct their re- 
 searches to the ancient history and the antiquities of Ireland. 
 
 Accident having caused the writer to take apart, some years ago, in this investigation, he commits 
 these notices to the press, not with any design of advancing a theory of his own, but merely to put on 
 record, for the use of others, a detailed statement of the result of excavations which it is evident cannot 
 be repeated. Here it may not be an unprofitable task to review concisely the various opinions, already 
 expressed and iterated from one writer to another, respecting the origin and uses of these remarkable 
 buildings ; even although the theories exhibit little originality and, having, with very few exceptions, 
 been framed without an accurate inspection of the Towers themselves, or a critical examination of the 
 remainingrecordsofthecountry,(which, asDr.Petriehas shown, have been in many instances erroneously
 
 translated,) are often supported by weak and inconclusive evidence. It isproper also to notice that, since 
 a more correct method of investigating antiquarian subjects has been encouraged by the directors 
 of the Irish Ordnance Survey, the " vexata quastio," now under consideration has received much 
 elucidation, as well by the inquiries of those who ascribe a very remote Pagan origin to the Irish 
 towers, as by the influential section who, recognizing Dr. Petrie as their leader, confine their views to 
 an early Christian period. It is to be regretted that an unnecessary degree of asperity occasionally 
 displays itself in the controversies of these " ancients" and " moderns" who, while they consider 
 all the historic period back to Christ as modern, and take their first step into the ancient world from 
 the foot of the Cross, seem to forget that Christianity itself boasts of a considerable antiquity. 
 
 In these introductory remarks it is wished, even at the risk of travelling over ground already de- 
 scribed by others, to give a resume of what has been done already, and, with the view of meeting a 
 demand often made by persons not familiar with the mode of construction of our Round Towers, it, 
 is also proposed to give some notices on this part of the subject, illustrated by reference to the 
 accompanying sectional drawing of the fine specimen still remaining in a nearly perfect state at An- 
 trim. 
 
 These towers, then — we quote from Dr. Petrie," — " are rotund, cylindrical structures, usually taper- 
 ing upwards, and varying in height from fifty, to perhaps one hundred and fifty feet ; and, in external 
 circumference, at the base, from forty to sixty feet, or somewhat more, b They have usually a cir- 
 cular, projecting base, consisting of one, two, or three steps, or plinths, and arc finished at the top with a 
 conical roof of stone." In the example to which the accompanying illustration refers, the writer had an 
 opportunity of examining the pinnacle stone, the parts of which have been carefully preserved by the 
 proprietor of the building, since it was struck off some years ago by lightning. It is a circular 
 piece of porphyry, perforated in the centre to receive another stone, which likewise still remains, being 
 shaped to fit the cavity, and drawn to a point at the opposite end so as to give sharpness to the cone. 
 A different mode of finishing the building may have been adopted, perhaps in other towers ; but it 
 seems improbable that the architects should frequently have surmounted them with a monolithal cross, 
 as suggested by Dr. Petrie. The towerof Hythe Church, in Kent, of which we shall give a wood cut, 
 might certainly have carried such an addition ; but, in some examples of Irish towers (of course so many 
 have lost the top that it would bo impossible to establish a general rule) this would have been imprac- 
 ticable. In one instance, to be afterwards mentioned, the writer had an opportunity of examining the 
 fragments of one of these conical roofs, which showed that the cone had been constructed by placing 
 an osier frame-work of the desired form on the walls of the tower : this, when encrusted with a thick 
 
 "Transactions of lioyal Irish Academy, volume x.\, o Hire Dr. Petrie has the following words, which are 
 
 page 357. omitted as not agreeing with the writer's own experience; 
 
 bThe proportions are referred to in a very curious he does not, however, mean to assert that the learned 
 
 extract trom the Brehon laws, given by Dr. Petrie, at author has made the statement without sufficient evi- 
 
 pasre 3b'l cl his Inquiry, to which we shall afterwards dence,— " which, frequently, as there is even/ reason to believe, 
 
 refer. terminated with a cross formed of a single stone. "
 
 * DA 
 
 \XHL>Grtt 
 
 body of concrete, could carry the layers of thin stone forming the exterior, but would not have sus- 
 tained the pressure of a cross on the apex. 
 
 " The wall, towards the base, is never les3 than three feet in thickness, but is usually more, 
 and occasionally five feet, being always in accordance with the general proportions of the building, 
 In the interior they are divided into stories, varying in number frum four to eight, as the height 
 of the Tower premitted, and usually about twelve feet in height. These stories are marked either 
 by projecting belts of stone, set-offs, or ledges : or holes in the wall to receive joists, on which 
 rested the floors, which were almost always of wood. In the uppermost of these stories the 
 wall is perforated by two, four, five, six, or eight apertures ; but most usually four, which 
 sometimes face the cardinal points, and sometimes not. d 
 
 " The lowest story, or rather its place, is sometimes composed of solid masonry: and, when not 
 so, it has never any aperture to light it,. e In the second story the wall is usually preforated by 
 the entrance door way, which is generally from eight to thirty feet from the ground, and only 
 large enough to admit a single person at a time.' The intermediate stories are each lighted by 
 a single aperture, placed variously, and usually of very small size ; though, in several instances 
 that directly over the door-way is of a size little less than that of the door way, and would 
 appear to be intended as a second entrance." s 
 In the Memoir of Mr. Telford, h the celebrated engineer, the writer, when referring to that gentle- 
 man's plans for Irish works, introduces some interesting remarks on the Irish towers, which, as coming 
 from the pen of a practical man, are considered of sufficient interest to be extracted. Some of the 
 views of this writer are new, and his speculations cannot be considered out of place iu any attempt to 
 give a summary of the various opinions expressed on the subject. — 
 
 " Nothing in the history of masonry is more instructive than the duration of the Tri>h 
 Round Towers, which will illustrate the excellent principle adopted by Mr. Telford ; more- 
 over they afford early instance of erecting such lofty buildings from within (avoiding the 
 expense of scaffolding) as has recently been practised with decided economy in constructing 
 steam-engine chimneys. 
 
 «' An Irish Round Tower, in some instances, exceeds 100 feet in elevation ; and they may 
 be said to average at 90 feet. Their outward circumference is about 45 feet at the base, 
 where the thickness of the wall is from 3 to 4 feet, lessening upwards in a due degree to 
 the summit. The expense of such an edifice (if now built) would not exceed <£300 or £400. 
 
 d In the two perfect Towers of Ulster, Antrim and the solid base is concerned 
 Devenish, then* are only four apertures in the upner f When describing the Ulster towers thehefeht of the 
 
 story ; and, in Tory, which is nearly perfect, the number doorway will be given, 
 s 'ins to have been the same. g Dr. Petrie. 
 
 e This does not apply to the Ulster Towers as far as i, Note at page 42.
 
 " About 120 of these towers are known to have existed in Ireland, and 90 of them still re- 
 main in various stages of decay, with the exception of a few still perfect to the very coping- 
 stone of the roof. These slender edifices (some of them) have withstood the wind and the 
 rain and casual injury, during 1,000 years; for, although the too frequent exaggeration of 
 Irish antiquaries and historians has created very general incredulity, and in consequence, 
 inattention to what is really true of the Western Island, and of its comparative civilization 
 at an early date, it is highly probable that these towers were built in the course of the 500 
 years preceding the Norman conquest of England : that they were Christian edifices, and 
 in reality the bell-towers of ancient churches, is proved by their constant connection 
 with ruined churches and ancient burial-grounds in Ireland ; and, in Scotland — which received 
 Christianity from Ireland — the church of Brechin affords an example of a Round Tower 
 annexed to the south transept, and now entered from it. Over the original entrance of 
 this tower (closed with masonry when the church was built, and another door-way made) 
 is sculptured, in rude relief, the Virgin Mother and her Babe. 
 
 " The origin of these Towers is from the Greek. Church ; and the Turkish disciples of 
 Mahomet adopted them under the name of Minarets, as convenient for the same purpose 
 of summoning the faithful to prayer ; substituting merely the well-trained voice of the 
 Mollah for the small bell, not permitted by their religion. In the decline of the Constanti- 
 nopolitan empire, and long before the Turcoman invaders approached the capital, civilized 
 occupations fled before them, and Greek architects were employed to adorn Italy with the 
 magnificent churches and bell-towers of the middle ages. 
 
 " St. Mark's, at Venice, and its adjacent Campanile, are perhaps some of the earliest pro- 
 ductions of the Greek fugitives, who afterwards, in the confidence of their art, not only 
 built Round Towers in Italy, but even built some of them purposely aslope from the perpen- 
 dicular ; thus striking the mind of the beholder with an incongruous sensation of the known 
 fact of their long duration and the appearance of immediate downfall. 
 
 " There is no difficulty in supposing that some of the emigrant Greeks were attracted by 
 the fame of Ireland, — then the learned and the pious, — to settle there, and imitate, in suitable 
 manner, the parish churches of their native land in the East. Egypt, the most conspicuous 
 member of the Greek Church, was not likely to be deficient in religious edifices; and the 
 most famous of her sainted hermits is distinguished as Simon Stylites, from his ascetic re- 
 sidence on the top of a pillar, — in fact a Eound Tower, connected with religious purposes. 
 All things considered, in a subject confessedly obscure, the best conjecture will perhaps at- 
 tribute the date of the Irish Round Towers to the four or five centuries of which the reign 
 of Charlemagne may be taken as the middle point.
 
 " The duration of these slender Towers is worthy the attention not only of the antiquary 
 but much more of the architect. The first element of superior durability is seen in the large 
 solid basement or substruction, which was almost unavoidable from the position of the door- 
 way at some distance from the ground ; nor could the small diameter of the interior have 
 admitted the entrance of timber spars for successive ladders, unless thrust upwards from a 
 surface lower than the doorway. Among the 90 towers, which, in various states of decay, 
 are still extant in Ireland, there are probably various specimens of the builder's art ; the 
 generality consist of that kind of careful masonry, called "spawled rubble''; in which 
 small stones shaped by the hammer (iu default of suitable stones at hand) are placed in 
 every interstice of the larger stones, so that very little mortar is intermixed in the body of 
 the wall, which is raised stage by stage of convenient height ; the outside of spawled ma- 
 sonry especially presenting an almost uninterrupted surface of stone ; supplementary splin- 
 ters being carefully inserted iu the joints of the undried wall. 
 
 " The seemingly rude coverings of these towers are perhaps the best — that is, the most 
 durable — ever devised by human wit. The arch, familiar to the Greeks of the Lower Em- 
 pire, could not be introduced where lateral abutment was impossible ; and timber support 
 was out of the question : so that the overlapping of flat stones consolidated by mortar into 
 a hollow cone, was perhaps the only resource ; and a few of these stone roofs still remain 
 surmounted by their cap-stone. A civil engineer, much connected with Mr. Telford's oc- 
 casional missions to Ireland, has remarked, that the four windows (or narrow loop-holes) 
 of these Towers, near the summit, very exactly accord with the four points of the compass ; 
 but some of the Towers have no more than two such windows ; some more in number than 
 four." 
 Dr. Petrie states " that spawled is also the style of masonry of the most ancient churches ; but, it 
 should be added, that in the interior of the walls of both, grouting is abundantly used." " In some in- 
 stances, however," he continues, "the Towers present a surface of ashlar masonry, but rarely laid in 
 courses perfectly regular, both externally and internally, though more usually on the exterior only; 
 and, in a few instances, the lower portion of the Towers exhibits less regularity than the upper parts." 
 AtDrumlane, the writer considers it proper to remark, the reverse of Dr. Petrie's statement is ob- 
 served ; for, in that instance the lower part of the Tower is composed of ashlar of excellent workman- 
 ship, while what remains of the superstructure is of the very commonest rubble-work, so that it presents 
 the appearance of the upper portion being a much more ancient work than the lower; and, if the 
 parts were reversed, the general opinion would be, that a more highly civilized people, not wishing to de- 
 stroy an old work, had continued it in a superior style. At Devenish, certainly the most elaborate 
 work of this kind in the Province, there is an excellent example. The stones seem to have been dresse 1 
 on the spot to suit the very situations in which thoyareplaced, and the ashlar masonry hasnot been carried
 
 c 
 
 up in regular courses ; but the stones are laid as best suited the builder's convenience, and proof is given 
 of his having been no mean workman, in the great skill displayed in adapting the materials furnished to 
 him to their positions in the edifice. Thus, in some places it happens, that one large mass of the 
 sand-stone employed occupies so great a space that two or three courses of stones, of the ordinary 
 size used, have been built in before the work was again brought to a level ; and in other cases, where 
 a course was incomplete, and he did not wish to introduce a small stone, a large block in the next 
 course was dressed so as to have a projection on its lower surface of the proper size to fill up the 
 vacancy. The interior of this tower is as regularly dressed as the exterior, and has been happily 
 enough described by Archdall as resembling the smoothness of a gun barrel. 
 
 The doorways and openings of the Round Towers present varieties of construction which will 
 be described hereafter; the former, it may be added, are cither semicircular or square headed, and 
 the latter, according to circumstances quadrangular, or arched, or pointed. 
 
 On the subject of Round Towers everything written, previous to a comparatively recent period, 
 was vague and unsatisfactory ; and the determination of their uses aud periods of erection had not 
 been arrived at. It was on this account, therefore, that the Royal Irish Academy, with 
 a view to the decision of all the questions connected with them, offered the prize for the best 
 essay on this subject, which, after mature deliberation, was awarded, in 1833, to the eminent anti- 
 quary, Dr. Petrie. The first part of his admirable work has been published, and the literary world 
 are anxiously expecting its completion. The same competition elicited a singular, though talented, 
 essay, afterwards published by its author, Mr. O'Brien, in which these towers are considered as 
 monuments of a peculiar Eastern superstition, and had the further effect of re awakening enquiry 
 into the proofs adduced in favour of the Pagan or Christian origin. 
 
 It would be impossible, in the confined limits of a memoir such as this, to follow the different 
 writers who have discussed the subject of Irish Round Towers through the course of reasoning they 
 have respectively pursued ; bnt, at the same time, it seems advisable briefly to notice the theories 
 that have been advanced on the subject from time to time, — a task of some difficulty from the manner 
 in which they are intermingled: those who profess to hold similar viewsbeing not unfrequently found 
 in the position of antagonists, as in the case of the advocates of a Pagan Eastern origin, who differ 
 in opinion as to the purpose of the buildings themselves, which is in reality the more important 
 question. 
 
 THEORIES. 
 
 An unnecessary complexity in the consideration of this question has arisen from the attempt made 
 by enquirers (believing the principle of imitation so strong in human nature that mankind are al- 
 ways copying from some previous model) to trace every building to some type ; while in fact it is much
 
 more probable that the circumstances of the individual, or tribe, or nation, have directed in a particular 
 line the tendency at all times exhibited by human intelligence to perpetuate the memory of remark- 
 able events by monuments more or less elaborate in form, and to testify its veneration for a superior 
 existence by the erection of altars. Hence, no doubt, we have the earthen mounds so common in 
 all parts of the old and new worlds, and of which numerous examples still remain in Ireland • hence 
 also, the Cromleach, the rude altar-tomb, and, as civilization advanced, the more perfect buildings 
 which evidence a high constructive skill. 
 
 Of stone works two great divisions present themselves ; those that may be considered the earlier, 
 such as the Cromleach, the pillar-stone, the cairn ; in which the materials are held together by their 
 own gravity without cement ; and the later, to which the term of " fabric" is more properly confined 
 inasmuch as the use of cement forms a distinguishing feature in their construction : for the artisan 
 had then discovered that by using smaller blocks with cement, an erection equally durable, and of 
 more finished outline, could be built with less expenditure of time and labour than in those works 
 to which the term Cyclopaan has been, perhaps too loosely, applied. In the former case the inhabi- 
 tants of a country seem to have contributed, either voluntarily, or under the coercion of a despotic 
 government, their mere physical force to effect a purpose ; in the latter, the influence of mind be- 
 comes apparent, and a class of operatives present themselves (the Goban Saers of Irish tradition) 
 having as their province to embody the feelings of a community somewhat advanced in its social 
 views. 
 
 It is not denied that all men are of one blood ; but it is not a necessary conclusion that, from age 
 to age, as the human family extended its branches, each new colony was a mere copyist of some 
 older people : ou the contrary, it is more reasonable to believe that, with the same general powers of 
 mind, more or less developed, and more or less influenced by local circumstances, each people 
 adopted customs for itself. Nor is it remarkable that reasoning beings should so act : for we find 
 that even the instincts of the inferior animals are in like manner influenced by circumstances ; of 
 which many remarkable examples might be adduced. This tendency of the species to perform, under 
 similar circumstances and at the same stages of civilization, certain acts, to use the same m terials, 
 aud to form their implements of like shape, deserves the serious attention of every inquirer into the 
 history of human progress. The brazen spears of Homer's heroes are almost repeated in the bronze 
 arms found in Ireland. The flint arrow-heads found in such vast quantities on the fields of Ulster are 
 perfectly identical with those discovered from one extremity to the other of the great American conti- 
 nent- The same may be said of the stone hatchets found in Ireland, and those still used in New Zea- 
 land, which it is often impossible to distinguish from one another. Indeed there is no better method 
 of determining the uses of ancient Celtic implements, than to ascertain how the uncivilized man of the 
 present day uses his. Captain Thomas Graves, R. N., saw the natives of Tierra del Fuego in the actual 
 process of manufacturing their flint arrow points : and Mr. G. A. Thomson, in the extensive collection
 
 presented by him to the Belfast Museum, included the very tools which he saw used in the fabrication 
 of stone hatchets ; so that, should similar tools at any time be found in our own country, it will not be 
 difficult to determine the use to which they were originally applied. It i3 not, however, a necessary 
 conclusion that this similarity is the result of imitation. 
 
 The discussion respecting Round Towers (which are generally admitted to be genuine Irish works) 
 may be considered as confined to the question of their Pagan or Christian origin — under one or other 
 of which heads all other questions relating to them may be arranged. There is, indeed, a class of 
 writers who believe them to have been erected by the Danes, but not with the view of the celebra- 
 tion of Christian rites. 
 
 The Danes, in the estimation of the uneducated Irish, appear to have succeeded the giants as 
 wonder-workers; and they have thus presented an easy solution to every antiquarian question : for it 
 was quite sufficient to attribute to this remarkable nation every work of whose erection no record 
 existed. Hence they have received the credit, not of the Hound Towers only, but of every earthen 
 mound met with in this country. This might, perhaps, appear to be not an unreasonable view for the 
 ignorant to take, were it not that the Danes are at the same time looked upon, and certainly with 
 more probability, as destroyers of every work of peace existing in the countries they ravaged. Nor is 
 this view confined to Ireland : it is proved by the history of the sister island, where the memory of 
 this remarkable people is always associated with the idea of destruction. It has been asked 
 why they should have spared the Round Towers, which are known to have existed at the 
 time of their several invasions ? To some this appears a diificult question :— it may be 
 solved however, by the reflection that, the destruction of these buildings at the moment of conquest, 
 was not a very easy performance, and it may be supposed that they were afterwards found 
 convenient for the conquerors themselves as places of defence. 
 
 The Phoenician or Eastern origin of these buildings is the first which presents itself for conside- 
 ration, at least in as far as those supporters of it are concerned who consider them Pagan, and sup- 
 pose as such that they were fire-temples, or connected with Druidical observances, or used for astro- 
 nomical purposes, who may be considered as one class ; while a second confine their views to the 
 theory of O'Brien, who supposes them to be Phallic emblems connected with Buddhist worship. 
 When the Christian theory is under consideration it will be seen that some of its advocates also 
 endeavour to show a resemblance to ecclesiastical buildings in the East. 
 
 Dr. Petrie in his great work (to which every inquirer in this field of Archaeology must now make 
 frequent reference) assumes General Vallancey as the great originator of the first class of views, and 
 proceeds, certainly in a masterly manner, to disprove the reasoning on which that enthusiastic, but at 
 the same time unguarded antiquary has built his theory, Into a brief notice like this it is impossi- 
 ble to condense the statements of the disciples of this school ; which is the less to be regretted as 
 Dr. Petrie has given up a considerable portion at the commencement of his volume for this purpose:
 
 9 
 
 and it must bo confessed that the thread intended for our guidance through the mazes in which we 
 find ourselves involved when we endeavour to follow the arguments of those theorists, is of such un- 
 equal texture, and so changeable in its hue, that the result is dissatisfaction — certainly not convic- 
 tion. If such would be the reader's feelings when having nothing before him but the case of the 
 supporters, it is difficult to resist the reasoning of Dr. Petrie, which is calculated to convey to an un- 
 prejudiced mind the conviction that Yallancey altogether failed in establishing his favourite theory. A 
 resemblance to the minarets of the East, or the mere fact of the ancient Persians and Irish having been 
 fire-worshippers, does not show that the Round Towers were fire-temples. The present writer does 
 not pretend to be capable of examining the conjectural etymologies, taken from the Persian lan^ua^e, 
 produced in support of this theory, and can only regret that some oriental scholar, with the additional 
 light thrown on such enquiries since the General's time, has not taken up this branch of the subject ; 
 for it may be that errors as important have crept into this part of the argument as are shown to have 
 occurred with regard to the meaning of Irish words. 
 
 It is only an act of justice, however, to remind the reader that facilities for accurate investigation 
 have been greatly increased since the General wrote his papers in the ' Collectanea De Rebus 
 Hibernicis," and that in the case of reference to Irish records he may have been deceived by per- 
 sons on whose judgment he relied : it is indeed probable that an officer having public duties to per- 
 form could not acquire a very critical knowledge of the Irish language as spoken and written at vari- 
 ous periods ; so that Vallancey may have been thrown under tie influence of Irish scholars possessed 
 of little judgment, but with just enough of learning to aid in the support of an hypothesis that had 
 taken urm hold on his mind. It must also be recollected that the affinity between the Irish and San- 
 scrit languages, since so fully established by Pictct, afforded some plausibility to hisviews. Had such men 
 asDr.O'Donovan and Mr. Eugene Curry been at hand to direct General Vallancey in his investigation of 
 the Annals and the ancient authorities, he might have been prevented from committing many of the errors 
 charged against him. Indeed we may pardon themistake of the Saxon when wefindour own countryman, 
 Dr. O'Conor — certainly an eminent Irish scholar — blundering, as he is shown to have done, in his 
 translation of some Irish passages connected with the subject of the Round Towers : for perhaps there 
 is not to be found in any literary controversy a more complete exposure of error than Dr. Petrie's 
 refutation of his explanation of the words " Fidh neimhhedh" on which the supporters of the Pagan 
 theory have so broadly built. It is true that O'Brien also exposes Dr. O'Conor's mistake as " a 
 conjecture of the most lunatic ostentation;" but he himself produces a translation, more ingeni- 
 ous perhaps, but equally erroneous. 
 
 The writer has considered it just to defend General Vallancey from the sweeping charges often 
 made against him. His faults were in some measure those of the period iu which he lived ; and any 
 one who recollects Dr. Maitland's exposure of the loose mode of quoting authorities observable in
 
 10 
 
 the histories of Hume, Robertson, Henry, and others, will do well to pause before joining~in a 
 wholesale condemnation of Vallaneey. 
 
 It is impossible here to analyze the extraordinary work of O'Brien, which must be read in full to 
 be appreciated. It certainly does not bring conviction to the mind of the accuracy of the 'opinions 
 advocated ; but it must always hold its place amongst Irish archaeological books as one displaying 
 great, it may perhaps be said, misapplied, talent: still it is difficult to deny that it is a work which 
 few men could have written ; and we cannot avoid the expression of regret that so gifted an indivi- 
 dual should have been cut off in early youth, and not have survived until his views were rounded 
 into form by attrition with those of more experienced enquirers. 
 
 Ecclesiastical Theory. — Dr. Smith, so well known by his topographical histories, supports this view ; 
 and, as reference is often made to him, and particularly to his statement respecting Irish MSS. mentioning 
 the Towers, it is thought right to quote the very words : — " I was formerly of opinion," he says, " that 
 they were built for the residence of anchorites ; aud this conjecture was founded from such kind of 
 pillars having been erected in the Eastern countries for the reception of monks, who lived on the 
 top of them, as is mentioned by Evagrius in the life of St. Symeon the Stylite, so called from his 
 livinc in a pillar forty years, as Petrus Galesinius reports. Aud it seems probable that our Irish 
 Asceticks had the models of these buildings originally from Asia, which they early visited, as 
 appears from several lives of the Irish saints ; but the use to which our ancient Irish MSS. put^these 
 Towers was to imprison penitents. Some of our writers have named them Inclusoria, and Arcti 
 Inclusorii Ergastula — ' The prisons of a narrow enclosure ;' particularly in the life of Dunchad 
 O'Braoin, abbot of Clonmacnois, into which prison, it is said, he betook himself, where 
 he died in 987.* The Irish name for a penance is Turris, i.e. the Laiin name for a 
 ' Tower,' derived from penitents being imprisoned in them. And 'tis no less certain that 
 all the Irish ecclesiastical words are directly taken from the Latin, as Temple, Aglish, 
 Ashley, &c, from 'Templum,' ' Ecclesia,' ' Episcopus,' &c. The MSS. add, that these penitent s 
 were placed on the top of the tower, and, having made a probation of a particular number of days, 
 according to their crimes, they were admitted to descend to the next floor, and so on, till they came 
 to the door, which always faced the entrance of the church, where they stood aud received the abso- 
 lution of the clergy and blessings of the people, as some of our Irish MSS. particularly relate. In 
 an ancient Irish MS., containing some annals of Munster, there is mention made of the building 
 of the Tower of Kineth about the year 1015, soon after the celebrated battle of Clontarf." 
 
 The above extract is taken from the History of Cork. In the History of Watcrford we find the 
 
 *Mr. Eugene Curry, a very high authority, holds the same opinion as Dr. O'Donovan (see Dr. Petrie's work, 
 p. lix.,) that Dr Smith was deceived in this matter, and had not seen any M.SS. It is also to be observed that the 
 expression used is very vague, aud leads to the inference that the information was derived through a second per- 
 ton.
 
 11 
 
 following remark respecting the Ardmore tower : — " It has, no doubt, been used for a bellfry or 
 steeple, there being towards the top not only four opposite windows to let out the sound, but also 
 three pieces of oak still remaining, on which the bell was hung. There are also two channels cut 
 in the cill of the door, where the rope came out, the ringer standing below the door withoutside. . 
 
 The roof is pyramidal, being of stone very well cut and closely jointed 
 
 together, being as white and fresh as if but newly done On the top a kind of 
 
 cross, like a crutch, still remains." 
 
 Mr. Harris, another distinguished Irish writer, had previously compared the Round Towers to 
 pillars in the East used for penitential purposes ; and, in confirmation, stated that a tradition 
 existed of an anchorite having lived on the summit of Drumlaue tower, in the county of Cavan, 
 " which retained the name of Cloch-ancoire, or the stone of the anchorite."* Mr. Peter Cullinson, 
 in the first volume of the Archceologia, has repeated Dr. Smith's views of the Towers being intended 
 for places of penance ; and also mentions that Sir Thomas Molyneux supports the idea of the 
 Towers having been belfries. Hs further quotes the allusion made by Smith to Irish manuscripts. 
 
 The paper of Mr. Oollinson is combatted in the succeeding volume of the same work by Mr. 0. 
 S. Drereton, who, in communicating the result of personal examination, denies that the Irish 
 Towers give an indication of having contained any floor except the one forming a room within ten 
 feet of the top. He seems to lean to a belief of the Pagan origin theory ; for, although he considers 
 the buildings as constructed by the Irish, he at the same time looks on them as belonging to an age 
 which preceded the use of bells. He considers the Towers rather as ancient Irish than as either 
 Pictish or Danish. He had seen Aberuethy Tower in Scotland, and objects to the opinion of Gor- 
 don that it is a work of the Picts. " What reason there is," he remarks, " for such a conjecture, I 
 do not see : I rather think we may conclude, when the Irish made their incursions into Scotland, 
 they built two towers there, after the model of so many they left behind them in Ireland. However 
 I deem their antiquity greatly to precede the use of bells, — cast ones at least, — in that country ; and, 
 from their situation near churches, and having a floor and windows only at the top, I verily believe 
 their principal use to have been to receive a person to call the people to worship with some wind 
 instrument, which would be heard from a much greater distance than small uneast bells possibly 
 could." He gives his own experience of a similar custom in Holland, and further suggests (as was 
 the practice at one time in Wales,) that a watchman may have stood in the Tower during Church 
 service to guard the houses of the people and their property in their absence. Earl Morton and 
 Bishop Pocock (this writer states) agree with him. " so he is not singular." He does not give any 
 credence to the " Ergastula" theory. 
 
 * The writer is not aware of this tradition existing at present. lie recollects, when pursuing his enquiries at 
 Drumlane, I eing shewn what was said to be the remains of a cell, .at some distance from the church, wherein tia- 
 dition said a recluse had at some period resided.
 
 12 
 
 It is almost unnecessary to remark that Mr. Collinson could not have examined the interior of the 
 Hound Towers with much attention, otherwise he would have observed the evident indications of a 
 preparation for floors at regular intervals ; unless indeed he considered these as signs of landing-places, 
 and does not acknowledge as regular floors the stages for supporting the ladder that led to the sum- 
 mit.— 
 
 In a later volume of the same work the Reverend Thomas Harmer published some notices of these 
 Towers, where, after mentioning the difficulty of arriving at a conclusion, he quotes from a modern 
 Greek author, Signor Lusignan, the description of a square Tower connected with a religious edifice in 
 the Holy Land, called the monastery of Saint Sabba, of which he procured some further particulars from 
 the author himself. 
 
 " On the outside of the wall " (the statement proceeds,) and on the west (of the monastery) 
 is a square Tower of three stories, and of twelve yards in diameter, in which two or three her- 
 mits shut themselves, who live in a very austere manner. — On the upper story is a bell, which, 
 whenever any visitors come from Jerusalem, is rung to give notice to the door-keeper of the 
 convent for their reception. — The entrance into it is by a large stoue staircase of fourteen steps, 
 and is distant from the walls of the tower about twelve feet. On the top of the staircase is a 
 drawbridge which communicates with the door of the tower, and to which chains are fixed on 
 each side, and it is hoisted up from the inside of the door and never let down except necessity 
 requires." 
 The bell mentioned (this the writer seems to have discovered by communicating with the author 
 quoted from) is not in the Tower, but in the monastery itself. Signor Lusignan does not recollect 
 any other example in that country, or anywhere else, except on Mount Athos.* 
 
 Sir Richard Colt Hoare, in his tour in L-eland, in 1806, expresses his opinion " that these singular 
 buildings were erected about the same time as the stone-roofed chapels, and that they were the work 
 of the Irish." Of course it may be understood from this quotation that the writer, who is no mean 
 authority, adopted the opinion of Gerald Barry, that they were ecclesiastical. A later English tourist, 
 Mr. Robert Gregg, advocates the same views in his paper published some years ago in the Manchester 
 Transactions. 
 
 Mr. Wilkin?onf is an advocate of the Christian theory, and believes the idea of the towers was de- 
 rived from the Continent. " The Round Towers of Ireland," he remarks, ''which, iu the singu.- 
 
 '*" In the whole of Christiana there is one Church and one Tower ; and in that tower there are four windows to 
 the four quarters of the compass. At ever} quarter of an hour, through the day and night, a man pops his head 
 out of one window or another, and sings out of each,—" Hear! ye people :" — and than tells them what quarter of 
 an hour it is. Solitary confinement iu the Hotel de Scandinavie.lwith that tower before one, and that voice resound- 
 ing in one's cars, must have a fatal result."— [Miss Banbury's Lifr m Sweden.'] 
 
 t Practical Geology and Ancient Architecture of Ireland, p. G<>, et i
 
 13 
 
 larity of their design and peculiar constructive arrangement, are monuments of which Ireland may be 
 justly proud, were erected by the early Christians, and were constructed chiefly for the purposes of 
 affording to them both personal security and safe depositories for the treasures of the church. With 
 regard to the constructive peculiarities of the Round Towers, it is first intended to show that they 
 possess features decidedly in common with the architecture of the Norman period under which de- 
 signation is embraced the architecture of the Lombards and Normans before remarked on • it is more 
 particularly entitled to the name of Norman, from their occupying the country nearest to the 
 British Isles, which was the high road from Rome, and it was chiefly through that source that our 
 architecture has been derived, although the priests may have emigrated from the Eastern or Western 
 Empire. The chief peculiarity of the Norman architecture is the circular form of the arch ; in arched 
 edifices the doors are much elaborated by repeated columns and successive arches, narrowinc in 
 width as they recede into the wall : the character of the masonry is also that of squared masonry, 
 with horizontal courses and vertical joints, where the stone admits of working." 
 
 Mr. Wilkinson then goes on to point out the prevalence of the circular-headed doorway as in 
 favour of his view, and that " the masonry in several of the structures is of the exact character pe- 
 culiar to Norman buildings." — " A more conclusive argument, and one that is more evident to the 
 general reader, is, however, the elaborated execution of the masonry in some of the doorways, dis- 
 playing some of the finest examples of Norman architecture and construction, and of a character 
 exactly similar to that of the doors of later churches in the localities of these buildings, whose con- 
 struction in the style of Norman architecture, I presume, is not to be disputed." A reference is then 
 made to the elaborately designed doorway of Timahoe Tower, of which a drawing is given, and to the 
 doorway of Killeshin church "at no great distance;" also to the entrance to Kildare Tower, which 
 is figured as " another fine example of Norman architecture." 
 
 Mr. Wilkinson has not succeeded, it will perhaps be generally admitted, in establishing the really 
 important question of how the design of the Irish Tower originated ; nor has he produced any 
 proof that they are not an original design of the Irish themselves. That in after ages this may 
 have been improved on, is a very probable circumstance, and no doubt resulted in such works as 
 Timahoe, or Kildare, or Devcnish ; and it is not difficult to understand that the Irish ecclesiastics, 
 who carried their national form of Tower into Scotland, may have consented to changes of detail ia 
 the ornamentation to suit the taste of an age posterior to that in which the primary design had its 
 origin, though they, at the same time, from custom used the prescribed form of their own country. 
 
 It is almost unnecessary to remark that Dr. Petrie considers these buildings ecclesiastical, 
 serving the joint purpose of belfries and "keeps, or places of strength in which the sacred utensils, 
 books, relics, and other valuables, wpre deposited, and into which the ecclesiastics to whom they 
 belonged could retire for security, in case of sudden predatory attack." Two cases arc mentioned
 
 14 
 
 in the subsequent pages, which may be considered as bearing on this view of the question : the 
 superior construction of the lower part of the Tower at Drumlane, and the secret chamber in the one 
 
 at Tory. 
 
 The writer's attention was a few years ago attracted to the peculiar form of a stair-tower, in the 
 ancient church of Hythe, in Kent, by his friend Captain Hardcastle, who was much struck, on 
 comin" to this country, by the resemblance of the Irish Towers to one familiar to him in England. 
 By the politeness of Alfred Burgos, Esq., the eminent engineer, the following particulars have been 
 obtained respecting this Tower, as also the drawing from which the accompanying wood-cut was made. 
 
 "Yesterday I paid a vieit to Hythe from Dover, and without much difficulty found the object of 
 my enquiry ; the position is precisely as shown upon the sketch, being at the N.AV. angle of the 
 chancel. The external appearance you may judge of by the enclosed sketch ; the masonry is similar 
 in character to that of the church — ruhhle ; the mortar forming a large proportion of the mass. The 
 roof is also of rubble masonry ; there are the remains of a thin projecting course where the roof 
 
 Illili 
 
 
 leaves the upright of the wall ; this may have been a moulded course. One small window U shown in
 
 15 
 
 the sketch; and on the opposite side is a narrow slit or eyelet hole for the admission of light and 
 air : — so much for the exterior. 
 
 " The lower part of the turret (I mean that portion below the roof 
 of the church, is square upon plan, looking like a great pier or but- 
 tress in the church. The interior of the turret is circular, about 
 4 feet 9 inches in diameter : entered from the church by a narrow 
 doorway level with the pavement, a stone stair (a common turn- 
 pike stair, with stone newoll) leads up to the roof over the chancel, 
 at which level there is a doorway similar to the one below- The 
 inside masonry is of the same description as the outside ; the thick- 
 ness of the wall about IS inches. The roof inside is circular or 
 domed, with cut stone cross-ribs; the part between is rough stum] 
 and mortar. 
 
 '' The stair-ease originally led to the rood-loft, the doorway to which is now filled in ; a few steps 
 up another doorway communicates with the triforium, and, a few steps higher, opens to a passage 
 over the chancel arch, where originally a window had been opened looking into the chancel. This 
 passage, no doubt, also communicated with the triforium on the south side of the chancel. 
 
 " From the above I think there can be no doubt of the original use of this part of the building, 
 viz.,- — a stair-tower, of which most good churches had one, and many two. In some churches they 
 formed a marked feature in the elevation, being raised above the roof and finished crochets, &c. 
 
 " The stone steps, I have not the least doubt, were put in at the time of building ; the lower ones are 
 the most worn, having been used (as the man who attended me observed) the most, being the way to the 
 rood-loft. This part of the church (the chancel) is a very interesting example of the "first pointed." 
 The east window is very good."* 
 
 Within the last few years the sepulchral origin of Irish Round Towers has excited some 
 interest; having been taken up vigorously in this country by the South Munster Antiquarian 
 Society of Cork. Ardmore, in the County of "Waterford, was the first of these structures 
 examined by this body, and in it the remains of two skeletons are reported to have been discovered. 
 At Cloyne, in the County of Cork, three others were found ; and at Roscrea several fragments, 
 but no distinct skeleton. In all these cases a flooring of lime or concrete was found over the 
 remains ; and in Ardmore and Cloyne Towers, a stone floor lay beneath. In the anxiety, however, 
 to ascertain the simple fact of the use of the towers as burial-places, little importance appears to 
 
 * A Round Tower is figured, in architectural works, in connexion with Beckley church, in Oxfordshire, having a 
 close resemblance to the Irish buildings. Little Saxham church, Suffolk, has also a truncated Hound Tower ; this, 
 however, is built of flints, and in this respect differs essentially front any in this country.
 
 16 
 
 have been attached to the preservation of the bones themselves ; and it is a subject of much regret 
 that in all these investigations the archaeological value of human remains found in such remarkable 
 situations was overlooked, as from the absence of this additional information the iuterest arising from 
 the inquiry is much diminished. 
 
 The accompanying lithographic illustration is a facsimile of a rude drawing on a map preserved 
 in the State Paper Office. It offers a reply to an argument used by Dr. Petrie, Dr. Wilde, and 
 others, against the views of the supporters of the " sepulchral" theory, to the effect that Towers 
 may have been erected within burying-grounds, and that either the human remains were thrown into 
 the buildings, long after their erection, or that the builders, with a proper reverence for the dead 
 when erecting a Tower in a burial-ground, instead of disturbing existing remains, included them 
 within the walls. In the course of the present notice it is proposed to adduce other reasons against 
 the views just referred to ; it is, therefore, only necessary to note here what appears to be shown 
 by the drawing, namely, that there was a period when Clones Round Tower was not surrounded, 
 as at present, by a buryiug-ground, and that in the reign of Elizabeth it stood detached from all 
 other buildings. It has a further interest : for it shows that while the parties who prepared the map 
 for the English Government marked correctly the uses of other buildings as ecclesiastical, their own 
 experience did not Lad them to infer that the Round Tower there shown was a belfry, and that they 
 did not receive any such information from the inhabitants. This seems a fair inference from the 
 fact of its being named in the map " a watch tower." 
 
 Within the presont year (1854) additional interest has been given to the subject of Round 
 Towers by the publication of some researches in the Greek islands by Captain Thomas Graves, of the 
 Royal Navy ; and a very valuable communication in the Transactions of the Royal Society of Litera- 
 ture, from that gentleman and Colonel Leake, is at press. The writer has to acknowledge the politeness 
 of the latter gentleman, who has sent him drawings of two Towers nearly perfect, one in the is- 
 land of Naxos, the other in the island of Andros, and of the remains of another, showing the en- 
 trance to a similar building in the island of Siphnos. The following notice is found in the proceedings 
 of the Society just mentioned, under date 8th March, 1854 : — 
 
 " Mr. Vaux read a paper, communicated by Colonel Leake, V.P., illustrative of some drawings, 
 forwarded to him by Captain Graves, R.N., of ruined Hellenic Round Towers, still existing in the 
 islands of Andros, Ceos, Cythnos, Scriphos, Siphnos, Naxos, and Paros. In a letter addressed by 
 Captain Graves to Colonel Leake, he notices their resemblance to the Round Towers of Ireland. 
 The Irish Round Towers," he adds, " when perfect, are generally from 70 to 100 feet in height, and 
 from 50 to 60 feet in circumference. Pyrghi in the Greek Islands — those of Andros and Naxos, 
 for example — are about 60 feet high, and generally exceed the Irish Towers in circumference by 
 about 40 feet." Colonel Leake remarks that, though remains of Pyrghi are found in many parts of
 
 17 
 
 Greece, it is extremely rare to meet with them in a state of preservation so perfect as those described 
 by Captain Graves; and that they are seldom so near to one another as they appear to have been in 
 Siphnos, where they were evidently intended for the defence of the silver mines, for which that 
 island was celebrated. It is probable that in Ceos, Cythnos, and Seriphos they were used for the 
 same purpose ; these three islands being apparently the summit of a ridge, in continuation of the ar- 
 gentiferous mountain Laureion, in Attica. In Seriphos, traces of ancient mines were noticed by the 
 surveying officers. The drawings were accompanied by a brief memoir on each of the islands. 
 
 Having thus briefly glanced at the principal opinions advanced regarding the origin of the Irish 
 Hound Towers, it may be remarked as worthy of notice that all the writers on this subject seem to 
 have overlooked the fact of the extraordinary similarity existing amongst the buildings themselves : a 
 similarity certainly not observable in Christian churches and spires, nor, as far as the writer is 
 aware, even in the minarets and mosques of the Mahometans, to which latter they have been 
 often compared. In other countries of Europe a diversity of style is very observable : and a similarity of 
 character, if prevailing at all, is generally confined to a limited district. In the case of the Irish 
 Towers a remarkable family likeness is preserved throughout ; and, whether they are found in the 
 more fertile districts, or in the barren plains, or almost inaccessible islands, the general character never 
 varies. There seems little doubt that some cause for this similarity existed in the early ages of Irish 
 civilization ; and it is not improbable that the inquiry now carrying on respecting the Brehon laws 
 will enable archaeologists to solve this difficulty. Dr. Petrie, at page 391 of his work, so often referred 
 to, gives a very interesting extract from a "fragment of a commentary on a Brehon law, relative to the 
 payment of artificers forthe erection of three chief buildings which are usually found grouped together in 
 ecclesiastical establishments, namely, the Duirthmch, DaimMiag, and Cloictlieach." This leads to the 
 inference that the plan of such buildings was an established rule not likely to be departed from : and 
 it seems not improbable that the Irish, being fondly attached to the memory of the first missi, n 
 aries who had introduced Christianity amongst them, endeavoured to conform to apian originally 
 adopted under their instructions ; for that they were very tenacious in maintaining their own view s 
 is fully borne out by the eeclesiastical history of the country. Of this the discussion respecting the 
 time of holding Easter is a familiar example. It may also be the case that the number of small 
 churches sometimes found clustered together arose from a desire to maintain the ancient form and 
 size even when additional accommodation was required; so that, instead of rebuilding and enlarging 
 the original edifice, they preferred erecting another small one in its vicinity. 
 
 The Danish element, which eventually became so important in the population of Ireland, seems to 
 have paved the way for great changes in the national church, by connecting itself with the English 
 establishment rather than by conforming to the rules of the Irish clergy : and from this period the Pa] al 
 influence appears to have gradually increased, until it was finally confirmed by the Norman invaders.
 
 18 
 
 Less than half-a-century before this event, Malachy, Bishop of Down, and afterwards Archbishop of 
 Armagh, exerted all his influence in favour of the newly introduced system; and it is stated in his 
 life that one of the objections made to his innovations was the changing of the form and size of the 
 ecclesiastical buildings. The English invaders, therefore, seemed to have found the Irish church in 
 a transition state ; and we may suppose that all their prejudices were enlisted against the ancient 
 primitive Christianity of the Irish ; so much so that ecclesiastics, like Giraldus Cambrensis, were loath 
 to acknowledge the Irish clergy as members of what they called " the Church." For it is a singular 
 fact, that the expression used by this author in reference to the Round Towers does not occur in 
 his account of the country itself; but when recording a superstition of the fishermen at Lough Neagh, 
 ■who were so precise in their description of a submerged city as to describe its Round Towers, which 
 the natives considered ecclesiastical, but to which Giraldus with his Norman prejudices would not of 
 himself perhaps have applied this expression, as he probably did not consider them the ecclesiastical 
 buildings of a true Church. 
 
 The circumstances which led the writer of the present article to direct his attention to the subject 
 of the Ulster Round Towers were the following : — 
 
 The Rev. Horatio Maunsell (the incumbent of the parish, where it is situated) having at the sug- 
 gestion of a friend in England determined to excavate the interior of the Round Tower of Drumbo, 
 in the Co. of Down, the writer along with the late William Thompson, Esq., received an invitation from 
 the proprietor of the estate, Robert Callwell, Esq., to be present ; and his attention having been thus 
 directed to the subject, and his curiosity excited by the result, he was induced subsequently to ex- 
 amine the other Round Towers of Ulster. 
 
 Mr. J. Grattan, of Belfast, who on several occasions, assisted in these investigations, has 
 agreed to prepare a notice of the human remains found in several of these buildings, which, 
 it is hoped, may prove interesting at a period like the present when the history of the human 
 family is considered so important a branch of study. The drawings and illustrations were most of 
 them executed by Mr. Burgess, of Belfast ; those of the skulls having been reduced to a scale with 
 extreme accuracy by means of a camera lucida. The originals have been placed in the Museum of 
 the Belfast Natural History and Philosophical Society, where they are preserved for the inspection 
 of scientific persons, and where they formed part of the great Exhibition of Irish Antiquities during 
 tin' Meeting of the Brititish Association in 1852. 
 
 The subsequent notices of the different Towers will be given in the order in which they were 
 examined. The writer takes ihis opportunity of stating emphatically that no injury whatever was 
 caused to any of these remarkable buildings by his investigations. On the contrary, Antrim Tower,
 
 19 
 
 one of the most perfect, has, perhaps, been saved from destruction ; as the dangerous state of its 
 foundation, made manifest during the examination, might not otherwise have been discovered until 
 too late. The proprietor of the building, G. J. Clarke, Esq., at once ordered the necessary repairs, 
 which were executed according to the instructions of C. Lanyon, Esq., C.E. ; who has thus been en- 
 abled to add many years to the probable duration of the THE CLUICTIIEACII OF AOND11UIM. 
 
 Sculptured over the Door of Antrim Tower.
 
 . 
 
 
 . 
 
 S£ H i 
 
 pfp 
 
 
 > 
 
 
 "^ao 
 
 /.rf/' 
 
 i l'« 
 
 jt *'" 
 
 M 
 
 / Ay////r. y/ ;/////// 
 
 :^yy
 
 NOTICES OF THE ROUND TOWERS OF ULSTER. 
 
 DRUM BO, -COUNTY OP DOWN. 
 
 What Joes not fade ? The tower that long has stood 
 The crush of thunder, and the warring winds, 
 Shook by the slow but sure destroyer, Time, 
 ~Sow hangs in doubtful ruins o'er its base.—AkaTititle. 
 
 HE remains of the Round Tower of Drumbo — 
 DRUIMBO, Collum lovis, "ox-hill"— consisting 
 of a portion of the shaft, about thirty-two feet in 
 height, — stand in the ancient burial ground of the 
 parish, where, it is said, some foundations of the 
 former ecclesiastical structure remained a few years 
 ago. In the " Ecclesiastical Antiquities of Down, 
 and Connor and Dromore" the taxation of Pope 
 Nicholas recites, as contained under the deanery of 
 Dalboyn, in the diocese of Down, the Church of 
 Drumboo a with its chapel. " This deanry is called 
 Dalvanie in tho Terrier, and Drfuin in the Ulster 
 Visitation. The name occurs also in the " Trias 
 Thaumaturga," where Colgan, speaking of Tulach- 
 ruise (Tullyrusk) states it to be in the diocese of 
 Connor and " in decanatu Dalmunensi." — P. 182, 
 col. 2 — ra.199. Also, where he describes Lann- 
 abhaich (Glenavy), as a parish church of the same diocese " in regione Del-niunia? in Dalaradia." — 
 
 „ Drumboo— Now the parish of Drumbo Ord. Sur., ss. 9, 15. In the life of St. Patrick, which is contained in the 
 
 Book of Armagh, as also in that written by Probus, this name is expressed by the Latin words Collum bovis— Reeves, 
 p. 44 n.— A religious house existed here at a very early period. St. Mochnmma, abbot of Drumbo, was, according 
 to ^ngus the Culdee, brother of St. Domangart, whose death is placed by the Calendar of the Four Masters at the 
 year 506. In the same Calendar, the names of Luighbo and Cumin occur at the 24th July and 10th of August, in 
 connexion with this church Dr. Beeves' Ecc. Antiq., p. 45 n.
 
 22 
 
 f,. 183, col. 1., n. 209. And again, when treating of Magh-Conimuir (Muckamore), he places it 
 " fa regione Delmunioe" — p. 183, col. 1, «. 211. This ecclesiastical district, which embraced a tract of 
 country lying on either side of the river Lagan, from Spencer's Bridge, near Moira, to theDrum Bridge, 
 near Belfast, borrowedits name and boundaries from Dal mBuinne, ('the portion of Buinn') an ancient 
 civil sub-territory of Dal-Aradia, which was so called from Buinn, whose father, Fergus Mac Roigh, 
 King of Ulster, was dethroned in the year B.C. 12. It is represented by the modern rural deaneries 
 of Hillsborough and Lisburn. b The chapel, formerly called St. Malachi's of Crumlin (cruim glheann) 
 "crooked glen" is now in the parish of Hillsborough. " The Chapell of St. Malachias (situate 
 on the church land of Crumlin, near Hillsborough, and being really no distinct parish ) was a part 
 and parcel of Drurabo." — Letter of Archdeacon Matthews to the Bishop of Derry, 1703. The old 
 building occupied part of the present pleasure-ground of Hillsborough demesne, and the place of the 
 cemetery was pointed out by an aged willow-tree, which was blown down in the storm of the 
 night of January 6, 1839, and exposed in its roots several human bones, among which the fibres had 
 insinuated themselves. The site had been changed in 1662 (not in 1636 as is stated in Archdall's 
 Lodge, vol. 2. p. 325), and the new church was consecrated the same year. The present church, 
 which is a monument of the munificence of its founder, was built in 1773, at the sole cost of Wills, 
 Earl of Hillsborough. d By the charter of James I. the rectory and vicarage of Drumbo, with Hills- 
 borough, were placed in the corps of the Archdeaconry of Down. It is probable that the rectory was 
 at the date of the Taxation appropriate to that dignity. e 
 
 The following is the taxation — " The church of Drumboo, with the chapel, 3 marks. Tenth 4s. 
 The vicar's portion 20s. Tenth 2s." In the record of the See Estate of Down, given by Dr. 
 Beeves, mention is made of Drumbo with twelve carucates of land — " Item Drumbo cum duodecim 
 carucatis." The Inquisition 17 James I. (Dr. Reeves adds in a note) finds that " the twelve towns 
 of Drumboe are not, neither have been, in the possession of the Bishop of Down, within the memory 
 of man. Jurors say that the twelve towns are spiritual lands." 
 
 The same Inquisition finds that the four towns of Blaris, namely, Blaris, Shiane, (now Ballintine), 
 Ballemanelisbery, alias Taghebrack (now Taghnabrick), and Doiimcagh (now Duneight), are parcel 
 of the possessions of the See. All these lands in Clandermot and Dalboyn, with the exception of 
 Dundesert, Mileac, and Drumbo, were set in fee-farm by Bishop Todd, and are the property of Lord 
 Hertford, for which he pays to the Bishop the annual sum of £44 6s. 2d. — [Report of 1833, pp. 112- 
 113]. f 
 
 In the King's Books, in the taxation of the See, we find — 
 
 " Terrae de Dromboe LXs. B 
 
 b Reeves, p. 44. 
 
 <= Ord- Sur., ss. 14, 21. Down. " Crumlin, membrum Archidiaconatus, parcella de Drumbo "—Reg. Vis., 1633.— 
 Dr. Reeves' Ecclesiastical Antiquities. 
 d Reeves, p. 45. ' Reeves, p. 46. 'Reeves, p. 172. b Reeves, p. 174.
 
 When King James I. created a new Chapter in 1609, for the diocese of Down, which had been 
 without one from the time of the Reformation, Drutnbo was one of the benefices appropriated to the 
 Archdeacon. h 
 
 Dr. Reeves has doubts of the entry in the Calendar of the Four Masters applying to the place now 
 in question, and in the appendix to his work he considers the entries by Colgan, ascribing the foun- 
 dation of Drumbo to St. Patrick, as applying to some place near Downpatrick.' The event in the 
 Saint's life mentioned by Colgan, and found in the Book of Armagh as well, is of high interest as 
 an indication of the strictness with which the father of the Irish Church insisted on the observance 
 of the Lord's Day ; abstaining from travelling himself, and preventing others from labouring at their 
 accustomed tasks- 
 
 ^Engus, the Culdee, in his tract on the mothers of the saints of Lreland, refers to a place named 
 Drumbo, evidently not the one now under consideration : — 
 
 " Derinilla, of the four provinces, was mother to Saints Domangart, son of Euchody, and Aillean, 
 and Aidan, and Muran of Fahan, and Mochumm of Drumbo, and Cillen of Achadhcail in the terri- 
 tory of Lecale, on the shore of Dundrum bay." k 
 
 Two festivals are noticed in the calendar of the O'Clery's in connexion with the abbey of Drumbo, 
 viz., — July 24jth, Lughaidh of Drumbo ; August 10, Cumin, abbot of Drumbo in Ulidia. 
 
 In the secular history of the country the references to Drumbo are few : one of some interest is 
 found in a tract upon the princes and families of Dal Fiatach, taken from Duald Mac Firbis's genea- 
 logical work. Bee Boriche had twelve sons, viz., — Edirsgal, from, whom the clann Edirsgel ; Con- 
 cobar, son of Bee, from whom O'Dachua, that is, Dachua son of Concobar, son of Bee; Ceallagh, 
 son of Bee, from whom the clann Ceallaigh (clann Kelly) at Drumbo. 1 The Slut Kellies occupied 
 the greater part of Comber and Tullynakill. On Nordeu's map the name Kellies is laid down in the 
 situs of Combar, and Slid Kellies a little W.S.W. of Drumboe. Jobson's map places the Kelles be- 
 tween Castlereagh and Dufferin, on the East and South, and Slut M e O'Neale and Kiuelarty on the 
 West. The family was originally settled near Drumbo. m 
 
 In the year 1003 a battle, according to the Four Masters, was fought between the men of Ulidia 
 and Tyrone, at a place called Craobh Tulca, (Creeve Tully) that is, ' the tree on the hill.' The 
 wounded Ulidians fled to Duneatiiacii (Duneight, in the parish of Blaris?) and Druimbo (Drumbo, 
 the adjoining parish). In 1099 another battle was fought between the same parties at the same 
 place, where the invaders gained the day, and afterwards cut down the Craobh, or ' tree,' which was 
 probably one under which the prince of the district was inaugurated. — (See A.D. 1111.) The name 
 is mentioned again at 1148, in connexion with the same parties, and from the narrative it would 
 
 t Reeves, 178. i Reeves, p. 358, 359. 
 
 1 Reeves, 235. ■" Reeves,348 
 
 k Reeves, 236.
 
 24 
 
 appear that the place lay towards the north of the modem County of Down, somewhere in Castle- 
 reagh." 
 
 According to the Ulster Visitation-book, preserved in Trinity College, Dublin, the tower of 
 Drunibo was in a ruinous state as early as 1622. Though forming part of the Rector's freehold, tho 
 church-yard is now in the occupation of the Presbyterian parishioners, who have built their Meeting- 
 house on this site, the church of the Establishment being at Ballylesson. In the same neighbour- 
 hood are two other remarkable monuments of antiquity ; — the Giant's King, and the vitrified fort on 
 Tullyard hill. The notice of this tower by Harris, in his ' County of Down,' who describes it in 1744 
 as being in a state not different from what it now appears, shows that its dilapidation occurred a 
 century at least before the present time. 
 
 The following dimensions will be found accurate : — circumference at the base, 51 feet 4 inches ; 
 diameter at the base, 16 feet 4 inches ; thickness of the wall, 4 feet-, from the present level of the 
 ground to the bottom of the door, which is quadrangular, 4 feet 8 inches ; height of door, 5 feet 7 
 inches : width of door, 1 foot 8 inches at bottom, and an inch less at top. The initial letter taken 
 from a drawing made by Mr. J. W. Murphy, exhibits the quadrangular doorway. Dr. Petrie has 
 also delineated it with his usual accuracy. The material, however, used in the construction is not 
 " the limestone of the country," but the greywacke of the neighbourhood, and Ae dimensions 
 given above are more correct than those contained in his work. 
 
 The examination of the tower of Drumbo occupied three days, the 27th, 28th, and 29th Decem- 
 ber, 1841, and was directed by the Rev. Horatio Maunsell, the present incumbent, and Mr. Durham, of 
 Belvedere, who carefully noted the most minute particulars. On the last day, when the human re- 
 mains were discovered, the late Mr. Thompson " and the writer were present. 
 
 For a depth of two feet, earth mixed with fragments of bones and portions of charcoal was thrown 
 out, together with stones bearing marks of fire. The bones were evidently an accidental accumulation 
 from the burying ground, and the stones were of the common greywacke or clay slate of the County 
 Down, the material used in the construction of the tower. Marks of fire similar to those they pre- 
 sented are observable on the interior of the building itself, and this slight superficial vitrification is 
 noticed by Dubourdieu in his Survey, published in 1802, where he remarks — " At some former time 
 very strong fires have burned within this building, and the inside surface towards tho bottom has the 
 appearance of vitrification." These marks seem quite accidental, being most probably caused by fires 
 lighted by children or persons taking shelter in the tower, to which also the charcoal may be ascribed ; 
 those on the stones, still forming part of the structure, are observable on the side opposite the door — 
 the most likely position for a chance fire ; and similar marks were not noticed on the part laid baro 
 
 "Reeves, p. 342 n.— Four Masters at the year.— see vol. I. 
 President of the Belfast Natural History and Philosophical Society.
 
 25 
 
 by the excavation, nor to any height on the walls. The stones thrown out, it may be added, had 
 formed a very small part indeed of the portion which has fallen. O'Brien, in his work, combats the 
 idea of Fire Worship, insinuated by Dubourdieu, and imputes this appearance of vitrification to acci- 
 dent. " I cannot but here too," he says, " express more than a surmise that it was not ' the Sacred 
 Fire,' which, when religiously preserved, was not allowed to break forth in those volcanoes insinu- 
 ated, but in a lambent gentle flame, emblematical of that emanation of the Spirit of the Divinity in- 
 fused, as light from light, into the soul of man." Such a view seems correct. Mr. O'Brien has a 
 further allusion to this vitrified appearauce of Drumbo tower, but, by an extraordinary error, he 
 transfers the tower to the site of the Giant's Ring, that remarkable vestige of antiquity in the same 
 county, at a few miles distance. In combating the argument in favour of the Christian origin of 
 these towers, deduced from the fact of known ecclesiastical edifices being generally found in their 
 vicinity, he says : — " But even this stronghold of the moderns I cut away from them by stating that, 
 at the 'Giants' Ring,' in the County Down, the indisputable scene of -primordial veneration, we have 
 an instance of a Round Tower without any church hard by ;" and while recalled by this circumstance 
 I must observe that the vitrification manifest within the walls of that structure arose from the burn- 
 ing of the dead bodies therein, and not from the indications of the Sacred Fire. Having already given 
 an opinion that these marks are unconnected with the uses for which the towers were originally in- 
 tended, whatever they may have been, it is only necessary to add that the stone is one easilv vitrified 
 by a. moderate application of fire, and is the same used, probably from this circumstance, as well as 
 for convenience, in the formation of the remarkable vitrified fort at Tullyard. 
 
 A quantity of lime rubbish, formed it was supposed from the ruins of the upper part of the build- 
 ing, was next removed. At the depth of four feet, the nature of the material changed to a rich 
 black mould formed of decomposed vegetable substances, having charcoal and bones intermixed ; 
 the bones being principally those of the lower animals; among others some boars' tusks and jawa, a 
 few short horns of oxen, and other remains of those animals, were distinguished by Mr. Thompson. 
 Below this stratum, which continued to a depth of about three feet, a very different one was reached 
 at a total depth of seven feet from the level at which the excavation commenced. It was similar to the 
 soil of the neighbourhood, and of a yellowish or light brown colour. This was covered, as far as could 
 be traced, by a slight coating of mortar about an inch in thickness. Almost immediately under this 
 floor, a human skeleton was discovered, extended nearly east and west : the head reposing at the western 
 side, and the opposite extremities lying towards the east. The skull was in a tolerable state of pre- 
 servation ; all the vertebrae remained in their places, the left arm only was found — both legs as well 
 as the right arm being wanting. In the earth the patella of one knee was found ; and parts of the 
 ribs as well as a portion of the pelvis were distinguishable. The writer has since met in other towers 
 with more remarkable examples of deficiency of parts than are here described ; and a similar obser- 
 vation has, it is said, been made in the case of bodies discovered in ancient scpulchures in Cornwall,
 
 26 
 
 and elsewhere. The interior diameter of the building, at the spot where the skeleton lay, is nine 
 feet ; and the body, which had evidently been interred with care, seems to have been laid at equal 
 distances, (supposing it perfect,) from the walls at head and foot, in the line of the diameter of the 
 tower. The lime floor appeared less perfect immediately under the door than at any other part ; it 
 is not therefore unreasonable to suppose that it had been disturbed by some former inquirer, with 
 views very different from those of an antiquary, and whose superstitious fears may have caused him 
 to abandon his search for treasure : still, however, there is a probability that a partial mutilation 
 had taken place at the time of interment. 
 
 No appearance of dress or covering of any kind accompanied these remains, which, fossil like in ap~ 
 pearance, lay imbedded in the soil. 
 
 The following measurements of the skeleton were taken as it lay before being disturbed : — from 
 the crown of the head to the knee, 4 feet 3 inches ; from the hip joint to the knee, 1 foot 10 inches ; 
 length of the vertebral column, 2 feet and half an inch : — or to put it more systematically — length of 
 the head and trunk, by measurement, 2 feet 5 inches ; femur or thigh bone by measurement, 1 foot 
 12 inches ; tibia, or leg bone, by calculation, 1 foot 5J inches ; os calcis, by calculation, 5J inches ; 
 giving as the probable height of the individual, 6 feet 2 inches. 
 
 Dr. Wilde, in his lecture on the Ethnology of the ancient Irish, delivered at the King and Queen's 
 College of Physicians, having referred to a cast of the Drumbo skull furnished to him by Mr. Grattan, 
 the writer avails himself of this opportunity of making a few remarks on his notice, which carries 
 with it deservedly a great weight, in consequence of the high standing of the lecturer in the lite- 
 rary and scientific world. At page 14, Dr. Wilde says, — " Here, however, is a very beautiful 
 cast of the skull found within the Bound Tower of Drumbo ; and the moment it was presented to me 
 I felt convinced that if it is of a contemporaneous age with the structure beneath which it was found, 
 then the Irish Round Tower is not the ancient building we supposed it to be ; for this, compared 
 with the other heads which I have laid before you, is of comparatively modern date. Now, nearly 
 all the Round Towers are in connection with ancient burial-places, and this one in particular was so ; 
 and I need only dig around and without it to find many similar remains. We read that the skeleton 
 was found at full length embedded in the clay, within the ancieut structure. Now I respectfully 
 submit it to the antiquarian world that if the Round Tower was erected as a monument over the 
 person whose skeleton was found within it, it certainly would not have been buried thus in the simple 
 earth without a vault or stone chamber, such as the enlightened architects who built the tower would 
 be thoroughly acquainted with. Moreover, I do not believe that a skull, thus placed loosely in the 
 earth without any surrounding chamber, would have remained thus perfect for the length of time 
 which even the most modernizing antiquaries assign to the date of the Round Tower." 
 
 The writer has no wish to enter into a controversy regarding the age indicated by the form of the 
 skull found in this tower, or inferred from its state of preservation. By so doing he would depart
 
 27 
 
 from the line already laid down for himself, and cease to be a simple recorder of facts, one of the 
 most important iu this case being that, under a lime floor, in the very lowest part of the tower, resting 
 on a portion of till, within the circle formed in digging the foundation, placed with care at equal dis- 
 tances from the walls, a skeleton was discovered to which the skull alluded to belonged, the princi- 
 pal bones of the body remaining in their proper positions. No one who was present, or who attends 
 to the detail of circumstances already given, can believe that these remains had been deposited here 
 without care or without design, or had been accidentally introduced from the adjoining burying- 
 ground. From the manner in which the skeleton lay, the inference seems in favour of these remains 
 being of an age contemporaneous with the tower, and that it was intended to mark respect for the 
 individual by interring him in this place. The duration of the skull of a body deposited, — not loosely in 
 the earth, but — compactly, and covered by a lime floor, may be difficult to calculate ; and perhaps it 
 is not easy to fix a limit in such a case, particularly when we reflect that, in all probability for cen- 
 turies after its interment, the tower was a building covered at top by a conical roof, and having a 
 strong door closing up its narrow entrance. Even after dilapidation had commenced, the fallen ruins 
 protected the lower part where the body lay. It may be added that the circular sides of the tower, 
 the hard clay surface below, and the floor of lime and concrete above, form a tomb, simple indeed, 
 but not more so than we might expect to find covering the remains of those whom a comparatively 
 rude people designed to honour. 
 
 On reaching Mr. Calwell's house, Mr. Thompson observed traces of hair on his shoes, which he 
 supposed had been mixed with the clay he trod on in the tower ; a nd Mr. Maunsell afterwards ex- 
 hibited a piece of very thin metal, having some appearance of a coin ; but so much corroded that a 
 proper judgment could not be formed respecting its character. p 
 
 pAt pages 209 to 228 of Dr. Petrie's book, so often quoted, is a very carefully written notice on the subject of an- 
 cient Irish coins. 
 
 [To be continued.']
 
 TRUMMERY, COUNTY OF ANTRIM 
 
 ' Though mean and mighty rotting, 
 
 Together have one dust, — yet Reverence 
 
 (That Angel of the World) doth make distinction 
 
 Of place 'twixt high and low." — Digbt. , 
 
 ERMISSION having been granted by the Rev. Robert Hill, 
 incumbent of the parish, to excavate the ruins of the Tower of 
 Trummery, the examination took place on the 4th of June, 1842> 
 in presence- of Mr. Hill and his sons, Mr. Godwin, C.E., Mr 
 Grattan, Mr. Rogan (the contributor of an article respecting this 
 tower in the Dublin Penny Journal), and the writer, besides 
 5 several inhabitants of the neighbourhood who felt interested in 
 the proceedings. 
 
 All that remained of this building was discovered near the north-east corner of a ruined church, 
 within the ancient burial-ground of Rathmesk " parish. In several respects the site is deserving of 
 notice. In the Record of the See Estates of Down, given by Dr. Reeves, b we find this parish recited : — 
 11 Item, Eathmesge cum duabus carucatis in temporalibus;" but it does not occur in any very old manu- 
 scripts, which leads to the inference that, ecclesiastically, it was not of ancient fame, nor of sufficiently 
 early foundation to bo noticed in the calendars. Its want of interest in connection with the early 
 Christianity of the country is in some measure compensated to the antiquarian by its being in the 
 vicinity of Moira, one of the classic spots of Irish Pagan history. The battle, described as having 
 been fought here in the seventh century, between Congal Claen and Donnall King of Ireland, is cele- 
 brated in a very curious historical romance, published some years ago by the Irish Archaeological 
 Society, which derives much additional interest from the topographical and antiquarian information 
 with which the learned Editor, Dr. O'Donovan, has enriched its pages. An ancient pillar-stone is 
 stated to have stood on the summit of the hill, supposed by some to have been erected over Congal 
 Claen, one of the heroes who fell on the occasion. Mr. Rogan, in a memorandum dated 8th Oc- 
 
 ' Kathmesk, now Magheramesk, a parish in the union 
 of Aghalee.— Ord. Survey, S.67, Antrim. The Terrier 
 gives the name in the form Ramisq, withoutjthe modern 
 prefix, In the townland of, Trummery is the church- 
 
 yard, with the ruins of the ancient church, measuring 
 51 by 14 feet.— Ecc. Antiq., p. 4; Taxation, the Church 
 of Rathmesk, i mark, Tenth 84 
 b Ecc. Antiq., p. 169.
 
 
 
 »« 
 
 .•J^WEsi 
 
 .*.. 
 
 ■ 

 
 c=0 
 
 [k?J] 
 
 O 
 
 
 feD
 
 29 
 
 tober, 1834, describes it as having been "incrusted with pray moss, and measuring about four feet 
 eight or ten inches in height ; on the side facing the north were four crosses neatly executed, three 
 of them being within a circle. On the opposite side a Urge cross was observable, also encompa 
 by a circle. With regard to the time, or by whom erected, tradition is quite silent ; but, that on 
 some occasions this had been used as a place of interment, there cannot be any doubt, as human bone-- 
 in a very decomposed state were often turned up. Report says that a former proprietor caused it to be 
 carried away and used in the arch of a lime-kiln ; but a mortality which exhibited itself amongst his 
 farm-stock having been attributed to this cause, the stone was restored to its ancient site." In (J I 
 1848, Mr. Rogau adds, u a few years subsequent to writing the above, this interesting relic was 
 wantonly, perhaps I should say maliciously, broken to fragments, and spread on the entrance into ;i 
 
 
 * 
 
 field ; an accurate drawing, however, was taken at one time by Mr. Alexander Colville Welsh, of 
 Dromore, in whose possession it may be seen. The eminence on which the stone stood was many fi i I 
 higher, it is said, ninety years ago, than at present, and was partly artificial. It has been sini 
 levelled in improving the farm. I am inclined to believe this is Tullough-na-Dalgan (Hill of the 
 Saints), mentioned in the account of the great battle of Magh Rath, fought in 636 or 637, when 
 the unfortunate (Jongal King of Ulidia, lost his life and empire the same day." c Mr. Welsh, 
 
 c The tradition is given as received, nor dees the resting to preserve Mr. Welsh's illustration; and. it 
 
 writer propose to account for the symbol of the cross maybe added, that Mr. Manna produces powerful ai- 
 
 employed. Tulchan na d-Tailgenn is the correct or- gumeiits, which he proposes t ■> publish, ignoring M.ui-a 
 
 Urography of "the hillock of the saints.'' It is inte- as lue site of this celebrated e igageipent.
 
 30 
 
 when applied to, forwarded the sketches made by him, from which the accompanying illustrations 
 are taken. The measurements were made by Mr. Welsh at the time, and he states, in a note re- 
 ceived from him, as follows : — " I remember when I made the sketch (such as it is), that the stone was 
 lvinc on the ground, and Mr. Rogan and I turned it over to see both sides. Had there been any 
 characters on it I would have certainly copied them ; but part of it may have been broken off, for 
 it had been brought from its original site to where it now lay." 
 
 From the moderate elevation on which the tower stood, the spectator looks down on the plain through 
 which the Lagan — theCasan Line or Logia of ancient writers— pursues its course from Slieve Croob 
 towards the Bay of Knockfergus — the Aoyia ixfioha,} of Ptolemy — the Loch Laogh of Reeves. An 
 ancient fort or rath stands to the north, and is the only work of antiquity, besides the rath of Moira, 
 observable in the immediate reighbourhood. It is worthy of observation, that in the romance just men- 
 tioned no reference is made to the tower; at a short distance, however, a pit of rich soil was cut through, 
 during the formation of the Ulster railway, supposed to have been caused by the decomposition of dead 
 bodies buried there at a remote period, and thus to furnish a proof of the battle as an historical event. 
 
 Mr. Rogan 's son, in the 4th volume of the Dublin Penny Journal, describes a cromlech in the 
 townland of Caimlochran, in this parish, beneath which, on its removal, three lunettes of gold 
 were discovered ; and also points out near Lady's-Bridge the site of another similar monument, which 
 was destroyed by the engineer who erected the bridge. At some distance from the rath of Moira 
 is the hill where the curious pillar-stone already mentioned stood, and towards the Lagan river 
 is observed a rath.— higher up the stream another rath, — and, not far from Magheraiiu, on the de- 
 clivity of a hill, an earth-work resembling an encampment. 
 
 No portion of the tower remained above the surface, and there was difficulty in ascertaining, from 
 the recollection of some old inhabitants, the precise spot where it had stood. The total destruction 
 of this building is one of many melancholy instances of the little care taken to preserve our national 
 monuments, many of which, after braving the perils of preceding ages, have been permitted to perish 
 within the present century. This tower is described by the Rev. John Dubourdieu, in his Statistical 
 
 J In a review of Dr. Reeves' Ecclesiastical Antiquities 
 in the University Magazine, Feb. 1848, it is remarked: — 
 "All local memory of this event (the battle) is now gone, 
 save that one or two localities preserve names connected 
 with it. Thus, beside the Kath of Moira, on the east, 
 is the hill of Cam Albanagh, the burial-place of the 
 Scottish princes, Congal's unties; and a pillar-stone, 
 with a rude cross and some circles engraved on it, tor- 
 merly marked the site of their resting-place. On the 
 other hand, the townland of Aughnafoskar probably pre- 
 serves the name of Knock-an-ohoscar, from which Con- 
 gal's Druid surveyed the royal army below on the first 
 morning of the battle. Ath Ornaidh, the ford crossed by 
 one of the armies, is probably modernised into Thorny 
 ford, or the river at some miles distance." 
 
 Dr. O'Donovan, in a note lately received from him, 
 
 says : — •' I always considered Trummery a modern term 
 derived from Trom — i.e. the elders, or bore-trees growing 
 upon the mound — Trom-Rath. There is another place 
 of the name in the west of the county of Clare." — 
 
 " Rathmesk is, of course, like Loughmesk, called after 
 an old Irish chief. I examined the localities of Moira. 
 rather minutely, in 1834, but have no recollection of any 
 remarkable names, or of any names preserving any me- 
 morial whatever of the great battle. I saw the sites of 
 several raths then lately levelled." 
 
 The reviewer in the University Magazine, speaking 
 of the round tower, adds the following inaccurate ob- 
 servation: — "Some of the Belfast antiquaries, we be- 
 lieve, expedited the fall of the upper portion of Trum- 
 mery tower by the ardour with which they prosecuted 
 their search for an interment beneath."
 
 31 
 
 y of the Courtly of Antrim, as standing at the date of its publication, 1812; and he gives a sketch, 
 -. idently far from correct, but showing that the conical roof was then entire. The building was 60 feet 
 high, but the exterior part of the stone-work at about one-third of the height, and constituting nearly 
 half the thickness of the wall, was completely destroyed. It fell in the year 1828, in consequence, it is 
 supposed, of the ivy, by which it was partially covered, having been cut away. A view taken by Mr. 
 Welsh, referred to in the succeediugparagraph, is the best authority remaining for its general appearance. 
 
 Mr. Rogan, who resides within a short distance of Trummery and is an accurate observer, has given 
 an interesting notice of this tower, accompanied by a wood-cut, in the Dublin Penny Journal for 
 Saturday, 21st Sept., 1833, only five years after its destructions He states the height at sixty feet, 
 and describes the roof as cupola-shaped, and turned on a frame of basket-work, forming the centering 
 for a dome of concrete, whereon thin flags of limestone, decreasing regularly in breadth from the wall 
 to the apex, constituted the external covering. During the present exploration several portions of 
 this roof, still retaining marks of the rods that had formed the centering, were observed, affording a 
 proof of the accuracy of Mr. Rogan 's statement. 
 
 The ground plan in the text explains the relative position of the ruin3 before the commencement 
 of the excavation ; it is drawn to the scale of one-sixteenth of an inch to the foot : — 
 
 G/fOt//VD P£A/V, o/ /'/////.I ,// 7'/////////,/// Cb. . I//////// 
 
 — ~—_ _^^. 
 
 . c 
 
 de= 
 
 e This tower, as all the drawings show, was injured 
 by removing the outer stones for buildings in the neigh- 
 bourhood. Dean Stannus, as agent for the Marquis of 
 
 Hertford, had determined on having it repaired, but un- 
 fortunately the work was delayed too long, and the 
 building fell some time in the year 1822.
 
 32 
 
 A.— representing the ancient Church of Truinmery ; 
 C — the site of the Round Tower ; 
 
 13 — the remains of a later building, which Mr. Hill stated was a sepulchral chapel erecled by 
 the Spencers, whose mansion-house still remains at a short distance. They possessed consider- 
 able property in this district ; and so far back as 1623 one of the family held a military command 
 in the immediate neighbourhood. This chapel is in an equally ruinous condition with the other 
 buildings. 
 
 D — marks the west window ; and 
 E — the chief entrance. 
 Before proceeding to mention the result of the investigations now detailed, it may be observed that 
 Mr. Rogan makes the following statement in the article already referred to : — " There were two 
 great entrances into the tower — the first a low, narrow, strong arch- way of red freestone, opening on 
 the south, through which you first enter the Church ; at the east gable a door led to the apartment 
 alluded to (.Spencer's Chapel), and from thence into the tower. The second entrance or doorway was 
 right over the arch-way, about five feet high by three wide, handsomely cased with yellow and red 
 freestone, at the height of six feet from the floor. The Church and Tower must have been built 
 about the same period, as large portions of the same freestone are indiscriminately used throughout 
 the work of both — 'the smaller pieces being used for what masons call " hearting the wall " 
 
 During the excavation the materials thrown out were evidently part of the ruins mingled with re- 
 mains of small animals which had constituted the food of owls that inhabited the tower. After 
 sinking two or three feet, a large black stone, resembling a rude step, appeared ; but persons who 
 had been familiar with the tower when perfect did not immediately recollect that it had contained a 
 stair. Two similar steps were soon uncovered ; and, as the inquiry proceeded, several others of 
 a better material (red sand-stone) and higher finish were discovered turning on a newell, which, not 
 being in the centre, showed that the stair had not continued beyond half a turn, and terminated at 
 the second door mentioned by Mr. Rogan. After uncovering seven steps the original floor of the 
 building was reached, and^ the stones of the walls seemed to project according to the usual form of 
 foundation observed in these edifices. An unusual character was now observed in the lower part of 
 the tower, for. instead of being circular it projected on the south side so as to form a rectangular 
 building like a porch. This had been originally closed at the outer extremity by a door, the jambs of 
 which still remained. Persons who, when they saw it uncovered, had an indistinct recollection of having 
 entered the tower by this passage, believe it was arched over, and that it was with difficulty they had 
 reached the lower step : this is easily understood, as the entire building must have been very con- 
 fined, the internal diameter of the tower being three feet eight inches, and the projection only measur- 
 ing six feet six inches by three feet five inches. The entire building seems to have been constructed 
 with outer walls of rubble-work, and a well-wrought interior facing of sand-stone.
 
 33 
 
 The peculiarity of form just described had been concealed in more recent times from casual ob- 
 servers by the erection of the Spencer Chapel against buildings of an earlier date, and thus Mr. Rogan 
 was not aware that the low, strong arch- way, through which he had so often passed into the tower, 
 projected several feet from the main building. The passage was necessarily low, as the second door, 
 described as being immediately over the first, was only six feet from the floor.' 
 
 The ground plan 1 shows the base of the tower, with the projection already described, and 
 a rude pavement that appeared when the whole was uncovered. This was formed by two large 
 stones covering about one-half of the space from the entrance to the first step of the stair, firmly 
 retained in their places by the side-walls of the passage, and jambs which were built upon them in 
 such a manner that they could not be removed without the destruction of the remaining portion 
 of the building. The space immediately between them and the first step was not found 
 paved, but there is little doubt that one or more similar flags must have been removed therefrom ; 
 and this opinion was confirmed, in some degree, by several old persons who were present, and recol- 
 lected having, in their youth, ascended in this way to the great door of the tower. 
 
 Advantage was taken of the breach in the pavement to continue the excavation, when it appeared 
 evident that the ground here had been moved, at some former period, as deep as the original soil — 
 about two feet and a half below the floor ; and by means of the opening thus made the clay under^ 
 the stair was afterwards removed, which, it was evident from its texture, had not been disturbed 
 since the erection of the building. In this were discovered human remains ; — of these and their 
 position a particular note was made. In the first place a. small portion of a skull was observed, 
 and by proceeding with extreme caution, cutting out the clay in which it lay imbedded like a fossil, 
 what remained of it was procured, but so decayed, that it crumbled to dust when handled, so 
 that only a small portion of it could be preserved. It rested on its occipital protuberance, the 
 crown or apex lying towards the west, and the base, or spinal opening, towards the east, \\itli 
 the skull were found the atlas, or uppermost vertebra — a fragment of a rib, portions of a tibia and 
 fibula, or bones of the leg — five metatarsal bones and one phalanx, being part of a foot — a portion of 
 the under jaw and seven teeth, part of them " in situ" — all the bones being in a state of great decay. 
 
 It was now apparent that the tower, with its projecting entrance, was built over a rudely 
 formed sepulchral chamber, of which the position and general character are best shown by a refe- 
 rence to plan 2, where a cell, six feet six inches long, two feet three inches wide, and two feet six 
 inches deep, is exhibited, rudely constructed on the undisturbed till or sub stratum soil, having the 
 side-walls of rough undressed stones, put together without mortar, the floor neither paved nor flagged. 
 This receptacle of the dead at some period had been entirely covered : — the portion C, by the stairs, still 
 remaining; — G by one or more flags, supposed to have been removed at a comparatively recent date, 
 
 'The initial letter of the present chapter is intended to suggest — merely to suggest— the mode in which this 
 porch may have been originally finished.
 
 34 
 
 when the part it covered had been examined, previous to the present inquiry ; — and H and I by two 
 larn-e flit stones retained in their places by apart of the projecting building resting on them. Under 
 the stone marked FI were found a pelvis and spinal column ; part of a femur or thigh-bone, includ- 
 ing the neck and trochanter; a humerus or arm- bone ; a rib, and some undistinguishable fragments. 
 Assumin<* that the bones found are all of the same individual, it seems not improbable that other 
 portions of the skeleton may have been destroyed when the space G was disturbed, most probably 
 during the erection of the burial-chapel ; for it may be supposed that while the burial-place remained 
 perfect it was secured against intrusion, and the quantity of remains of small animals which covered 
 the floor, and almost buried the stairs, show that the tower had, in all probability, been tenanted by 
 owls for a long period previous to its fall. 
 
 Several points with regard to the remains thus discovered are deserving of notice, particularly the 
 position in which the bones were arranged. The cell is sufficiently long to have received a body deposited 
 in the usual manner ; but the bones found were laid transversely : the position of the skull has been 
 already mentioned ; the tibia lay beyond, having its upper extremity towards the east, and the skull 
 about the centre ; the spinal column lay across, and the pelvis against the western side ; the femur 
 lay with its upper extremity towards the east, its lower extremity towards the west; the bones of the 
 /oot and the ribs were placed irregularly. When the skull was first uncovered, a run of dry char- 
 coal, in very small fragments, perhaps what would have measured half a pint, occurred, which, on 
 examination, proved to be charred oats and barley ; a portion of a charred hazel-nut shell was also 
 found amongst the grains examined, but unfortunately the greater part was lost before its peculiar 
 nature was observed. Near the skull, a portion of iron without definite form was obtained, which 
 must have been introduced at the same time with the bone. Prom the position in which the remains 
 lay, it is evident either that the body had been barbarously dismembered, or that the bones had been 
 removed from some previous depository to be finally interred in this place. 
 
 It seems also reasonable to conjecture that the architect, in consequence of the limited circum- 
 ference of the tower, may have adopted the peculiar plan alicady described of attaching a porch-like 
 building (a restoration of which is attempted in the vignette), with a view of effectually protecting 
 the stone cell. A fact deserving of notice is, that the stairs, which, being firmly built into the walls, 
 could not bo removed without injury to the whole structure, form a part of the covering of 
 this sepulchre, which is only covered with flags on the part beyond the stairs. It is also 
 worthy of observation, that, where the rectangular cell under the tower extended, as shown 
 in the plan, somewhat beyond its circular wall, great care had been taken to secure this angle by 
 carrying up its side-wall with large stones without mortar, allowing every course to project inward 
 until narrowed, or " gathered'' (to use a trade term), so as to form a section of a rude arch or dome ; 
 a mode of masonry still practised in this country in covering wells. This dome was supported internally 
 by an equally rude pillar, the stones of which remained in their original position until the time of
 
 35 
 
 the present inquiry, when they fell down in consequence of the removal of the earth on which they 
 
 rested ; for there had been no means of withdrawing them after the completion of the building. As these 
 
 stones stood over the human remains imbedded in the clay, a most satisfactory proof is thus afforded 
 
 that no change in their position had taken place from the period of the erection of the tower till the 
 
 t hue of their removal. 
 
 The observations just detailed, made at the period of the first visit to Trummory, seemed so im 
 
 portant that it was determined to verify them by still further examination, and these interesting ruins 
 
 were inspected on several successive occasions. On one of these the writer was accompanied by Mr. 
 
 Joseph Huband Smith, of Dublin. Mr. Robert M c Adam and Mr. James Carruthers, of Belfast, all 
 
 careful investigators of Irish antiquities, as well as by Mr. George Smith, C.E., and Mr. Godwin, C.E., 
 
 who were joined by Mr. Rogan, and again made a minute examination of the ruins. At Mr. G . Smith's 
 
 suggestion (who was strongly impressed with an opinion that the tower could not claim an er.rlier 
 
 , . jo .£ t 'late than the ch arch), an extensive excavation was made at 
 
 the point of their apparent junction, and the result was, a 
 
 conviction on the minds of the parties present that certain 
 
 /" ^ circumstances pointed out by the engineers above-named 
 
 •\ WmML^sm -■' . ... 
 
 could not exist if the tower had been of earlier erection 
 
 than the wall against which it abutted. These were the 
 
 Hii folk wing : — that the masonry of the two buildings is not 
 
 bonded together, as would most probably have been the ease 
 had they been carried up simultaneously, although, from the 
 materials used and other circumstances, there may not have 
 been a long interval between their erection ; that the church had, to the height now remaining at least, 
 been built before the tower, which is proved by itswall being continued without a break its entire length, 
 showing at the junction a clean joint between, as if it had been built and faced in this part like its 
 other portions, and the tower afterwards built against it as shown in the sketch, where «. I>, represi nl 
 the wall of the church, and c shows the wall of the lower part of the tower abutting on it. Had the 
 reveise been the fact, it is evident that the tower must have been erected before the church. The j Ian 
 herewith is an enlargement of a portion of the ground plan already given, and is on the scale of one- 
 eighth of an inch to the foot. 
 
 The addition of the Spencer Chapel to the original building has evidently caused a considerable 
 change in the arrangement of this church. If the reader will imagine all the walls removed from 
 the angle at the S.E. end it will give a pretty good idea of the original design. The east end of 
 the church seems to have stood on the dotted line F, immediately behind the shaded foundation <"•. 
 which most probably represents the site of the chancel arch; the chancel itself had occupied thi 
 place between F and G. It would appear that, to form the burial chamber, the east end of the 
 church had been removed and the chancel arch built up.
 
 36 
 
 i 
 
 It is considered useful to add an 
 
 EXPLANATION OF GROUND PLANS 1 AND 2 OF RUINS OF ROUND TOWER. 
 
 A. Highest part of ruins of tower ; 7 feet 6 inches above remains of stone floor II and I. 
 
 B.— Ruins on a level with seventh step ; 4 feet 4 inches above remains of stone floor. 
 
 C Stone stairs, consisting of seven steps averaging 7 J inches in height ; 1, 2, 4, and 5, being of sand-stone; 3, 6, 
 
 and 7, of field-stones ; 2 and 7 are inserted into the wall, and built up with it. 
 D.— Newell of sand-stone 1 foot 9 inches high and 8 inches diameter. It is not situated in the centre of the tower, 
 
 being 2 feet 2 inches distant from its northern side and only 1 1 inches from its southern — which, with 8 inches, 
 
 makes the entire internal diameter of the tower 3 feet 9 inches. 
 E. — Western jamb, 5J inches wide. 
 
 E to F Western side of entrance, 3 feet 4 inches long. 
 
 (i — Cell or crypt extending under the stairs C, and part of the large stone II. That portion of it bounded by the 
 
 first step and the stone H had evidently been opened on some previous occasion, and was not covered with 
 
 flags or stones when examined. 
 11 & I Two large stone blocks forming part of the floor, and on a level with the foundation stones ; both extend 
 
 under the entire walls and form part of their foundation. 
 
 K Eastern jamb, 3 inches wide. 
 
 K. to L. — Eastern side of entrance, 3 feet four inches long. 
 
 M M M — Walls of tower, 2 feet thick. 
 
 The internal length of tower and projection, from commencement of entrance, is 10 feet ; diameter of chamber over 
 
 G, 2 feet 6 inches ; and over I, or entrance, 1 foot 9J inches. The building was carried up for some feet, as 
 
 in the plan; the entrance and chamber appear to have been then arched over, and the cylindrical structure 
 
 continued, as marked by the dotted lines, upon a portion of the arch.
 
 7 ' '
 
 THE ROUND TOWERS OF ULSTER. 
 
 CLONES TOWER, 
 
 In the map of ' : Dartrie " airea 
 figured in connexion with the Intro- 
 ductory Observations, the sites of seve- 
 ral remarkable ecclesiastical buildings, 
 including a round tower (which, ac- 
 cording to Dr. Fetrie's views, comes 
 under this denomination), are given ; 
 to al! of these it will be necessary to 
 refer before noticing the examination 
 made of the Tower of Clones on the 
 5th September, ) 842. 
 
 Cluain-Eois (Clones), " the plain of 
 waters," is a place of ancient note in 
 Irish history, and probably derives its 
 name from being situated on a hill 
 which was partly surrounded by 
 water. The most ancient work 
 here is an earthen mound of 
 considerable size, " very 
 steep and rather difficult 
 of access, bein<* on the Jut 
 
 COUNTY MONAGIIAX. 
 
 summit of a considerable hill." X 1 1 i ~ is 
 shown on the left side of the Tower in the 
 rude map already referred to. 
 
 Clones acquired an early celebrity by the 
 residence of St. Tighernach, who here found- 
 ed a monastery in the early part of the 
 sixth century, and, in the words of the an- 
 nalists, "rested " A.D. 542. Dr. Reeves, 
 in his notes on the Annals of Ulster, gives 
 the following particulars of this religionist : 
 —" His life is printed by the Bollandists 
 from three MSS. at the 5th of April, his 
 festival. [April, Tom. i. pp. 401, 404.] His 
 father Cairbre was seventh in descent from 
 Daire Barrach, son of Cathaeir Mor, and 
 his mother Derfraych, of the family of 
 Cairpre Daimhargaid, King of Air- 
 ghialla. It is said that he was or- 
 dained Bishop at Kildare, by 
 St. Briirid's mandate. He 
 
 fe 
 
 s 
 
 lit, 
 
 founded the monastery of
 
 33 
 
 Galloon [Gaballinense monasteriuin] in Lough Erne, which he committed to St. Comgall when lie 
 departed to found his chief monastery of Clones. Ware states that he was also venerated at the 
 church of Derimoalain [Derryvullen, in Fermanagh] and that his office was preserved in S. Beliefs 
 Library at Cambridge. 
 
 " Here," (Clones) " there is St. Tierney's Well, and the abbey lands form what is called St. 
 Tieniey's manor. From a mistaken notion that the Irish had in primitive ages a succession of 
 Diocesan bishops, Irish writers have represented St. Tigernach (Tierney) as successor of St. Mac- 
 carthen of Clogher, and as transferring the see from that church to Clones." — [See Harris's Ware, 
 p. 177; Archdall, Monast. p. 5S2.] This is not a place for entering on the discussion of this 
 curious point of Irish history, which is so ably treated by Mr. King in his admirable work, A Memoir 
 Introductory to the Early History of the Primacy of Armagh ; and the writer will only add that 
 a curious example, in our own time, of the ancient custom of ordaining bishops unconnected with 
 dioceses is found in the fact that the Pope confers on each new abbot of St. Lazaro, near Venice, 
 the title and dignity of archbishop, although he has no province or bishops under him.* The we'll 
 called Tubber Tierney is still shown near the fort or earthen mound already mentioned. 
 
 The following entries with respect to the ancient ecclesiastical history of Clones, are found in Dr. 
 O' Donovan's edition of the Annuls of the Four Masters : — 
 
 - The age of Christ, 548, Saint Tighearnach, Bishop of Cluain-eois, died on the 4th April. [Under the same date 
 the Annals of Ulster record, Tighernach of Cluain-eois rested. This may be considered the most important 
 entry, as giving the death of the founder of the religious house.] 
 The age of Christ, 700, Diucuill, abbot of CluanEois, died. 
 The age of Christ, 714, Cele-Tighearnaigh [that is, servant of St. Tighearnach] abbot of Cluain-Eois, died. The 
 
 Annals of Ulster give this under the year 715. 
 The age of Christ, 741, Dubhdabhoireann Ua Beccain, abbot of Cluain-Eois, died. 
 The age of Christ, 7-Ki, Nuada, son of Dubhsleibhe, abbot of Cluain-Eois, died. 
 The age of Christ, 773, Finan, abbot of Cluain-Eois, died. 
 
 The age of Christ, 805, [rede 810], Gormghal, son of Dindaghaigh, abbot of Ard-Macha and Cluain Eois, died. 
 The age of Christ, 839, the eighth year of Niall.— Joseph of Kosmor, bishop, and distinguished scribe, abbot of 
 
 Cluain-Eois and other churches, died. 
 The age of Ciirist, 877, Duibhlitir, abbot of Cluain-eois and Tigh-airindan, died. 
 
 The age of Christ, 912, Maeleiarain, son of Eochagan, abbot of Cluain-eois and Mucnamh, died. He was fuster- 
 son to Fethghna. [In the Annals of Ulster (Cod. Clar.) this entry reads thus, as quoted by Dr. King, in his 
 Primacy, A.D., 914, [als., 913.] "Mael Ciarain Mac Eoehagain, prince of Clonauis, and Bushop of Ardmaeh, 
 in the 70th year of his age, dies in Christ.'" — Perhaps, however, it should be prince of Clonauis, [i.e., Clones] 
 and foster-son of Fethgiui, Bushop of Ardmaeh ; the error originating in a mistake of the transcriber ] 
 The age of Christ, 929, Ceannfaeladh, son of Lorean, Comharba of Cluain-Eois, and Clochar-niac-Dairnhoini, died 
 The age of Christ, 943, Maeltuile, son of Dunan, successor of Tighearnach, died. 
 The age of Christ, 956, Flann, son of Mochloiugseaeh, successor of Tighearnach di"d. 
 The age of Christ, 961, Caen-Comhrac, son of Curan, distinguished bishop and abbot of Cluain-Eois, died. 
 
 * Armenia, by the Hon. Robert Curzon. London: Murray. 1854 ; p. 229.
 
 39 
 
 The a»o of Christ, 978 (reete, 979) Rumann Ua h-Aedhagain, abbot of Clnain-Eois, di< .1. 
 
 Tin- age of Christ, 1010, (recfe. 101 1 ) Fiaithbheartach Ua Cethenen, successor of Tiirhearnaeh, a (venerable) - 
 
 and distinguished bishop, was mortally wounded by the men of Breifne; and he afterwards died in his .-> .i r, 
 church at Cluain-Eois. 
 
 The age of Christ, 1030, Eochaidh Ua Cethenen, successor of Tigharnacb, chief paragon of Ireland in wisdom, 
 died at Ard-Macha. 
 
 The age of Christ, 1039, Ceileachair Ua Cuileannain, successor of Tighearnaeh, died. 
 
 The age of Christ, 1084, Muireadhaeh Ua Ceithnen, Airchinneacb. of Cluain-Eois, died. 
 
 The age of Christ, 1095, Cluain-Eois burned. 
 
 The age of Christ, 1139, Cathal Mae Maelfhinn, successor of Tighearnaeh, of Cluain-Eois, fountain of the pros- 
 perity and affluence of the North of Ireland, bestower of food upon the laity aud the clergy, died. 
 
 The age of Christ, 1247, Hugh Mae Conchaille, abbot of Clones, died. 
 [On this name Dr. O'Donovan makes the following observation] : — " It is still extant ia the neighbourhood of 
 Clones, in the county of Monaghan and in the county of Fermanagh, but Anglicised by some to Woods, and by 
 others to Cox, because it is assumed that Caille or Coille, the latter part of the name, may signify of ,i > 
 of a cock. 
 
 The age of Christ, 12j7, Mac Robias, abbot of Clones, died. 
 
 Tin? a«ie of Christ, 1353, John O'Carbry, Coarb of Tighernach, of Cluain-Eois, died.— This person's name appears 
 inscribed on the Cumhdaeh, or case of S.dnt Patrick's copy of the Gospels given to St. Mac Carthi 
 Clogher.— [Trans. R. I. .1.] 
 
 The age of Christ, 1435, Donn, the son of Cuconnaught Maguire, died, in canonical orders, at Clones, after the 
 victory of penance, having retired from the world for the love of the Lord. 
 
 The age of Christ. 1444, Manus Mac Mahon, heir to the lordship of Oriel, died, and was interred at Clones. 
 
 The age of Christ. 1453. Mac Mahon, Hugh Roe, son of Rory, an affable and pious man, well skilled in each art, 
 distinguished for his prowess and noble deeds, died in his own house at Lurgan, (in the barony of Farney, t on 
 Easter night, and was interred at Clenes. 
 
 The age of Christ, 14S6, Philip son of the Coarb, (i.e., James son of Rury son of Ardgal) Mac Mahon a Canon 
 chorister at Clogher, Coarb of Clones, Parson of Dartry, &c, died. 
 
 The age of Christ, 1499, Mac Donnell of Clann Kelly, i.e., Cormac the son of Art, acharitable and truly hospitable 
 man, died, and was interred at Clones. 
 
 The age of Christ, 1502, James, son of Rury Mac Mahon, Coarb of Clones, died, 
 
 The age of Christ, 1504, Gilla Patrick O'Connolly (i.e., the son ofHenry) abbot of Clones, died, after having ob- 
 tained the bishopric of Clogher. (He died of the pestilence called cluichi in righ, i.e, the King's gain". ) 
 Rcry Mae Mahon, Vicar of Clones, died. 
 
 The age of Christ, 1506, Thomas Boy Mae Cosgraigh, Erenach of Clones, died. 
 
 The following entries, on account of their general importance, and being more full than those 
 
 usually found in the Annals, have been kept separate : — 
 
 The age of Christ, 83S. The fifth year of Mall Caille. Dubhlitir Odhar, ofToamhair, was taken prisoner by the 
 foreigners, who afterwards put him to death in his gyves, at their ships, and thus he fell by them ■ A B t ol 
 six'y ships of Norsemen on the Boyne. Another fleet of sixty ships on the Abhainn-Liphthe (Liffey). These 
 two fleets plundered and spoiled Magh-Liphthe (plain of the Liffey) anil Magh Breagh, (in Meatb), both 
 churches and habitations of men, and goodly tribes, flocks, and herds. A battle was gained by the men of 
 Breagh, over the foreigners in Mughdhorna-breagh (in East Meath), and six score of the foreigners were slain 
 in that battle. A battle was gained by the foreigners at Inbhear-na-mbarc (near Brai I, over ilTJthel i Neill, 
 from the Sinainn to the sea, where such slaughter was made as never before was heard of; however, the kings
 
 40 
 
 anil chieftains, the lords and toparchs, escaped without slaughter or mutilation. The churches of Loch-Eirne 
 
 were destroyed by the foreigners, with Cluain-Eois, and Daimhinis, &e. 
 The following notices of the castle erected by the English, and the English bishop of Norwich, 
 are found in the same work. Of this building some remains still, or lately, existed ; and some of 
 the inhabitants speak of extensive subterraneous passages occasionally observed, which are supposed 
 to have been connected with it. 
 The age of Christ, 1211. The Castle of Clones was erected by the English and the English Bishop, and they made 
 
 a predatory incursion into Tyrone ; but Hugh O'Neill overtook them, and routed and slaughtered them, and 
 
 slew among others Meyler the sun of Robert. 
 The age of Christ, 1212. The Castle of Clones was burnt by Hugh O'Neill and the men of the North of Ireland. 
 
 The writer has been thus prolix in the notices given of the early state of Clones, in consequence of 
 the position it holds (though apparently an unimportant place) in the general history of Ireland ; 
 indeed, were a monograph of it prepared, it might serve as an epitome of the entire history of the 
 country, both in its state of independence under its own chiefs, and as gradually reduced under 
 British rule ; the struggle made by its chiefs, the MacMahons, Normans become more Irish than 
 the Irish themselves, against the introduction of English law and sheriffs; and its final forfeiture and 
 division amongst new proprietors. 
 
 The Cross is a good example of the sculptured crosses found in this country; and the illustra- 
 tion shows it as it stood some years ago, before the ruthless hand of party-spirit had mutilated a 
 part of the circular head. It stands in the Diamond, as the market-place of Clones is called ; the sides 
 are divided into compartments containing rudely-sculptured subjects from Holy Writ, which are 
 now difficult to decypher. They give an epitome of sacred history, commencing with our first parents 
 in the garden of Eden, passing in regular gradation through the most remarkable events of the 
 Old Testament, and terminating with the crucifixion. The dimensions are as follows: — Base, 3 feet ; 
 sculptured shaft, divided into three compartments, 8 feet ; head, 4 feet ; total height, exclusive of 
 platform, 15 feet. 
 
 The only ancient ecclesiastical remains now existing are the walls of a small chapel on one side 
 of the road leading to Coote-hill ; they are built of square hewn freestone on the outside, and of 
 limestone within : the remains of an ancient burying-grouud are found in connection with these walls, 
 which are well enclosed. It seems not improbable that the walls or chapel spoken of may be all 
 that remains of the large building denominated "a charche" in the old map in the State Paper Office, 
 and that the road now occupies a part of the site of the transept tower there shown ; for it has evi- 
 dently been cut through the grounds or yard of the church, severing from the portion just described 
 the larger space now extensively used as a burying-ground by the parishioners, and at the opposite or 
 western side of which the tower (called ; 'a watch toure," in the map) stands. The map, it may be 
 added, does not indicate that a cemetery existed here at the period when it was drawn (1591), a cir- 
 cumstance worthy, as before stated, of attention, when taken in connection with Dr. Petrie's opinion
 
 11 
 
 that the human remains found in round towers are accounted for by the buildings having been erected 
 in burial-grounds. In the present instance his view is disproved by the manner in which the 
 inelosure wall of the grave-yard has been built, which does not include the tower within its lines, 
 but cuts it in the direction of its diameter, so that one half of its base is within, and the other half 
 projects beyond into an adjoining garden. In fact, the entire tower may be considered as distinct 
 from the grave-yard, its eastern side only forming, as it were, a part of its enclosure. A confirma- 
 tion of this is found in the fact that no objection was made to the inquiries made within the tower, 
 though much anxiety was expressed by the lookers-on lest any disturbance of the cemetery itself 
 should take place. The level of the soil in the garden above-mentioned is six feet and a half below 
 that of the burial-ground, and shows what the surface was on which the tower was originally erected. 
 Here two offsets — as is usual in such buildings — of nine inches each, can be traced projecting beyond 
 the line of the shaft; but the half of them is concealed by the accumulated soil of the grave-yard. 
 This evidently proves that instead of having been built originally in a cemetery, the soil of the latti r, 
 as now seen heaped up against one section of the building, must have been a subsequent raising of 
 the level from frequent interments. 
 
 The tower wheu perfect must have been of considerable elevation, and an imposing example of this 
 kind of architecture. As far as could be ascertained by several calculations made from the shadow at 
 different periods of the day, the remaining portion is about 75 feet high above the foundation already 
 mentioned, or sixty-eight feet and a half above the level of the burying- ground. At about five feet 
 above the first offset the circumference measures fifty-one feet, and the thickness of the wall is three 
 feet six inches to three feet seven inches. The interior diameter is nine feet, which is considerably 
 more than the average of other towers examined. The door, which is quadrangular-headed, sta 
 due east, and is eight feet above the level of the first offset, or three feet above the present level of the 
 surface on that side of the building. This tower is considerably off the perpendicular, with a decided 
 inclination towards the north, and has suffered a diminution in height by the falling of a portion of 
 the upper part, where several stones, particularly on the west side, overhang so much as to lead to 
 the impression that, unless some means are taken to secure them, another portion will before long be 
 precipitated into the interior. 
 
 The persons present at the inquiry, besides the writer and Mr. Grattan, were the Rev. Mr. ~\\ elsh, 
 Mr. Casebourue, C.E., and Mr. Dargan, brother to the well-known contractor, to whose kindness, in- 
 deed, the parties were indebted, not only for permission to make the necessary excavations, but for 
 the services of a number of men, taken from the works of the Ulster Canal.* 
 
 The interior of the tower was filled up to within three feet of the cill of the door, that is, to the 
 level of the burying-ground, or five feet above the first offset of the base, with remains of jack-daws' 
 
 * An interesting fact was mentioned by Mr. Dargan, that a labourer, employed in excavating the canal, « -a- sup- 
 posed to have found a gold pectoral cross ; perhaps that worn by the abbot. The man decamped with his pr:z.-, and 
 was uot afterwards heard of. Those who saw the cross described it as large and massive.
 
 42 
 
 nests, broken glass, human bones — probably thrown In from the grave yard — horns of oxen, hair, 
 leather fragments of coffins — and stones, which had formed part of the roof and upper walls when the 
 tower was perfect ; these were mixed throughout with a rich dark mould formed from decomposed 
 organic matter. All this was evidently an accumulation resulting from accidental introduction at 
 periods subsequent to the erection of the building. Having cleared this away to the depth of three 
 feet and a half, a well defined clay floor was uncovered (totally different from the material excavated 
 previously) described by Mr. Casebourne as formed with puddled clay. This was broken through 
 in the centre, and the excavation continued to the depth of eighteen inches farther, with no other 
 result than laying Dare i a few inches beneath the clay floor, two thin irregular-shaped flags, with 
 traces of fire on their surface, and near them some remains of charcoal, or perhaps burned bones. 
 In the earth thrown out a few fragments of thigh bones and other human remains were also re- 
 marked. A second floor was now discovered, formed by a thin coat of lime ; it extended across the 
 tower at the part where the first internal offset of the base occurred, on the same horizontal line .is 
 the first external one. 
 
 The removal of this lime floor was an operation of considerable difficulty, and attended with 
 some delay, in consequence of the tenacity of the upper stratum of clay, and of the desire to use 
 as much care as possible. An opening was then made in its centre, and, on excavating to a depth 
 of fifteen or sixteen inches, the leg-bones of an adult person were found. In the hope of finding 
 the skull and trunk lying towards the west, a commencement of removing the clay in that direction 
 was made : at the distance, however, of less than a foot from the first opening, in a rather south- 
 westerly direction, a skull was unexpectedly discovered, but so cracked and broken that it could not 
 be saved entire. The fragment preserved was sufficient to show that the skull must have been 
 that of a child not exceeding eight years of age, the permauent incisor teeth not having penetrated 
 through the jaw. 
 
 In consequence of the depth to which the operations extended it was found necessary to erect 
 a scaffold or stage across the eastern side ; and the western half was carefully examined from its 
 southern to its northern boundary. Considerable human remains, in a state of very great decay, 
 some of a child, some of adults, were thus exposed, especially at the northern extremity, where the 
 bones of several lower limbs, a pelvis, feet, &c. were crowded together within the curve formed by 
 the wall, and in close contact with the side, but without order or regularity. Having carefully 
 examined one half to the depth of three feet, without meeting anything further, the stage was re- 
 moved and the material upon which it had rested cautiously thrown upon the part already explored. 
 Upon the same level with the child's skull and the other bones already detailed, and occupying, as 
 nearly as possible, the north-eastern quarter of the floor, the remains of four skulls were reached, 
 all greatly fractured, either by walking over them before the removal of the soil, or by the erection 
 of the scaffold. They were so damaged that the exact position they lay in could not be correctly 
 ascertained, although the relative position occupied by each was sufficiently perceptible. They
 
 43 
 
 Lay nearly as marked on the accompanying plan, and unconnected with the otlier remains ; proving, 
 as far as they were concerned, that it must have been human bones, and not bodies, that had bei n 
 thus deposited. To the south of the fourth skull, and in close contact with it, lav a fifth, 
 broken into fragments, but connected with a complete spinal column and ribs, extending in tin- 
 direction of the adult lower extremities found beside the child's skull: this had every appearance 
 of having been interred before the integuments had been removed from the bones by decomposition. 
 No pelvis, however, was found; but the bones generally were in such a state of decay, that it is 
 quite possible that it may have crumbled away during the search. If the body had been deposited 
 in a perfect state as supposed, the position was very different from that usually adopted at the 
 present day, having a direction nearly N. by E., with the feet directed towards the south-west. 
 One of the skulls was overlaid by a projecting portion of the offset, the interval between it and the 
 others being in part filled up with moderate sized stones, as if so placed before the laying on of the 
 projecting offset during the progress of the building. Indeed, there was no doubt on the part of the 
 intelligent observers of the proceeding, some of them professional men, that the remains disco\ 
 must have been deposited in the position they occupied before the building had been carried up 
 higher than the first offset. Mr. Grattan, who gave great attention to the inquiry throughout, was 
 strongly impressed with an opinion that the walls, having been carried up to the height of the last 
 offset but one, the remains were then deposited, the place filled in with clay to that level, the last 
 offset then set on, the surface levelled and coated with lime, and the remainder of the building then 
 proceeded with. 
 
 Along with the four skulls described, and under such circumstances as necessarily proved it to 
 have been interred at the same time, a portion of a pig's or boar's jaw was discovered. It was in such 
 a singular state of preservation that, when shown to Dr. Scoular, by Mr. Grattan, he declared his 
 opinion that it could not have remained long in the ground; a conjecture which is valuable as a 
 proof of the difficulty of determining their age from the mere inspection of such remains. Refe- 
 rence has been already made to doubts expressed of the age of the skull found at Drumbo t< 
 from its high state of preservation. Now, indisputably, the pig's jaw must have been as long hen ■ a - 
 the skulls with which it was found deposited, and they manifest all the characters of extreme anti- 
 quity ; consequently, the difference in their present condition must be the result of original difference 
 of individual structure. It is clear, therefore, that the fresh and sound condition of the Drumbo 
 skull by no means proves it to be recent ; no part of the skeleton being subject to greater varieties 
 iu density, solidity, and texture, than the skull, not merely in different races, but also in different 
 individuals of the same race. The greater part of the fragments of the different skulls found on 
 the present occasion were preserved, though unfortunately not all of them ; no idea being enter- 
 tained at the time that they could have been so satisfactorily put together as was afterwards found 
 practicable. The perfect form of three has been preserved ; a fourth, though not absolute! \ . • 
 pretty nearly correct; and the posterior part of the child's is quite so. All these are deposited in
 
 44 
 
 the Museum of the 
 Natural History and 
 Philosophical Socie- 
 ty of Belfast ; and, 
 in a concluding chap- 
 ter of these notices, 
 their measurements, 
 taken by the Cranio- 
 meter,will be given, 
 with such other in- 
 formation as Mr. 
 Grattan's experience 
 may suggest. 
 
 At the time of mak- 
 ing the investiga- 
 tions, some notice 
 of which has just 
 been given, the writ- 
 er was induced to 
 inquire respecting a 
 mode of sepulture 
 practised at Clones, 
 to which his atten- 
 tion had been drawn 
 several years pre- 
 viously, when he first 
 visited this interest- 
 ing locality. The fol- 
 lowing note, taken 
 at the time, contains 
 the tradition con- 
 nected with it,which 
 now became a mat- 
 ter of increased in- 
 terest : — " Among 
 the tombs, in the 
 
 A 
 
 Hnriz! Section 
 < Ymer 
 
 A. Walls of Tower. 
 
 B. Space between doorway and He or. 
 
 C. Stratum of deb? is, &c. 
 
 D. 1st Stratum of Clay. 
 
 E. The 2nd Stratum of Clay. 
 
 1. separated from D by a floor "t lime, 
 in which the remains were found at 
 
 of Base 
 A' Tbwer. 
 
 the depth indicated by the line se- 
 parating E 1 from E '1. 
 
 F. Level of ground in Garden. 
 
 G. Level of ground in Church-yard, 
 o a 1. Offsets visible externally. 
 
 rt % Supposed continuation of Base.
 
 45 
 
 burying-ground near the tower, is shown that of the McMahon family, once the powerful chief- 
 tains of this part of Ireland. The top of the sepulchre, which is above ground, is very heavy, 
 and shaped like the roof of a house, with inscriptions on each of the sloping sides. The mode 
 of sepulture, according to the tradition of the country, was curious. When the body of any 
 of the family was brought hither for interment, it was taken out of the coffin and deposited in 
 the tomb, and the empty coffin was buried in a separate place. A quantity of lime was then 
 thrown over the body for the purpose of consuming it, and the roof of the tomb replaced, 
 until it was taken off to admit another tenant." On pursuing the inquiry, it was stated by 
 several intelligent persons, that the name of the family was MaeDonnell, nol McMahon, and 
 that on several occasions the right of interment here had been litigated by parties claiming 
 t<> be the lineal descendants of the original party. The bones found in the stone coffin, when 
 a fresh interment is to be made, are carefully removed, and, being afterwards placed in a 
 wooden coffin, wherein the recent body was brought to the grave-yard, are buried near the stone 
 sepulchre. Several men who were in the crowd at the examination of the tower, affirmed that 
 they had witnessed an interment here, where all the cermonies above-mentioned were strictly ob- 
 served. It was considered the duty of the heir of the lately deceased person, after having cleared 
 out the tomb by removing the bones, to raise the body of his relative, and, without any aid from 
 others, to deposit it in its temporary resting-place. This occurred within the last fifteen years,' 1 
 but it is not expected that any other similar interment will take place, as the person considered as the 
 last lineal descendant of the family, which claimed this honour, is believed to have died lately in 
 Scotland. His social position was little above that of a labourer, yet he clung pertinaciously to his 
 right ; the privilege in question having been a source of litigation and dispute between him and 
 another individual until death, by carrying off his rival, left him the undisputed possessor, in rever- 
 sion, of a barren honour, of which, in the hour of his own death, he knew his remains would be de- 
 prived. This singidar mode of sepulture acquires increased interest when considered in connection 
 with the discovery just made, of deposits of bones in the tower, and originates the conjecture that, 
 for some reason not now to be explained, this building may have become the second place of in- 
 terment of the remains of some important family, at an early period of history. It should be added, 
 that several inscriptions have been defaced from the sloping sides of the tomb described. Some parties 
 affirm this was done in consequence of disputes respecting the right of interment already alluded to. 
 The family mentioned in the above notice is MaeDonnell of Clankelly, whose territory lay in 
 this neighbourhood ; many entries having reference to individuals of this illustrious race are found 
 in the Annals of the Four Masters, and other records. The only one that bears decidedly on the 
 present subject is here extracted : — 
 
 * i.e., within fifteen years of 1842.
 
 46 
 
 The age of Christ, 14:-)!), " MacDonnell of Cluan-Kelly, i.e., Corniac, the son of Art, a charitable and truly hospitable 
 man, died, and was interred at Clones." 
 
 Dr. Petrie, in a paper on the " Domnach- Airgid," published in the Transactions of the Royal Irish 
 Academy* has given an ancient monastic seal, believed to have been made for Abbot John O'Car- 
 brie, of Clones, who flourished in the fourteenth century. The name of the same ecclesiastic appears 
 on the cumdach or case already mentioned, of which the drawing at foot is a correct representation. 
 It is a shrine in the form of an oblong box, nine inches by seven, and five inches in height. A copy 
 of the Gospels contained in it is believed, by the eminent antiquary referred to, to be " perhaps the 
 oldest copy of the Sacred Word now existing." John O'Karbri is described as comharb of Saint 
 Tighernach. He, as already mentioned, died in 1353. ' : As the form of the Cumdach," says Dr. 
 Petrie, " indicates that it was intended to receive a book, and as the relics are all attached to the 
 outer and least ancient cover, it is manifest that the use of the box as a reliquary was not its original 
 intention. The natural inference, therefore, is, that it contained a manuscript which had belonged to 
 Saint Patrick; and as a manuscript copy of the Gospels, apparently of that early age, is found within 
 it, there is every reason to believe it to be that identical one for which the box was originally made, and 
 which the Irish apostle probably brought with him on his mission into this country." Several an- 
 cient authorities exist in proof of Saint Patrick having made a gift of the " Domnach" to Saint Mac 
 Carthen. 
 
 ( Sarleton, in one of his most powerful tales, has described the superstitious use made of this relic, 
 and in a note gives some curious information respecting it.f 
 
 • Vol. xviii., p. 23 of Antiquities. 
 
 t 'fruits and Stories of the Irish Peasantry.
 
 TIIE ROUND TOWERS OF ULSTER. 
 
 DOWNPATRtCK, COUNTY OF DOWN. 
 
 " Here good Columba showed in Christian skies 
 The lucid day-star of salvation rise." 
 
 In Harris's County of Doivn, or rather in the work published in 1744, which commonly bears his 
 natne (though the editor's introduction states that " it is not a revised edition of a treatise formerly 
 published on the same subject, but an entirely new work") the following passage follows the notice of 
 the Cathedral : — " There is at the West end a very high Pillar, that has been neatly repaired at the 
 expense of Dean Daniel." In another work, A Tour through Ireland in 1779, is found the follow- 
 ing notice : — " No antient monument remains in the old abbey, but here is a round tower which 
 stands about 40 feet from the old cathedral, is 66 feet high, the thickness of the walls 3 feet, and the 
 diameter on the inside 8 feet. On the west side of it is an irregular gap, about 10 feet from the top, 
 near a third of the whole circumference being broken off by the injury of time : the entrance into it 
 is two feet and a half wide, and placed on a level with the surface of the ground ; in which last par- 
 ticular it is pretty singular, for in others the door is placed from 8 to 12 feet above the ground, 
 without any steps or stairs, so that there is no getting into these buildings without a ladder ; unless 
 it may be judged (which is probable enough) that this difference has been occasioned here from the 
 raising of the ground by the rubbish of the old cathedral near it, fallen into ruinous heaps." 
 
 The Rev. John Dubourdieu in his Statistical Survey of the County of Dmvn, published in 1802, gives 
 the following particulars regarding the fate of the same building :— " It was pulled down in the year 
 1790, to make room in the rebuilding of that part of the old Cathedral next which it stood, and from 
 which it was distant about forty feet. The height was sixty-six feet, the thickness of the walls three 
 feet, and the diameter eight feet. When the Tower was thrown down and cleared away to the foun- 
 dation, another foundation was discovered under it, and running directly across the site of the Tower, 
 which appeared to be a continuation of the church wall, which at some period prior to the building of 
 the Tower, seemed to have extended considerably beyond it. This curious circumstance was observed 
 by several gentlemen at the Spring Assizes of the'above-mentioned year." — These and similar notices
 
 48 
 
 rendered it desirable to include Downpatrick in the places explored. In the present instance the in- 
 quiry was limited to an attempt to ascertain the site of the Tower, and by excavating the place, per- 
 haps discover some remnants of the base. Mrs. Hall, the sextoness of the cathedral, who had been 
 born close to the spot, had no difficulty in pointing out the place where the building had stood ; and 
 this being on the gravelled area near the south-east angle of the cathedral, and the permission of the 
 Dean, the Kev. Theo. Blakely, having been obtained by the kind interference of the late Dr. 
 McDonnell, of Belfast, no objection was made to the investigation. Mr. Aynsworth Pilson, of 
 Downpatrick, communicated any information that he possessed. 
 
 The exploration took place on the 19th Sept., 1842, in the presence of Mr. Grattan, Mr. B. Mac- 
 Adam, Mr. Smith, C.E., of Belfast, and the writer. From the nature of the ground it soon became 
 evident that the very foundation of the tower must have been removed in lowering the level of the sur- 
 face when the cathedral was repaired. No person was found who had any recollection of the cross- 
 walls mentioned by Dubourdieu ; but an old man who was drawn to the place by curiosity, stated that 
 he had a distinct recollection of the appearance of the foundation, which he had seen when it was 
 uncovered ; and he described it with its offsets at the base just as found in the other round lowers 
 previously examined. The evidence, however, of Dubourdieu is not to be slighted, though it does not 
 lead to any definite conclusion. It seems improbable that the tower was raised on the foundation of 
 an older building, for this would throw back works of stone to a very early date; and besides, prac- 
 tical builders, such as the architects of these towers undoubtedly were, would not have balanced a 
 cylindrical edifice of such elevation on a cross-wall of this kind. It may perhaps be allowable to 
 suggest that the cross- wall seen by Dubourdieu's informants was part of a cell similar to one already 
 described as found at Trummery. 
 
 It has been said that the destruction of the Tower was determined on in consequence of the rivalry 
 between two great nobles of the county, and that Lord De Clifford, the proprietor of the town of 
 Downpatrick, opposed this piece of Vandalism. No reference is made to the Tower in the Act 
 which received the Boyal Assent on the 6th April, 1790, sanctioning certain arrangements for rais- 
 ing funds to repair the Cathedral. In the Belfast News-Letter, 2C-25 Dec, 1789, No. 5465, an 
 advertisement is found soliciting subscriptions for the restoration of the Cathedral of Downpatrick, 
 estimated at £6,000 ; of which sum his Majesty King George III. had agreed to contribute, by a 
 royal letter, £1,000, if the remainder were made up. A long list of noblemen and others, with their ' 
 respective contributions, is appended. It is further stated, that the loss of the fund for the ceconomy, 
 belonging to the Dean and Chapter, having been the obstacle to the repair — the Dean, the Hon. and 
 Bev. BIr. Annesley, had agreed to give £300 of his official income, to be allotted out of the tithes 
 of his deanery during his incumbency, and to petition Parliament to pass an Act to perpetuate and 
 secure the same from him and his successors; — all the patronage to be at the disposal of the Dean, 
 for the time being.
 
 49 
 
 
 
 ' 
 
 A VIEW OF THE OLD ABBEV OF DOWNPATRICK, 
 BEFORE IT WAS REBUILT, ANNO 1790. 
 
 Our illustration is taken from a drawing in the possession of Dr. Beeves, and it corresponds with 
 a ruder sketch in the writer's collection. In 1795, Mr. John Turner, architect, issued a prospectus 
 and received subscriptions for two prints to be published — a south view and a south-east view of the 
 old Cathedral, but it is not ascertained if any of these are now to be found. The prospectus contains 
 the following words : — "As it has been a misfortune, in this and many other countries, that remains 
 of antiquity have been taken down, or sometimes new-modelled, without leaving a trace behind to 
 give to future ages an idea of beauties that ornamented a country, it may not be improper, at this 
 period, to offer to the public an exact outline of that (lothic piece of architecture, as beautiful, per- 
 haps, as any that ever adorned this kingdom." 
 
 SAUL, COUNTY OF DOWN. 
 
 The Right Rev. Dr. Denvir, R.C. Bishop of Down and Connor, having expressed an opinion that, 
 near Saul, were traces of a Round Tower, indicated by marks on the sward and by the colour of the 
 crops grown on the spot, Dr. Hodges, the present Professor of Agriculture in Queen's College, Bel- 
 fast, was good enough to make the necessary inquiries. The following is his report : — 
 
 " Downpatrich, February 20, 1S44. 
 
 " I visited and carefully examined the fields and ruins in the neighbourhood of Saul Church. I 
 also conversed with several of the old inhabitants, and find that the appearance of the place, tradition
 
 50 
 
 and history, all agree in proving that no Round Tower ever existed at the ancient ' Barn of St. 
 Patrick.' The remains of a wind-mill, which appear in the field adjoining the church, must have 
 deceived Dr. Denvir. This mill, though now only to be discovered by an elevation in the field, was 
 at work in the memory of some of the old people. Saul was not occupied as a place of worship 
 before the arrival of our national saint. A barn belonging to the chief of the Dal Dichu at that 
 time stood where the present church is erected. The Life of St. Patrick very carefully relates the 
 cession of this barn by the chieftain upon his becoming a convert, for the purpose of its being em- 
 ployed as a Christian temple. It is not probable that all mention of an edifice so important as a 
 Round Tower would have been omitted if it had existed there." 
 
 MAGHERA, COUNTY OF DOWN. 
 
 " A mile east of Briansford, on the road to Dundrum, at Maghera, are the ruins of an old church, 
 where is a noted burial-place, and near it formerly stood an high Round Tower, which, about 30 
 years ago, was overturned by a violent storm, and lay at length and entire upon the ground like 
 a huge gun, without breaking to pieces, so wonderfully hard and binding was the cement in this 
 work." Such is the brief notice found in The Ancient and Present State of the County of Down, 
 published in 1744. The tower, therefore, fell about the year 1711, or 145 years ago. The South 
 Munster Society of Antiquaries, in a document quoted by Dr. Petrie,* gives the authority of Sir 
 William Betham, for a statement that " the Tower of Maghera has also been opened" and human 
 remains found. Mr. Joseph William Murphy, of Belfast, having made some inquiries respecting 
 this, received the following note from Mr. Andrew Lindsay, dated Maghera, 5th Nov., 1843: — 
 " I have just been over to see the Round Tower and to ascertain in what state it is. I find that Mr. 
 Duffin, in whose glebe it is, has had it dug about to a considerable depth, and all the soil cleared 
 off, and that the inside has been sunk several feet deep." 
 
 The name of this parish was originally Rath-Murbhuilg, afterwards, as in the Taxation of Pope 
 Nicholas, edited by Dr. Beeves, simply Bath ; and subsequently with a prefix, Machaire-Batha. 
 Only about twenty feet of the lower part of the tower now remain, containing the doorway, which 
 is towards the east, and about seven feet from the ground. 
 
 ANTRIM, COUNTY OF ANTRIM. 
 
 " Oft on those shores they bade the youth advance, 
 "With measured footstep, in the martial dance. 
 Or with a solemn, slow, majestic tread 
 Round the tall tower the holy circuit led."— Drummond's Giant's Causeway. 
 
 By the kind permission of the proprietor, George J. Clarke, Esq., of Steeple, the writer was en- 
 abled, on the 29th April, 1843, to examine this very perfect example of the Irish Bound Tower, 
 
 * Transactions R. I. A., vol. xx., p. 89.
 
 51 
 
 which stands in his lawn, near the centre of the parish, and at the distance of about half-a-mile 
 from the town of Antrim. The ruins and foundations of other buildings have been removed from its 
 vicinity within the memory of persons still living, as well as large quantities of human remains, proofs 
 of the existence formerly of a religious establishment having a cemetery in connection with it. 
 Dr. Eeeves, in his excellent work so often quoted, gives the ancient name as Oeutraibh, the " one 
 ridge," and distinguishes it from nOendruim,* which name he considers only applicable to the 
 Nendrum of Strangford Lough, where that rev. gentleman discovered the remains of a Round 
 Tower, of which a description is given in a paper read by him before the Down and Connor Archi- 
 tectural Society, and published in their transactions, which he has kindly permitted to be printed 
 so far as is necessary, in the present series of papers. 
 
 The tower of Antrim, one of the most perfect in Ireland, is constructed of rubble masonry, and 
 owes its admirable preservation very much to the anxious care of the father of the present proprie- 
 tor, under whose judicious directions it was repaired, without, however, the slightest interference 
 with the original design. It is still cared for with equal watchfulness, as will be shown towards the 
 conclusion of this paper. According to measurements taken at the time of the repairs alluded t . 
 the height of this building is 93 feet: the writer, calculating by the shadow, made it 91 feet. Tin- 
 outer circumference near the base is fifty feet two inches, and the greatest internal diameter nine 
 feet. The thickness of the wall at the door is three feet nine inches. All the openings in this 
 tower, and they are numerous, are square-headed. The door is on the north side, about seven feet 
 four inches above the true base of the building or the original level of the ground. Contrary, 
 however, to the usual occurrence, the level of the ground about this tower has been considerably 
 lowered by removing not only the accumulations of ages, but a part also of the original soil, so that 
 it had been found necessary to form an artificial bank up to the base or first ofl'set of the foundation. 
 This bank, it could be seen, on examination, covered a second offset, and, according to the evidence 
 of the labourers employed, a third also. 
 
 The door-way, as well as the original apex of the conical roof, are formed of a dark-coloured 
 porphyry, brought, probably, from the district near Doagh called Sandybrae : on a stone of the 
 
 * In the introductory paper of this series, last time, we That is Mochoe of Oendruim, in Delvin Ethra 
 
 have used Aondruim in error for Oentraibh. ''It is very or nine hills that are in the place wherein is 
 
 true," says Dr. Reeves, " that the name Antrim is but his church. 
 
 another form of the word Aondruim. Thus Keating styles Or, Oendruim, that is, one hill, is the entire 
 
 Randal M'Donnell, Earl of Antrim, 'larla Aondroma ;' island, and in Loch Cuan it is. Fesliol, 23d June, 
 
 and thus Colgan and O'Flaherty use the adjective This testimony is confirmed by the ancient Biographies 
 
 ' Andromcnsis to denote 'of Antrim.' But that the of St. Patrick, which describe nOendruim or (Bndrumia, 
 
 name, in the instances cited above, does not apply to as paying an annual tribute to the Church of Down : — 
 
 Antrim on the Six-Mile- Water, will appear from the " et redditur adhuc." Vila ii. a Patricio Juniore, Cap. 
 
 following passage in the Felire .Enguis, or the Festiology 32. How much more reasonable is it to understand this 
 
 of Angus Ceile De, a writer who nourished about the of the (Eendruim of Strangford Lough, so contiguous to 
 
 end of the eighth or the commencement of the ninth Down, and recorded in a document of the twelfth cen- 
 
 century : — tury, to have been then tributary to its bishop, than of 
 
 " The renowned and prosperous champion Antrim, which was situate in a distinct and independent 
 
 of Oendruim celebrate. diocese,"
 
 52 
 
 same material, surmounting the lintel, but somewhat shorter, a cross is sculptured, that has been 
 figured as a tail-piece in our introductory notice. Dr. Petrie, at page 400 of his Ecclesiastical 
 Architecture of Ireland,* gives a very accurate drawing of the door- way ; but, contrary to his wont, 
 "ives a very incorrect outline of the cross. 
 
 It has been doubted that either the door-way or the cross belonged to the original work, par- 
 ticularly the stone with the cross : this idea receives some confirmation from the finish of the part 
 inside where the wrought stone joins the tower-wall, leaving a space somewhat angular. Mr. 
 Clarke says it was supposed that a wooden door-way fitted here : this might, however, have been an 
 after adaptation. It is proper to add, that the work of the cross is very ancient, and that the simi- 
 larity of the stone employed is a reason in favour of considering all these parts of cotemporaneous 
 construction. There are four small quadrangular windows immediately under the roof, one of 
 them in a direct line above the door ; four other windows are spaced at different heights around 
 the tower ; one on the north-east, one on the south-west, and two on the south side, nearly on a 
 line with the upper window. The door itself is four feet four inches high, and very nearly two 
 feet wide. From the cill of the door the interior of the building narrows downwards, and the stones 
 of the foundation from the level of the offsets project inwards. The masonry of the base is very 
 bad indeed ; so much so that the tower has quite the appearance of having been built on a cairn 
 of stones, without the use of mortar ; — for this reason, after several tons of loose stones had 
 been thrown out it was considered advisable to leave the exploration unfinished, and Mr. Lanyon, 
 C.E., who was present, recommended that the interior of the foundation should be filled up by a 
 solid mass of mason-work, formed of large stones, carefully grouted together : this has been ac- 
 cordingly done, and it is satisfactorj' to reflect, that the exploration, if devoid of archaeological result, 
 has most probably been the cause of the preservation of this very perfect monument of bygone 
 davs. The tower tapers considerably ; the breadth of the shadow of the top is only ten feet and a 
 half, while that of the part near the base is upwards of seventeen feet. The only modern restora- 
 tion is the very point of the conical roof, which had been struck off some years ago, by lightning. 
 The remains of the original stone are preserved by Mr. Clarke. In form it very much resembled a 
 Scotch lowland bonnet, and it has a square hole in the centre, into which a small wedge-shaped 
 stone fitted, giving the appearance, when viewed from the ground, of a sharp point. 
 
 The exploration of this tower having been imperfect, no deduction can be drawn from it ; but, as 
 far as could be ascertained, the building did not contain any human remains. The sectional draw- 
 ing which accompanies the introductory paper of this series, exhibits the position of the several 
 openings. 
 
 The early notices of ecclesiastical buildings at Antrim are not numerous. Lewis, who is often 
 
 * Transactions of K. I. A., vol. xs.
 
 53 
 
 correct in his statements, seems to confound Antrim with Nendrum, when he speaks of a monasi fry- 
 founded here in 495 by Aodh, a disciple of Saint Patrick. The Four Masters have the following 
 references : — 
 
 Age of Christ, 612, Fintan of Oentrebh, abbot of Bangor, died. 
 
 Age of Christ, 822, Baugor plundered by the Danes, and its oratory destroyed, and the relics of Comghall scat- 
 tered from the shrine which contained them, according as Comghall himself predicted, when he said: " It 
 
 will be true, true by the will of the supreme King of Kings, nay bones shall be brought, without defect, from 
 the beloved Beannchair to Eantrobh. 
 
 Age of Christ, 877, Muredhach, son of Cormac, abbot of Oentraibh, died. 
 
 Age of Christ, 941, Cellach son of Bee, lord of Dalaradia, was slain in Oeutribh, by his own tribe. 
 
 Age of Christ, 1018, Antrum spoyled by Fermanach. 
 
 "This last passage," says Dr. Reeves, "which is wanting in the Four Masters, but supplied by 
 
 the Annals of Ulster, is thus translated in the old English version, made for Sir J. Ware. O'Conor 
 
 renders it a prmdonibus maritimis. The original is doferaib, which does not seem properly rendered 
 
 in either case." 
 
 Age of Christ, 1030, Kindred Owen, broke O'Longsy, his ship in midst of Antrim. [To the old English translatio n 
 
 Dr. Reeves adds in a note, "O'Conor renders the passage : — The men of Tyrone destroyed O'Longsy 's ships in sight 
 of Antrim. The Four Masters are silent concerning the occurrence. The lordship of Dalaradia was hereditary 
 in the O'Longsey (Lynch) family from 985 downwards." 
 
 Age of Christ, 1098, Flann O'Muregan, superior of Aentruibh, died. 
 
 Age of Christ, 1147, Roscrea and Oentrob were burned. 
 
 The name occurs also in the annotations on the Felire of Aengus, at July, 31.* 
 
 CARRICKFERGCS, COUNTY OF ANTRIM. 
 
 In an old document amongst the state papers entitled " The contents of a survey or information 
 geven in the s.xith of Julye, 1588, before two commissioners, by certeijne aldermen and Burgesses withe 
 others, men of good sufficiencie, to geve judgement in these accons for the repairinge of decays wkiche be 
 founde in the mill and abbey, beinge store houses and houses of office, to be employde to the use of her 
 Magest' garrison within the tmvne of Carigfergus, fyc." the following words occur: — "Also we do finde 
 one wachehouse or Turret sometymes caled a steple withe certeyne lofts belonginge to the same, 
 whiche is to be repaired, rooved, and slatted, the estymacion of whiche charge is x\l>." The 
 expression " steeple," so often applied by the settlers to the round towers, induced the writer to sup- 
 pose that Carrickfergus had at one time possessed one of these buildings, and this view is con - 
 firmed by a map published in the Ulster Journal ofArclixology,}- as furnished by E. P. Shirley, Esq., 
 M.P., where a building is shown almost close to the wall next the sea, that, as far as can be 
 judged, is intended to represent a Pound Tower. 
 
 * Reeves, p. 278. t Vol. iii., p. 276.
 
 54 
 RAM'S ISLAND, COUNTY OF ANTRIM. 
 
 On this island, the largest in Lough Neagh, the remains of a Round Tower exist, which on ap- 
 plication to the late Viscount O'Neill, of Shane's Castle, the writer was permitted to examine on 
 the 10th September, 1844. Mr. George C. Hyndman, and Mr. Burgess, of Belfast, were also pre. 
 sent. The island, which contains rather less than six acres, is included in the parish of Glenavy; 
 and Dr. Reeves supposes that " the chapel" mentioned in connection with the church — "the 
 Church of Lennewy, with the chapel," in Pope Nicholas's Taxation, was situated here. The re- 
 mains of such a building no longer exist ; but vestiges of a burying-ground are, it is said, still ob- 
 servable. Of the tower, which forms a striking object, a portion measuring 42 feet in height is 
 still to be seen ; the original doorway was eight feet above the offset which determined the level of 
 the floor. This has, however, at some time been closed, and admission is now obtained by an 
 aperture broken through the western side of the building. Two windows remain, one nearly on a 
 line with, and immediately over the true entrance, which faces S.S.W. This is, or rather was, 
 rudely pointed. The other is on the E.S.E. side. The interior diameter is eight feet three inches, 
 and the thickness of the wall two feet six inches, which gives a circumference of nearly forty feet. 
 The lower part of this tower had been filled up to a considerable depth when the pleasure-grounds 
 which surround it were laid out. It was excavated under the direction of the persons named, to a 
 point beyond where a lime floor had originally existed, but which had been broken through at 
 some former period. Of course the examination, under such circumstances, was void of in- 
 terest. Dr. Petrie quotes a statement from Mr. Windele of Cork, of " human bones having been 
 found interred within that at Ram-island, in Antrim, and similar relics;" but that gentleman's 
 authority is not given. Sir William Betham seems, from a statement afterwards made, to have 
 adopted the same opinion. In the clay, beneath where the floor had been, bones were indeed dis- 
 covered ; but they were remains of a sheep which had been thrown in, most probably at a late 
 period. No information was procured respecting the nature of any previous investigation. The 
 name of this island is a subject worthy of some notice as an antiquarian question, for it is not pro- 
 bable it was received from the animal of the same name, nor from the surname which is sometimes 
 found in England ; and, if the writer mistakes not, it was that of an Irish bishop since the Reforma- 
 tion. It seems indeed, probable, that this word is corrupted from an ancient Irish term which had 
 for a time been superseded by Enis Garden, another corruption of the same. 
 
 The writer is indebted to the kindness of Dr. Reeves, for several references in the Annals of 
 Ulster, and of the Four Masters, which seem to apply to this place. 
 
 Enis Garden, it seems not improbable, is a corruption of a name which occurs twice in the 
 Annals of Ulster — Inis Daircairgrcn — and most decidedly applies to some locality in or near to Lough 
 Neagh.
 
 ftOUA/a TOWERS OF ULSTfl 
 
 SEC 
 
 AT . XDL.
 
 55 
 
 Ait. I05G, Gormgal prim anncara innsi Daircairgren plenus dirmm in pcnitenlia pausavit. Gormgal pracipuut 
 
 anachoreta Insula: Durcargrenioc, plenus dierum in ptenitentia pausavit." 
 As. 1121. Curoaighi mac Deoradha hua Flainii ri Derlais do badhadh i Loch nE ichach iar ngab innsi Darcarcren 
 
 fair d XJib Eachach da itorchair u or ar xl. 
 Cumagius Jilius Deoradii O'Flan rex Derlassue [a territory in or mar Tig Tuir/re'] demersus in lauc Each (Lough Neagh) 
 
 post expugnatam Insulam Barcarcrenii contra Eachios [In ugh men} in quo occisi sunt supra xl. 
 No doubt can exist as to these entries having reference to an island in Lough Neagh, and the 
 Four Masters bear testimony to the event mentioned in the latter, but mention the island under 
 another name — Rechrann. 
 The age of Christ, 1121. Cumaighe, son of Deoraidh Ua Floinn, lord of Durlas, was drowned in Loch-Eathach 
 
 after [the island of] Iuis-Draicreun had been taken upon him by the Ui-Eathach, where forty-four persons were 
 
 slain. 
 Dr. O'Donovan, in a note on this passage, says : — " Inis-Draicrenn, now Rathlin, a small island 
 opposite Rockland, where the upper Bann falls into Lough Neagh, in the north-east of the county 
 Armagh." Dr. Reeves has given the writer the following note, in addition to what is found in his 
 published volume, at pages 48 and 292 : — " I was once of opinion that this island [Daircairgren] is 
 the modern Rathlin in the Montiaghs, barony of O'Neilland east, Co. of Armagh ; but the statement 
 of the Annals of Ulster, at 1056, leads me to suppose that ecclesiastical remains would be found in this 
 island of Daircairgren, whereyer it was : however, I have not heard that any such exist in the Rathlin 
 of the Montyaghs. The island spoken of is certainly in Lough Neagh ; and the question is between 
 Ram's Island and Rathlin. You might look in the Ordnance Survey of Armagh County, sheet No. 
 6, and see whether any ruins of such are marked as existing on this island. If not, I should un- 
 hesitatingly pronounce in favour of Ram's Island, which was called Inis- Garden (a corruption, I 
 suspect, of the above name) and is so marked on some old maps." Besides searching the maps, the 
 writer has lately examined the spot itself, and can find no trace of any building having existed on 
 Rathlin Island, in the Montiaghs. 
 
 NENDRUM, COUNTY OF DOWN. 
 
 The antiquarian world is indebted to the sagacity of Dr. Reeves for determining the true site cf 
 the ancient Priory of Nendrum ; and some notices of its Round Tower are introduced in this paper, 
 because it has been confounded with Antrim on account of a similarity in the Irish names. By 
 that gentleman's permission his paper has been used, as far as required in this place, as it appeared 
 originally in the " Papers of the Down, Connor, and Dromore Church Architectural Society." 
 
 Setting conjecture aside, a sure guide to the real site of this ancient house presents itself to the 
 inquirer in the Taxation of Nicholas JV." This document, which is a record of the year 1291, enu- 
 •Since edited in part by Dr. Reeves. See Ecc. Ant. of Down, Connor, and Dromore.
 
 56 
 
 rnerates all the parishes and chapelries in Ireland, arranged under their several dioceses and rural 
 deaneries. Accordingly, among the churches in the diocese of Down, and in the rural deanery of 
 Blaethwyc, the " Ecclesia de Nedram is introduced between Kilwyinchi [Killinchy,] and Eilmode 
 [Kilmood,] a position corresponding to that which the modern parish of TuUynakill occupies on the 
 county map. An eastern portion of this parish, insulated by Strangford Lough, is called Mahee 
 Island; and on this ground have been discovered the long-forgotten remains of the Church of Mahee 
 Island — in Irish, Inis-Mochaoi — lying at about a quarter of a mile from the shore, containing 176a. 
 3r. 38p., and, with Reagh Island, 304a. 3k. 8i\, being nearly all under tillage. It is a long narrow 
 strip, contracting as it approaches its western extremity, and then dilating in an oval termination. 
 Regarding its history the country people know nothing, saving that they have an impression of its 
 being an ancient place, with an indistinct tradition that burials took place here centuries ago. On 
 the Ordnance Map there are no marks to draw attention to the spot, except the name Old Town in 
 one place, Castle Ruins in another, and a small dot, like that which indicates a lime-kiln, near the 
 western eud. The following particulars, which were observed by Dr. Reeves on a visit to the island, 
 are well worthy of the antiquarian's notice. 
 
 The western portion of the island rises from the water by a gentle slope to the elevation of sixty- 
 six feet, and is surmounted by a small ivy-mantled ruin. On approaching this object, the way leads 
 through a gap, in what appears to be the remains of a large circular enclosure. Ascending from 
 this, a second nearly concentric ring, apparently the foundation of a wall or terrace, is crossed ; and 
 within this, at an interval of about fifty yards, a third ring, which encloses a nearly level space about 
 seventy yards in diameter. At a distance of twenty-five feet from the inner circumference, on the 
 west, stands the little ruin which possesses the main characteristics of the remains of a Round Tower. 
 The diameter inside is six feet six inches. The external circumference at the basement course, 
 which projects a few inches, is forty-four feet six inches, or nearly fifteen feet diameter. The ma- 
 terials of which it is constructed are undressed stones, yet so well disposed as to present an even 
 surface inside, and so firmly compacted by grouting that, though the outer table of the wall has 
 been picked away, the inner has maintained its surface unimpaired. The highest remaining part is 
 about nine feet, and is covered with ivy. There is a fissure on the S.W. wide enough to admit a 
 man ; it extends to the ground, and was probably caused by the entrance having been there in the 
 original plan. The view from the top of this building must have been very extensive, as a moderate 
 addition to the natural elevation of the ground would afford a prospect of the whole length of Strang- 
 ford Lough. 
 
 The usual accompaniment of a Round Tower was next sought for; and at the distance of forty- 
 three feet to the S.E. an oblong space was observed, defined by something like a ridge in the grass, 
 in which small portions of wall and mortar here and there projected through the soil. This space, 
 which, from its proportions and its bearings to the east, resembled the enclosure of a place of Chris-
 
 57 
 
 tian worship, was nest examined, and, by the aid of some labouring men, the angles of a quadrilate- 
 ral building and parts of the sides were exposed, to the depth of about two feet. Its proportions 
 are as follow : — 
 
 Total length, 58 feet 4 inches, 
 
 Total breadth, 22 feet 4 inches, 
 
 Length in clear, 52 feet 4 inches, 
 
 Breadth in clear, ... 15 feet 8 inches, 
 
 thus allowing a thickness of three feet for the end walls, and three feet four inches for the sides. 
 At the west end were two projections, at the angles, of dressed stone, apparently the rudiments of 
 shallow buttresses, measuring two feet six inches in breadth, by nine inches in depth. 
 
 The building stood E.N.E. : such a deflection from the exact east is not uncommon in ancient 
 churches, and is supposed by some to have been regulated so as to correspond with the point of the 
 sun's rising on the morn of the day which was commemorative of the patron saint. There were no 
 marks of graves, by unevenncss in the ground or by head-stones, to betoken a burial-place, near the 
 ruins ; but upon turning up the ground, perfect skeletons were exposed to view in several places, 
 both within and outside the foundations, having their feet turned eastward. The floor of the tower 
 was found to be on the same plane as the ground outside. In the hope of discovering some human 
 remains within it, an excavation was made as deep as the lowest part of the foundation ; but no 
 animal remains were found except some fragments of large bones, not human, and some large and 
 curious molar teeth. An inhabitant of a neighbouring island stated that, some years ago, a man 
 visited the spot in consequence of his dreaming that money was buried near the ruin ; and that in 
 the process of digging near the N.W. base of the tower he came upon a human skeleton of very 
 large dimensions, which was seen by several persons afterwards. 
 
 At the northern extremity of the island are the roofless walls of an ancient square castle, similar 
 in structure to those which abound along the shores of Strangford Lough : — in length, 41 feet 6 in. ; 
 in breadth, 21 feet 6 in. ; in height, 30 feet 6 inches; and varying in thickness from 4 feet 10 
 inches to 3 feet 3 inches. 
 
 From this building a causeway leads to Island Keagh, which is covered only at high water, and 
 was probably coeval iu its construction with the castle. 
 
 With Nendrum is to be associated the name of Saint Mochoe, one of Saint Patrick's early con- 
 verts ; and its honour is to have been set apart for the worship of the True God in the very dawn 
 of Christianity in Ireland. 
 
 The name signifies " the single hill," and is thus derived : — oen is an obsolete form for the nu- 
 meral aon, one ; the particle no, or before a vowel n, prefixed to the compound, gives the name 
 as it is found in native authorities ; and this in an English form is written Nendrum, aud contracted 
 into Nedrum.
 
 58 
 
 The following notices of this place appear in the Annals : — 
 Tighernach, A.C. 497. Mochae of Oendruim died. 
 Annals of Ulster, A.D. 493. Mochoei nOendroma quievit, [which is the same event stated, but in a different year, 
 
 caused by the mode of computing time.] 
 Another edition gives the year 498. 
 
 Annals of Innisfallen, An. 490. Rest of Mochae of Noendroma. 
 Four Masters, age of Christ, 496. St. Mochaoi, abbot of Aondruim, died on the 23rd of the month of June. 
 
 These passages, until the error was pointed out by Dr. Reeves, were understood as applying to An- 
 trim. In the notices of the Tower there, this has been further alluded to. 
 
 With this island-church is also to be associated the name of Saint Caylan, the first bishop of 
 Down. Colman, the first bishop of Dromore, was his pupil ; and of Finnian of Moville we are in- 
 formed, that when a lad he was sent to the venerable old man, Coelan, abbot of Noendruim, for in- 
 struction.
 
 THE ROUND TOWERS OF ULSTER 
 
 ARMOY TOWEtt, COUNTY OF ANTRIM. 
 
 renown, and grace is dead ; 
 
 The wine of life is drawn, and the mere lees 
 Is left this vault to brag of."— Shakspeare. 
 
 Ix the barony of Carey, County of Antrim, is situated the village of Annoy, onee an important 
 place in. the ancient territory of Dalriada. The first entry respecting it, in the Annals of the Four 
 Masters, records the fact of its being set on fire by Cumee O'Flynn in 1177, during an expedition 
 of John De Courcy. In 1247 it is again mentioned, casually, in connection with a predatory ex- 
 cursion made by Eachmarcach O'Kane, Lord of Kianaghta and Firnacreeva, into the territory of 
 Manus O'Kane. The present name is contracted from the Irish Airthar-muighe (Arthermov. thi 
 eastern plain). From Dr. Reeves, the great authority in such matters, and the notes to the Four 
 Masters, the following particulars are collected: — Iu early times Dalriada was divided into sixteen 
 tuoghs or districts, of which the cynamond of Annoy and Raghlins was one. The taxation in 1306 
 was — "The Church of Ethirmoy, £4 lis. 4d. ; Tenth, 9s. ljd." Its foundation, according to Dr. 
 Reeves, was in A.D. 474. The Tripartite Life relates that St. Patrick, having baptised Olcau. on the 
 subsequent evidence of his great advance iu piety and learning, placed him as bishop over the church 
 of Rath-mugia or Arthir-mugia, the chief town of the Dalredini. Jocelin and Ussher call this 
 church Dercan. With this place is connected the curious legend respecting St. Patrick andOlcan 
 the bishop, wherein the latter, having offended his master by receiving into communion Saran, a 
 prince of Dalaradia, whom Patrick had excommunicated, showed his contrition by prostrating 
 himself before the saint's chariot. The charioteer, on seeing this, pulled up, but was ordered to
 
 CO 
 
 proceed on his course ; this he declined doing; and the matter ended by the prophecy that the 
 church of Arraoy should be three times destroyed and polluted with blood in punishment of Olcan's 
 fault." Here, at a very early period, there is a record of the existence of a water-mill, found in the 
 " Inquisitio post-mortem'' of the property of William de Burgo, Earl of Ulster — such a mill, pro- 
 bably, as is described in the Ulster Journal of Archaology, vol. 4, p. G. By King James the First's 
 charter this church was appropriated to the archdeaconry of Connor. Dr. O 'Conor mentions, on the 
 authority of a MS. of the fourteenth century, in the Stowe Library, Armoy as one of twenty-one an- 
 cient monasteries which had schools of instruction attached to them. The present church, Dr. Eeeves 
 states, stands on the old foundation, but is not so long as the original. Near it, and surrounded 
 by graves, stands what remains of the Round Tower, which was carefully explored by the writer 
 on the 21st and 22d September, 1843. The other parties present were the Rev. Mr. Harvey and 
 his son, of Turnarobert ; Mr. Arthur McGee, of Ballycastle ; and, on the second day, Mr. T. M. 
 Birnie, of Carrickfergus ; and Mr. Edward Benn, of Glenravel. 
 
 What remains of the tower has been fitted up as a belfry, by putting a wooden roof on the walls, 
 of which about forty feet are still standing. The door, the only opening, is on the south side, and 
 measures one foot seven inches wide, and five feet nine inches in height. From it to the floor was 
 eight feet six inches ; but now, to the level of the burying-ground, is only five feet four inches. 
 The walls are of mica slate ; and during the excavation a part of the original roof was discovered, 
 formed on the same plan precisely as the stone preserved at Antrim, and already described in the 
 notices of the tower there. The door is semicircular-headed, the arch being cut out of one block, and 
 ornamented by an architrave also out on the same lintel stone. It follows the curve of the arch 
 and it is probable that originally the sides of the door-way exhibited a continuation of the same 
 projection. They, however, have been repaired at some period. There is no appearance of cross 
 or other decoration. A view of this tower, given in the Irish Point/ Magazine, is incorrect, for it 
 shows an ornament over the door that does not exist. The wall of the building is three feet five 
 inches thick. The interior diameter is eight feet two inches, and it does not seem to vary in this 
 dimension. At the door there is a projection of the walls for the support of a floor, and another 
 about ten feet higher up. As the tower had been cleared out several times by persons anxious to 
 procure the droppings of pigeons, which build in the roof, it did not promise any very important 
 result; but the inquiry was fortunately proceeded with. 
 
 In the course of the excavation only loose debris, with small portions of wood and stone, and 
 jaws of animals, were thrown out for several feet ; but at length a skull and other human remains 
 were found, packed up against the wall on the north side. These were evidently in the same po- 
 sition as at first placed. Portions of horn were also found, and remains of the fallen part of the 
 
 « Colgan Vit. Trip. p. 47.
 
 61 
 
 town-. Anything observed hitherto was considered of little importance, as all to this depth may 
 have been disturbed at some period posterior to thi erection of the building. The skull, neverthe- 
 less, had an appearance of considerable antiquity. When the search was continued to a further 
 depth of some feet, another skull was found, imbedded like a fossil, lying on the south-east side of 
 the line of the entrance, but without any other bones of the skeli ton with it. This skull lay with 
 the upper part towards the centre of tin; tower, ami the lower jaw towards the wall. The materia] 
 it was imbedded in was stiff clay ; and there was this peculiarity attending it, that it was contained 
 in a hollow space in the wall, which appeared to have been constructed to contain it, in the man- 
 ner of a rude niche. Mr. Benn and Mr. Birnie, with the writer, examined it in situ, and were all 
 equally struck by the fossil-like appearance it. presented — an appearance previously observed in simi- 
 lar instances. It is an interesting circumstance to notice, that the three upper cervical vertebra; wore 
 found in connexion with this skull, or in situ as respects the cranium, and no other bones were found 
 in the same place that seemed to be parts of the same body. The inference drawn by the parties 
 present was, that the head buried here had been, when in a recent state, severed from the trunk. 
 The under jaw and vertebra? were nearly iu the same horizontal line; — in tact just so much of the 
 vertebral column remained as must have been removed with the head if taken off while the muscles 
 and integuments were recent. 
 
 This relic was obtained, fortunately, in a nearly perfect state. In the place where it lay a lire 
 had been burned, and it had been deposited on a bed of peat ashes and charcoal before being 
 covered with the clay. Several pins, formed of deers' antlers, were found: they seemed to have 
 been used by the builders in setting out their work. A portion of a line, made of twisted hair, was 
 also discovered, and a piece of sand-stone, most probably used for whetting the workers' tools. 
 
 The discovery of a head so distinctly interred separate from the body gives more than usual interest 
 to the skull exhumed from this tower. That such a practice was not without precedent with the 
 ancient Irish is proved by several facts. For instance, in the case of the skulls found in an ancient 
 burial-ground near the Giant's Ring, so accurately detailed in the Ulster Journal ofArcha ology, vol. 
 ;!, p. 360, and in several instances recorded by the Four Masters. 
 
 Age of Christ, 558. After that Dermot, son of Fergus Cerrbcoll, had been twenty years King of Ireland, li 
 
 slain by Aodh Dubh, sou of Suibhnc, King of Dalaradia, of Eathbeg, in Moy-line. His head was conveyed to 
 Clonmacnois, and bis body was buried at Connor. 
 
 The Editor of the Four Masters, in a note on the name Kinnity. says " Cenneitigh, i.e. the head of Etcch, so called 
 according to a note in the Felire Amguis, at the 7th of April, from Eteeh, an ancient Irish heroine, wfo 
 was interred here." 
 
 Coder the year 143L!, the following entry occurs :— " Great and frequent depredations were committed bj Manus Mat 
 Mahon upon the English, many of whom he slew ; and he placed their heads upon the stakes of the garden of 
 Eailc-na-Lurgan, Mac .Mahon sown mansion seat, hideous and horrible spectacles to the beholders." This 
 , statement is also confirmed, according to Dr. O'Donoyan's note, by the Dublin copy of the Annah oj Ulster.
 
 62 
 
 1547. The Annals of Ulster, at this dale, record an incursion made by O'Rourke into Maguire's country, when the 
 heads of sixteen leaders of the former party were cut off and affixed on Maguire's mansion. 
 
 Under the year 1556 mention is made of a Mac William, called Ulick na-gceann ; with this note, " Ulick of t he 
 heads, so called from the many heads of enemies which he had cut off." 
 
 Under the year ICO". Dr. O'Donovan, in his edition of the Four Masters, gives some notices of the different branches 
 and individuals of the Maguire family :— one, named Cuconnaught More, was killed at the pass of Aughrim 
 {temp. James II.] " He was struck down by a grape-shot, and left dead on the field : but one of his followers 
 named O'Durnan, is said to have cut off his head with his sword, and to have carried it in a bag to the island 
 of Devenish, where he interred it in the family tomb of the Maguires." Mr. Bryan Maguire, of Tempo, believed 
 that a descendant of this man resided in Dublin in 1811. 
 
 The entire excavation extended to a depth of eleven feet from the sill of the door. 
 The accompanying diagram is intended to show the relative position of the several remains found 
 in this tower. 
 
 Sca?i ' * in to ajool
 
 63 
 
 The circumstances of this skull differ from any discovered during the various explorations now re- 
 corded, in the fact of the three upper cervical vertebras remaining in connection with it ; leading to 
 the conclusion that the head must have been severed from the trunk before the decomposition of the 
 body had proceeded far. This circumstance struck all the parties at the time, and has since led to 
 the conclusion that the cranium found had been separated from the body in a recent state. Mr. 
 Grattan in his notices of the skulls found in Round Towers will discuss this matter; Mr. Benn, in 
 a communication dated Glenravel, 25th September, 1843, thus refers to it : — 
 
 " From what I saw, I think your theory of these skulls having been taken from other places and 
 put under the tower cannot be supported ; I did not see the conclusion of the matter, but as I understand, 
 these are the facts : — the skull was found close into the wall, two joints of the neck were found at- 
 tached ; these neck-bones were turned to the wall ; the skeleton was not found ; remains of the hair 
 were found ; the under jaw was found in its place quite entire. If these are the facts, it is plain that 
 this was the head of a person who had been decapitated, but whether before or after death could not 
 be ascertained. You should examine the neck-bones very closely to see if any marks of a cutting ins- 
 trument are to be seen ; it is quite evident that the circumstances under which this skull was found 
 could only be accounted for by supposing a human head to have been placed there, and not a skull 
 which had been buried elsewhere previously." 
 
 Mr. Benn seems to allude in his note to the writer's remarks on the peculiar mode of burial ob- 
 served at Clones, which were not intended to be produced as a theory on the uses of Hound Towers. 
 In like manner, the extracts given from the Four Masters are not introduced to support a supposition 
 that the heads of enemies cut off in war amongst rude tribes were interred in Bound Towers, but to 
 show that decapitation was not uncommon. If an inference can be drawn, it seems to be that in 
 some cases, the heads of great leaders were recovered by their friends, and honoured by a careful 
 burial.
 
 64 
 
 DEVENISH TOWER, COUNTY FERMANAGH. 
 
 " I've wandered through the wrecks of days departed. 
 Far by the desolated shore." — Shelley. 
 
 HE island of Devenish, 
 in Lough Erne, about two 
 miles below Enniskillen, like 
 many other retired spots in 
 the country, is rich in eccle- 
 siastical remains. Its tower 
 was explored by Mr. Grattan, 
 Mr. J. W. Murphy, and the 
 writer, on the 27th of May, 
 1844 ; — permission to do so, 
 as well as excavate within 
 the ruins of a stone roofed 
 chapel in its vicinity, having 
 been granted by Paul Dane, 
 Esq., through the polite at- 
 tention of Lord Enniskillen, 
 at the request of the late Mr. 
 William Thompson, who has been already mentioned as takiug au active part in the examination of 
 Drumbo. 
 
 In navigating the narrow strait forming the junction of upper and lower Lough Erne, the cot (so 
 the boat in use here is named) passes under Portora hill, at whose base, a short distance from the 
 water, are seen the remains of the ancient castle of " The Maguire." Beyond this point the lake 
 becomes wider, and the tower of Devenish, one of the most perfect works of the kind, is discovered, 
 standing like a giant in the midst of ruins. The island contains upwards of seventy acres ; and like 
 most others in this beautiful lake, rises gradually from the water, in the form of a low hill covered 
 with rich herbage, which affords, and as its name denotes — for the term Daimh-inis (now pronounced 
 Devenish) signifies < )x-island — seems always to have afforded, pasturage to large herds of cattle." 
 
 »"In a life of St. Aedan, quoted by Ussher (Primord., 
 p. 962), the name of this island is translated Bovis In- 
 sula, and in a life of St. Aedus Boriuni insula." — -'Deve- 
 nish, dairuh inis, i.e., the ox-island or bovis insula, as it 
 is translated in the life of St. Moidoc. It is situated 
 in Lough Erne, near Enniskillen, in the county of Fer- 
 managh. Laisrean, or Molaisse, the patron saint of 
 
 this island, nourished in the (jth century; having died, 
 according to the Annals of the Four Masters, in the year 
 . r j(i3, but according to the Annals of Ulster, in the year 
 570. The ruins of an ancient church and of an abbey of 
 the 15th century, and a beautiful Round Tower in good 
 preservation, are still to be seen on this island. "—Dr. 
 O' Donovan.
 
 65 
 
 Besides the tower and the stone-roofed chapel already mentioned as in ruins, called Saint Mo- 
 laissi's house, there are remains here of an abbey, a church, and a monastery. By means of the se- 
 veral illustrations given it is proposed to show the position of the ecclesiastical buildings that exist d 
 on this island. The accompanying drawing, copied from Lcdwich, proves that about the year 1792 two 
 buildings, now in the last stage of dilapidation, were nearly perfect — the ancient church seen in the fore- 
 
 ground, and the stone-roofed chapel. The stone-roofed chapel is most probably the oldest building 
 here ; then the tower. The church and monastery adjoined one another, and now present little more 
 than a heap of ruins surrounded by an ancient burying-ground. In 1806 Sir Richard Colt Hoare 
 thus describes the church : — " The eastern window is divided into three narrow compartments, 
 with lancet heads, and banded on the inside." The initial letter of the present paper shows what 
 now remains of that building. A writer in the Belfast Magazine, 1825, says — "part of the east 
 window of the church still remains, but in a very dilapidated state. A great part of the walls 
 -■Mined to have but lately fallen, which induced us to inquire of our boatman what had thrown them 
 down, when, to our astonishment, we learned that these interesting remains, which had braved the- 
 effects of time for so many centuries, had been destroyed, in this age of boasted civilisation, for the 
 purpose of procuring the stone frames of the windows and other ornamental parts, for the decoration 
 of houses in Enniskillen." 
 
 The abbey is the finest ruin on the island, and indicates an advanced state of the arts at the period 
 of its erection. If a stone built into one of its walls refers to this building, Mathew ( I'Dubeaan
 
 60 
 
 erected it in 1441), when Bartholomew O'Flauuigan was Prior. Although this inscribed stone is 
 built into the abbey, it may, however, have been removed from the ruins of the old church, and 
 placed where it is now seen with a view to its preservation. The material differs from that used 
 in other parts of the building ; but it is right to state that Sir R. C. Hoare describes it as being near 
 the east window in 1806. '' This church,'' the same writer observes, "which is the most easterly 
 building, was large and beautiful, with a noble carved window over the high altar." It is built of 
 a very compact limestone, (perhaps black marble is the proper expression,) a material not used in any 
 other building here. Some parts of it, particularly the transept and square tower by which it is 
 surmounted, are still in good preservation. On passing through its fine arch, a visitor is struck by 
 the sharpness of the lines of the work, which are so highly polished and so perfect as to seem fresh 
 from the workman's chisel. On the northern side a small pointed doorway leads to a winding stair 
 communicating with the square tower, in which a bell or bells had been placed ; and the apertures 
 still remain in the groined floor of the upper compartment, through which the ropes had passed. 
 This fact is interesting in connection with the uses of the Round Towers ; for it seems unlikely that 
 the Cloigtheach was a belfry in the usual sense of the term, standing close to this abbey, and at the 
 same time that bells were also placed in the latter building. It may, indeed, be said that the buildings 
 belonged to distinct religious bodies ; but it seems more probable that the tower, as an ecclesiastical 
 building — for that it was such Dr. Petrie in the writer's estimation has proved — was used as a place 
 of safe deposit for the church furniture, including the altar bells, rather than as a place in the 
 summit of which a bell was suspended. Sir R. C. Hoare says : — '' The little pointed doorway 
 leading up to the tower, deserves notice, from being excellently well fluted in its angles, and finished 
 the same way at bottom as at top ; a peculiarity I do not recollect ever to have seen before, and pro- 
 ducing a light and elegant effect." 
 
 This island was the' scene of a curious interlude mentioned by Sir John Davis, when he, as Attorney- 
 General, held the first assizes for Fermanagh in 1607. It was on the occasion of an inquiry respecting 
 some property of the Maguire Family. The jury, who sat in the old abbey, "referred themselves 
 to an old parchment roll remaining in the hands of one O'Brislon, a chronicler and principal 
 Brehon of that country ; whereupon O'Brislon was sent for, but was so aged and decrepid as he was 
 scarce able to repair unto us. When he was come, we demanded of him a sight of the ancient 
 roll. The old man, seeming to be much troubled with this demand, made answer that he had such 
 a roll in his keeping before the war, but that it was burned, among other of his papers and books, by 
 certain English soldiers. We were told by some that were present that this was not true. There- 
 upon my Lord Chancellor did minister an oath unto him, and gave him a very serious charge to in- 
 form us truly what was become of that roll. The poor old man, fetching a deep sigh, confessed 
 that he knew where the roll was, but that it was dearer to him than his life, and therefore he would 
 never deliver it out of his hands, uuless my Lord Chancellor would take the like oath that the roll
 
 ' 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Si
 
 67 
 
 should be restored to him again. My Lord Chancellor, smilingly, gave him his word and his hand 
 that he should have the roll re-delivered to him if he would suffer us to take a view and a copy 
 thereof. And thereupon the old Brehon drew the roll out of his bosom, where he did continually 
 bear it about him. It was not very large, but it was written on both sides in fair Irish character." 
 
 In the Fermanagh Inquisition, held 18th September, 100'J, some particulars are found respecting 
 this island and its ecclesiastical condition. " The Bishop, say the jurors, receives out of the herenagh 
 lands of Devenish, conteyninge in all fower quarters of the newe measure, of which soe much as lay 
 in the iland Devenish (except Rossimartina, conteyninge a fourth part of a tate) is free, and be- 
 longed to the corhe, or chiefe herenagh of that place, fower markes per annum, makinge as before, and 
 eight night's cosherie in his visitation as before, and not else, and three score sroaghans of oate- 
 broad and a beofe per annum, or tenne shillings in liewe of the said bread, and a noble per annum 
 in liewe of the said beofe. and that there are three herenaghs of the said land." According to the 
 same authority, the parish church of Devenish stood on the island : there was both a parson and vicar, 
 collative. The tithes were paid in kind — one-fourth to the bishop of Clogher, another fourth to the 
 vicar, and the moiety to the parson, who paid one-third of the church repairs and the vicar another 
 third. " Having made mention of eight tates of land on the south side of Lough Erne, all of which 
 they observe together with the tithes thereof belongc to the late dissolved abbey or house of Channons 
 of Devenish, the jurors report further that the said abbey, or house of Chanons of Dovenishe, with 
 one orchard or moore thereunto belonginge, are scituate and being in the iland of Devenish, and 
 that out of the said abbey the said bushopp of Clogher had yerelie a refeccion for a daie, or tenn shil- 
 linges in lieve thereof in his visitation, and not else, but not to staie all night ; and they alsoe saie uppon 
 their oathes, that the late priorie or house of secular priests of Collidea (Culdees) with an orchard 
 thereunto belonginge, is likewise scituate in the said iland of Devenish, and that to the said late priorie 
 doe belonge four tates of land of the ould measure, with the tithes thereof, in the barronie afore- 
 said."" 
 
 The following notice was pointed out to the writer by Mr. R. MacAdam, in an ancient Icelandic 
 work quoted by Johnstone, as probably referring to Devenish. It is found in the Kongs Skuggsio (Spe- 
 culum Regale.) It is here given in the Latin translation which accompanies the original Icelandic: — 
 
 *'In stagno, cujus mentionem antea injeciraus, Logherne dicto, insularum est una Misdredan c vocata, ubi 
 sanctorum quijam Diermicius templum, ubi permaneret, habuit. Idem verum templum, et quod ei adjeetum 
 est ccemeterium, nemini creatune ffemine.'e fas erat ingredi, a quo et sibi eavere animalia, aves et id genus reliqua, 
 humana; rationis expertia poterant ; nee profecto est, qu;e audeat ingredi, vel possit, etsi tentet, templum hoc aut 
 ciemeterium sequioris sexus creatura."* 
 
 h Rev. R. King's Mt moir Introductory to the Early His- chisdodran, (ex variis librariorum conjecturis.) 
 tory of the Primacy of Armagh, p. 50. d Dr. Reeves says he can find no name resembling 
 
 * The following various readings of the name of the Inis-Dredan, or [nis-Trodan, or Inis-'Jredan, or tins 
 
 island are given: — Inisdredan, Iniselodran, Inhiskle- Gredan, or any likely form of twisting which the name, 
 
 dr-an, Inhiskladran, Inliisoladran, Inhisdradren, Inhos- as given in the Icelandic, might undergo, 
 doran, Inholsdro, Inholsdo, Inshodo, Misolodrava, Ni-
 
 08 
 
 " In the lake of which mention his already been made, named Lough Erne, one of the islands is called Misdre- 
 dan, (tnisdredan ?J where a saint, a certain Dermot, had a temple in which he abided continually. No female was 
 permitted to enter this temple or the cemetery adjoining. Other animals, birds, and such like, devoid of human 
 reason, were able instinctively to avoid this place. Nor, indeed, is there any creature of the weaker sex whic 
 dares, or could, if it attempted, enter this temple." 
 
 Dr. Reeves, to whom the writer submitted the above notice, has made the following observations 
 on the su! ject : — 
 
 " There is an island of Loch Erne, the only one I have ever met with whose name at all ap- 
 proached in form to Inisdredan (for that evidently is the word intended), called Inis-Inesclaind, 
 where was once a cell of which Fergus, commemorated at Nov. 10, was patron saint. But either 
 of him or of his island there is no further notice. I have come to the conclusion that Logherne is 
 an error, and Loch-Bibh in the Shannon is the true place, and for the following reason : — St. Diar- 
 mait, of Jan. 10, is the patron of Inis-Clothrann, in Loch-Ribh, now called Iniscloghran, 1 ' or Quaker 
 Island. Colgan has collected all that he could find about him, at Jan. 10, but he has nothing to 
 show that this Diarmait had any connection with the Norse legend. — However, in looking over the 
 Index Sanctorum in O'Clery's Calendar of Donegall, voce Diarmait, I have found the following in- 
 sertion, which almost settles the question : — 
 
 ' " ' Diarm.it epscop Insi Gloihrann [for Loch Ribh i cCuircne, acas ni thaghuitt bean no leanobh og 
 mna a reileg. Do sharuigh bean eirecech Shaxonach sin goirid o shoin acas teasda go grod. Inis 
 Diarmada ainm na hinnsi go niomad regies 7 mainistir^\ 
 
 " ' Diarmait, bishop of Innis Clothrann. [On Logh Ribh in Cuircne (now Kilkenny West, in West- 
 meath), and no woman or female child resorted to his cemetery. An English heretic woman, a short 
 time ago, infringed this, and she quickly died. Inis Diarmada is the name of the island, and it has 
 several cemeteries and monasteries."] 
 
 The following notices of Devenish are extracted from the Annals of the Four Masters, edited by 
 Dr. O'Donovan, and the Annals of Ulster, published by Dr. Reeves in connection with the Ulster 
 Journal of Arcliceologg. 
 
 The age ol Christ, 5o'3, Saint Molaisi, abbot of Daimhinis, died, on the 12th September. 
 
 The age of Christ, 1259, Hugh O'Conor and Brian O'Neill held a conference at Devenish, in Lough Erne. 
 
 The age of Christ, 1450, Nicholas O'Flanagan, parson of Devenish, died at Rome, whither he had gone on a 
 
 pilgrimage. 
 The age of Christ, 14o2, the prior of Devenish, i.e. Bartholomew, the son of Hugh O'Flanagan, died, on Lough 
 
 e Iniscloghran.— The island of Clothra. Dr. O'Dono- cupier. These churches, to one of which is attached an 
 
 van, Four Masters, An. 1193, says :— " This Clothrais said old belfry, called in Irish Clogas, are said to have been 
 
 to have been the sister of the famous Meadhbh or Meave, erected by Saint Dermot in the sixth ceutury ; but some 
 
 Queen of Connaught The island lies in Lough Ree, of them were re-edificed." Many memorials of Meave 
 
 near St. John's, and is now sometimes called by the peo- are still found here." 
 
 pie of the counties of Longford and Koscommon, dwelling < Saint Diarmait flourished in the early part of the 
 
 in its vicinity, the Seven Church Island, from the ruins sixth century, Anno. 540 ; Colgau's notice of him in 
 
 of seven old churches still to beseen on it; and sometimes Acta Sanctorum is at p. 51. 
 Quaker's Island, from Mr. Fairbrother, the present oc-
 
 69 
 
 Dim. This was the prior who repaired or rebuilt the great abbey church at Devenish, as appears from an 
 i-iption on a stone in the wall. 
 
 Tin age of Christ, 1479, Piarus, the son of Nicholas O'Flanagan, who had been a canon chorister at Clogher, a 
 parson and prior of Culdees, a sacristan at Devenish, an official on Lough Erne, a charitable, pious, truly 
 table, and humane man, died, after having gained the victory over the Devil and the world. 
 
 Tin- year of Christ, loOj, Laurence O'Flanagan, prior of Devenish, died. 
 
 According to the catalogue of Irish saints published by Archbishop Ussher, taken from the ancient 
 authorities, these holy men are divided into three orders, — the first " most holy," the second " very 
 holy," the third "holy." The first was confined to contemporaries of Patrick. In the second i- 
 found the name of Laisrean. " There were three famous saints of this name who generally aj ; 
 in Irish hagiology, with the prefix Mo, in the form Molassi.'' The one, however, to whom it is at 
 present desirable to refer is Molaissi, son of Nadfraich, whose festival is the 12th September. — 
 •' He was of the race of Trial, son of Conual Cearnaigh, and seventh in descent from Crunn Badh- 
 raighe, son of Eoehaidh Cobha, son of Fiacha Araidhe." 5 
 
 Like Columba, and many others of the illustrious men by whom Christianity was extended over 
 Ireland and firmly fixed in the minds of the people, Molaissi was a man of high birth, and his name 
 
 and associated with that of the Abbot of Iona. Indeed, according to a statement made, 
 principal cause of that remarkable man leaving his native country after the battle of Cuildremnc, 
 which tradition states was caused by a dispute between the saiut and King Diarmait,) was the decision 
 of Saint Molaissi — " that Columba should spend the rest of his life an exile on a foreign soil, where he 
 should attach more persons to Christ than had fallen in the war." This is, however, not the place 
 to introduce a biography of the illustrious founder of the religious establishments at Devenish. 
 The life of St. Aedan has the following notice of Saint Molaissi : — 
 
 " Beatissimus Lasreanus ad aquilonalem partem Hibernioe exivit, et construxit clarissimum monas- 
 terium in Stagno Heme, nomine Daimh-inis, qui sonat Latine, Bovis insula." And the Life of Saiut 
 Aedus : — " Regebat plures monachos in insula posita in stagno Erne, quam Scoti nominant Daimhinis 
 i.e. Bovium insulam." 
 
 The death of this saint is entered twice in the Annals of Ulster, first under the year 503 (asr. com. 
 i64) and again 570. The Four Masters record it at 12th Sept. 1853. Any of these dates carries 
 back the history to a very early period, and his name is still found associated with the most ancient 
 ruiu on the island, which is always mentioned as Saint Molaissi's house. A stone coffin also, now 
 exposed in the neighbourhood of the tower, is called his bed : by the superstitious it is believed that 
 any one who can lie within it will be cured of rheumatism and similar complaints. Sir R. C. Hoare 
 
 Dr. Reeves, Annals of Ulster, p. 28. (Ox-island.) He ruled many monks in an island in 
 
 > Blessed Laserian retired to the North of Ireland and Lough Erne called by the Scots Devenish, that is, " the 
 
 erected a very celebrated monastery in Lough Erne Island of Oxen." 
 ed Devenish, meaning in Latin "Bovis Insula." —
 
 70 
 
 says "Ami the vulgar tradition is, that many people have endeavoured to fit tlieir shapes to it, but 
 
 have not succeeded.'' ' 
 
 In the burying-ground near the abbey the base of a cross remains ; but the other parts have been 
 destroyed before the time of any one now living. There is also, not far from the abbey and tower 
 a well dedicated to Saint Nicholas; but this is nearly filled up. ' 
 
 Having given the foregoing details, it is proposed, in the remaining portion of this paper, to describe 
 the tower, and mention the excavations made within it and at the stone-roofed chapel. 
 
 The tower is still perfect; for its integrity has been carefully attended to even in the midst of the 
 wilful devastation of the other buildings. Sir R. C. Hoare, in 180G, had noticed the possibility of 
 injury to the top from the elder trees that had rooted in the crevices of the roof; and the 
 writer already alluded to, in the Belfast Magazine, had called attention to the same facts. These plants 
 were removed, soon after the last mentioned reference, by Mr. O'Beirne, a son of the learned mas- 
 ter of Portora school, at some personal risk ; but at a later period, the trees having again shot up, the 
 dreaded catastrophe did take place, and a large portion of the conical top and cornice fell to the 
 ground. A sufficient sum having been at once subscribed, a perfect restoration, stone by stone almost, 
 was made; and Devenish remains as perfect as at first, the pride of Fermanagh in its unequalled 
 beauty ; — unequalled in Ulster at least, for it is superior to any in the province, both as regards the cha. 
 r icter of its decorations and the style of its architecture. It is said to be eighty- two feet in height and 
 forty nine in circumference. The elaborate cornice immediately below the roof, which distinguishes 
 this from all similar buildings, is figured by Dr. Petrie, Mrs. Hall, and others, from drawings fur- 
 nished by Captain Stothard taken during the Ordnance Survey. It evinces the care and expense lavished 
 on the erection ; and the four heads, which surmount the windows next the roof, exhibit an advanced 
 knowledge of the sculptor's art. The masonry of the entire building is excellent; and it may be further 
 remarked that the stones employed, though dressed, are not laid in regular courses ; but in such a man- 
 ner as best suited the builder's convenience. Thus in some places, one large mass occupies so great a 
 space that two or three courses of stones, of the ordinary size, have been used before the whole was 
 brought to a level ; and in some other instances, when a vacancy occurs in a course, the use of a small 
 stone is obviated by a block in the next being so dressed as to key into the space below. A similar 
 mode of proceeding was afterwards remarked in Drumlane Tower. 
 
 The entrance is by a door, at about nine feet from the ground. The projections remain which had 
 supported the floors ; and, besides the four windows usually found near the top of such buildings, there 
 
 i Besides its natron Saint Molaisi, tlie other saints meelrin, of which one of his family was the ancient 
 
 commemorated there were Osnat, 6th January ; Naile, Coarb, is in possession of a curious relic consisting of a 
 
 27th January; Siollan. 17th May. brass box, in which it is said St. Molaissi's gospel was 
 
 j In a note under the year 1439, Dr. O'Donovan in- preserved. This box exhibits a curious Irish inscription, 
 
 forms us that Mr. Meehin, who still possesses the Ter- containing the name of the artist and person for whom 
 
 monlands of Ballagh (in 'lie parish of Rossinver. in the it was made, 
 north of the county Leitrim) now known as Ballagh-
 
 71 
 
 are two others at different heights ; one of these, which the builder considered should appear as an angu- 
 lar headed opening on the exterior, is quadrangular within. Dr. Petric, in his work on Irish Ecclesiasti- 
 cal Architecture, 11 directed attention to the fact that " in many of the apertures, which exhibit semi- 
 circular and angular heads, these forms are only external, and their internal construction preserves the 
 quadrangular form, by a lintel more or less recessed, which rests upon the jambs." In illustration, the 
 learned author gives wood-cuts of such openings in the towers of Cashel and of Dysert, which exactly 
 correspond with those observed at Devenish. This peculiarity seems deserving of more notice 
 than it has received from inquirers, as it argues some architectural rule strictly observed, both as 
 regards the form of the opening and its position in the building : — for, if the form had been arbi- 
 trary, the square-headed would have been chosen ; and if position had depended only on con- 
 venience for admitting light, it would have been placed a few feet lower on the building, by which the 
 necessity of blocking up a part of a window of very small dimensions, intended to light one of the 
 stories into which the interior was divided, would have been obviated. It seems probable, in the 
 present instance, that the blocking up of a part of the opening was to exclude from the view of persons 
 without some part of a floor or stair that crossed this part of the building ; or we may perhaps go a 
 step further and infer that the stair was spiral, and that the architect, calculating from its point of 
 commencement, foresaw that it would of necessity cover this part of the window, and be an unseemly 
 object from without : still it is difficult to understand why the openings were so spaced as to require 
 this provision. The roof of this tower has been constructed with great skill ; its apex is formed of 
 one large stone cut into the form of a bell. As much care seems to have been taken in finishing the 
 interior of the whole tower as the exterior; and Archdall does not err in comparing its appearance 
 to that of a smooth gun-barrel. 
 
 The excavation made within this building was conducted with the same care used in those previously 
 examined ; but no remains of any kind were found to elucidate the former investigations. It is there- 
 fore only needful to note the negative facts, that after the removal of a largo quantity of accumulated 
 material, a lime floor was discovered on a level with the second off-set of the base ; that after sinkine 
 somewhat deeper, a second lime floor was uncovered, beyond which the examination was continued 
 to the foundation ; no remains of any kind, with the exception of a boar's tusk, being thrown out. 
 
 During the investigation at the tower, a similar proceeding was going forward at the ruins of 
 the stone-roofed chapel already alluded to more than once in this notice of Devenish. In Dr. 
 Ledwich's Antiquities, and in the plate published in Cough's Camden, this building is repre- 
 sented as perfect; but its dilapidation had commenced in 1806, when Sir E. C. Iloare only speaks 
 of its fragments. " It has,'' he adds, " a small round-headed entrance-door towards the west. This 
 was certainly the original chapel, anil perhaps the habitation of the saint who first sought retire- 
 ment in this island. A little to the north of these ruins is a stone coffin on the ground, said to have 
 
 i Transactions It. I. Acadumy, vol. xx., p -ill.
 
 been the saint's grave." In 1824, when the writer first visited the island, important portions of 
 Saint Molaissi's house were still standing ; and in a drawing made at that time by a French gentle- 
 man, Mr. Besaucele, teacher of drawing in the Royal Belfast Academical Institution, the verj 
 curiously shaped arch that supported the roof is shown. According to the statements then made 
 by the boatmen and others, the injury to this interesting structure had been occasioned by persons 
 from Enniskillen stripping it of the few large flags which formed the roof. 
 
 Saint Molaissi's house was a very small rectangular building, having an entrance, as already men- 
 tioned, in the west end. It had been erected with a view to great durability ; and very large blocks of 
 ^tone, carefully shaped so as to fit on one another without any filling up or spawling, had been em- 
 ed : even in forming the arched roof the same ponderous materials had been used. It is further 
 to be noticed that proofs still remained of the arch having been turned on a centering of basket work or 
 wattles. Mr. Murphy suggested that so heavy an arch could only have been formed by filling up the 
 internal space with cloy shaped to the requisite curve, and then covered with the basket work and con- 
 crete, of which the remains were still observable in the debris thrown out. This, when the work was 
 believed to be sufficiently consolidated, he supposed to have been gradually withdrawn. The roof 
 stones were coated inside by a kind of tufa, caused by water having percolated through the arch. This 
 building stood east by north, and was precisely parallel with the old monastic church. The examination 
 of it, though attended with considerable labour and difficulty, was not without result. As, however, this 
 interesting monument had sunk under its own weight, after the removal of the large flags which 
 formed the exterior of its roof and fitted it to endure, for ages, the ravages of all save the hand of 
 man, its interior was nearly filled by the massive stones which formed the arched roof. The ex- 
 plorers paused in their labour to admire the industry of those who, in the supposed infancy of the 
 builder's art, had constructed this ponderous piece of masonry ; for nothing but the immense thickness 
 of the walls could have enabled them, without buttresses, to bear the heavy roof,whose lateral pres- 
 sure must have been very great. 
 
 The view of the tower here given shows the stone-roofed chapel as it appeared at the period of the 
 writer's first visit; but now its ruins can be traced with difficulty. It is not improbable that the form 
 of arch represented had been caused by the whole building having sunk and warped on the removal 
 of the centering at the time of its construction. The interior arch supported a high pitched stone-roof 
 of flags, as already mentioned. 1 
 
 As it would have been a work requiring a considerable time to remove all the great stones which 
 now filled the original ground plot of this chapel, it was found necessary to confine the exploration 
 to the west ; and only to that part opposite to the entrance, on which side of the building it is sup- 
 posed, or stated by some writer, that the stone coffin of Saint Molaissi at one time stood. The 
 
 1 Lewis, who is generally accurate, gives the following —St. Molaissi's house 30 by 18 feet ; abbey church 04 bj 
 measurements of the buildings on Devenish. The lower 24 feet, with a large aisle northward;— Tower 82 feet high, 
 church 76' feet by 21 feet, with a large aisle on the north ; and 49 feet in circuu-ference.—
 
 md on this side having been opened along the wall, some human bones were discovered, and a 
 detached skull deposited in the south-eastern corner. The inquiry was pushed further, but no other 
 
 ■very was made. It seemed, however, probable that all the remains found formed par: 
 the same body originally. 
 
 The following conjectures, formed at the moment, have been rather strengthened by farther considera- 
 tion. There seems little doubt that this remarkable cell or chapel has been always associated with the 
 name of one of the ancient Irish saiuts ; nor is it improbable that after his death it was the sanctuary 
 wherein his stone coffin stood : for it is not likely that in an age when his memory wa3 fresh, his body 
 would have been laid in the exposed position where this curious relic was now observed."' It is more 
 probable that iu a subsequent age the cell was opened, and the stone coffin discovered and desecrated 
 by persons who found it their interest to turn it to profitable account, but who had sufficient revere 
 for the dead, and of superstition, to cause them to inter the remains found within it inside the chapel itself. 
 The coffin, removed to the exterior, became the saint's bed, in which he was reputed to have rested daring 
 his life of strict penance, and which was held to be most efficacious in the cure of all the disorders man is 
 heir to. The lid of this coffin had been, purposely perhaps, removed from it ; but the writer, after dili- 
 gent search, had the good fortune to find it placed as a headstone in the cemetery near the abbey. A full 
 length figure could still be traced sculptured in very low relief on its surface. It seems therefore not im- 
 probable that the remains were truly those of the saint; and on examining the skull it was evident that the 
 individual had been partially deformed, perhaps wry-necked : the writer, therefore, concluded that this 
 deformity might lead to a circumstantial identification ; and he, in consequence, inquired of those friends 
 who had distinguished themselves by their researches into ancient manuscripts, whether any reference wa 
 found in the lives of Saint Molaissi to his personal appearance. The only response to the inquiry was 
 from Mr. Eugene Curry, who some time afterwards, on meeting the writer iu Dublin, mentioned thai 
 in oue life of this saint he had met a statement which seemed to him to bear upon the point in question. 
 Mr. Curry at the time repeated the general statement he referred to, and at a future day made a written 
 communication, which seems too valuable, coming from so high an authority, to be omitted or abridge, i. 
 It is here given in ipsissimis verbis. It will be seen that Mr. Curry does not pretend to consider the 
 statement as more than a legend ; but the legend may have been invented to account for an actual fact. 
 With this explanation, the reader must be allowed to draw his own conclusion as to the identity of the 
 remains with those of the saint in question ; for it is only an inference from the legend to suppose thai 
 retarded parturition caused deformity. 
 
 m Seward, Topograph™ Hilernica, published in 1795, contains the reliques of St. Laserian or Molaise. Saint 
 
 says, speaking of Saint Molaissi iu connection with Ue- Molaise's house is a vaulted building of hewn stone: it 
 
 venish — " And here are his relics contained in a vaulted and the round tower have every appearance ot being 
 
 building of hewn stone, called St. Molaisis house." Dr. built by the same architects." Dr. Ledwich considers 
 
 Ledwich says—" The oldest erections here are St. Mo- all similar buildings as erected for the purpose of coti- 
 
 laise's house and a fine round tower. The former taining the relicmes of saints.
 
 74 
 
 " 11, Judd-Street, London, 23rd September, 1855. 
 
 " Dear Sir, — I recollect that some time ago you mentioned to me in Dublin that you had pro- 
 cured from Damh-Inis (Devenish Island), a human skull, which you had reason to believe was the 
 skull of Saint Molaise, the patron of that island. You remarked to me, at the same time, that the 
 skull had some peculiarity— the precise nature of which I now forget — from which you had inferred 
 that the head, when living, must have been awry, or inclined to one side of the neck. With 
 the recollection of this curious fact on my mind, I, as soon as time would permit me, on my arrival 
 here in April last, looked into an ancient Irish Life, on vellum, of Saint Molaise of Devenish, pre- 
 served in the British Museum ; and it gives me much pleasure to send you, shortly, the result of my 
 examination, which, if it does not clearly establish the identity of the Saint's skull, will certainly, in 
 my mind, go very far to do so. 
 
 " In every case of forcibly procrastinated birth that I have met with in ancient Irish manu- 
 scripts, the subjects retained, for ever after, the mark of the unnatural procedure ; as in the case 
 of Conall Cearnach, the great Ulster champion ; Fiacha Muilleathan, or Piacha the broad-pated, 
 King of Munster ; Tuathal Maelgarbh, or Tuathal of the rugged pate, monarch of Erin, &c. &c. 
 And although the Life of Saint Molaise does not record any deformity of his person as the result of 
 the forcible delay of his birth, yet there can be no reasonable doubt that his head was marked by 
 some peculiarity ; to account for which, perhaps, this legend of the manner of his birth was made up. 
 
 " ' It condairc mathair Molaise aiding isin oidche .\. seclit n-ubhla cumru dfhaghail di ; 7 in t-ubhal 
 dtiigltinach do ghabh ina laimh dibit nir iacmaic a glac e re remhed. Indarhi nir dille in t-or ina i t~ 
 ubliall. Iimisidli da fir in aisling sin. Tuicimsi sin amh, bar in fear, ocas bera-sa gein amhra, oats 
 cinvfidh ar a chomh-dine. 
 
 " ' Cidh tra acht tainic aimsir asaidhe inathar Molaise, ocus m gabsat idlina hi. A dtibairt an drai 
 fria : Dafuirge do ghein gan a breith no go turgaba grian amdraclt, bid airdcrc ocus bid ordan mor 
 mirbuilech, firen, fir-uasal ; ocus bid gein sochair slanaightln iarthair in domhain in degh-ghein breth, 
 a bfiean. 
 
 " ' Dofuiridh infir-dliia in gein a m-broinn Monoa gur tuisim i n-Airiud Bhairr for an leic chloich 
 iar n-eirge greine arnabharach ; ocus tucad chum espuic Eochaidh gur baistedh, ocus gur bennaiged : 
 OCUS is esin tuc cet gradha fair iartain.' 
 
 " ' Molaise's mother saw a vision in the night — viz., that she found seven sweet apples ; and the last 
 apple of them which she took in her hand, her hand could not encompass it because of its bulk ; and 
 it appeared unto her that gold was not more beautiful than the apple. She told her vision to her 
 husband. I understand it, said the husband, and you will bring forth an illustrious being who will 
 excel all his contemporaries. In the meantime, the time of Molaise's mother's travail came, and a druid 
 [wise man] said to her : — If you can delay the birth of your child till after the sun has risen to- 
 morrow, he shall be an illustrious, dignified, miraculous, truly righteous, and truly noble man ; and
 
 75 
 
 that precious being which thou wilt bring forth, woman, will be a being of profit and salvation to 
 the western world. The true God detained the infant in Monoa's womb until she brought him forth 
 at Airiud Bhairr, upon the flag-stone, after sunrise on the morrow. And he was brought unto Bishop 
 Eochaidh, who baptised and blessed him ; and it was he that conferred first orders upon him after- 
 wards.' 
 
 " Should this short extract be found in any way useful to you in your honest and valuable anti- 
 quarian researches, it will indeed be the cause of much satisfaction to, dear Sir, yours very faithfully, 
 
 " Edmund Getty, Esq." " Eugene Cubby. 
 
 The opinion of Ledwich, that stone-roofed chapels were erected to receive the relics of certain 
 holy men, is open to objection ; for these buildings may, with equal plausibility, be considered as the 
 original churches erected contemporaneously with the towers. At the same time, it is highly pro- 
 bable that the relics of such persons -were deposited in them or in the towers, at the time of their 
 erection, or at a subsequent period, and that this was the case with respect to St Molaissi at Devenish. 
 
 Another question, however, arises out of the facts observed during the explorations made at this 
 famous seat of our early Christianity, more closely connected with au inquiry into the uses of the 
 Irish Round Towers. 
 
 There are few candid investigators, whatever may be the views with which they commence, who 
 do not feel compelled to admit that the most reasonable conjecture on the subject is the one so ably 
 supported by Dr. Petrie iu his celebrated essay. The writer, however, cannot join the learned 
 author and his admirers (many of them very injudicious friends,) in altogether ignoring the conjectures 
 of such persons as the gentlemen who compose the South Munster Antiquarian Society ; for it is one of 
 the cases in which both views may be correct. Indeed it is difficult to imagine any more natural course 
 than for an enthusiastic people to deposit in such buildings the recent bodies or the remains of those 
 whom they highly venerated during life, and whose good works had become associated with the place. 
 That this may have actually occurred, the human remains found in the towers give some reason for 
 believing, without, at the same time, adopting the extreme view of what is called the "sepulchral 
 origin " theory ; for it is a very different thing to view the towers as sepulchres, and to consider them .is 
 ecclesiastical buildings appropriated, as a secoudary object, to the reception of the bodies of those 
 venerated in connection with the religious foundations of the locality. Indeed this very system exists 
 to the present day in the old churches of these islands and causes no surprise ; it is therefore quite 
 compatible with all Dr. Petrie's views that this might have been the case with the ecclesiastical 
 buildings of the ancient Irish : so that his theory is weakened — not, certainly, strengthened — by the 
 sensitiveness of his supporters in this matter, and by the unsatisfactory manner in which he himself 
 endeavours to account for the human remains from time to time discovered. 
 
 In the case of Devenish, the absence of human remains in the tower, so far from shaking tin
 
 76 
 
 writer's opinion that, in many instances, these buildings were places of deposit for the remains of the 
 honoured dead, confirmed this view ; for he believes that if the stone-roofed chapel had not presented 
 what appeared a still more fitting place, the sarcophagus of the founder would have been deposited 
 in the tower : thus the exception, in some measure, proves the rule. 
 
 There is another question respecting the towers that may be usefully discussed here — the object 
 of the lime floors mentioned by most of those who have taken part in the explorations of those 
 buildings. Were they or were they not connected with the sepulchral use? — Some time before examin- 
 ing Devenish, the writer had doubts as to the intuition of these floors, and was inclined rather to 
 consider them as a finish made by workmen, than as having any connection with the remains found 
 uuder them. It seems probable that as the building proceeded, the workmen filled in with clay the 
 interior, and at each offset levelled it off; and having smoothed the surface with care, gave it a 
 covering of dry lime rubbish, so as to produce the appearance observed; and that this was done as 
 high as the intended base extended. In those cases where a body, or the remains of one, was intended 
 to be deposited, the floor was afterwards made ; but in any case the floor seems to have been formed. 
 Of this an unmistakeable instance was found at Devenish ; where, though no remains had been 
 deposited, the floors were formed in an equally careful manner as in other towers where interments 
 had taken place. 
 
 Saint Molaissi's death is generally assumed to have been subsequent to the erection of the tower and 
 of what is nami d his " house ;" and we may suppose that, if any one beforehis time had been connected 
 with Devenish, the remains of such earlier saint might have been found in the tower ; but we do not 
 meet with any name, except his, associated with the ruins here. If a building such as the " house" 
 had not existed, it is the writer's opinion that the saint's remains would have been discovered in the 
 tower; and he was so much impressed with this belief that it led to a more diligent investigation 
 in the ruins of" St. Molaissi's house" than would otherwise have been made. 
 
 It is further to be observed — for where the investigation of truth, not the establishment of a 
 tl 'iry, is the object in view, every fact requires to be fully set forth — that, with the exception of 
 Trummery tower, this is the only instance in which the remains seem to have been deposited with tin: 
 amount of care that seems likely to have been bestowed on the bodies of persons held in high esteem by 
 their fellow-men ; although in the other cases mentioned, the bones deposited in the towers were, in 
 the writer's estimation, not the result of accident but of design. It is not now to be anticipated that 
 these difficulties are ever likely to receive a satisfactory explanation. 
 
 The learned Muratori, in the first volume of the Anecdota, when commenting on a poem of S . 
 Paulinus, who died at the commencement of the fifth century, and on the following passage therein — 
 
 " Tegit una latentem 
 Cellula <le multis, quae per latera undique innguis 
 Adpositaj tectis praibent secura sepultis 
 Hospitia' —
 
 troduces a dissertation ou early Christian sepulture, in which he shows that, from a very early 
 iriod indeed, the bodies of holy men were deposited in churches ; and that a Christian temple eould 
 n.it be consecrated unless it contained the body of a martyr or other relies. This sentiment is alco 
 expressed by Paulinus in a line in the same poem — 
 
 " Qua; cineres reveranda tegunt altaria sacros." 
 It is not in place here to give the various authorities quoted by Muratori ; but there is one part 
 of the dissertation that applies to the relics found in Saint Molaissi's house — Gellulce this author 
 translates by the Italian word Captile, and he considers the Latin Cubicula as of equivalent signifi- 
 cation. " Kadem Cubicula," he adds, " quoque »«« appellabantur a Grsccis," It is not men- 
 tioned at what time the stone-roofed chapel at Devenish acquired the name "house;" but if this 
 appellation has come down from early times, it does not seem improbable that the idea was acquired 
 from those olxinxoi, which were tombs. Conjecture may, perhaps, proceed a step further, and in- 
 S tea 1 of considering buildings, so much out of proportion with the towers near which they are found, 
 as the original churches, may look on them as cells or chapels attached to large churches, perhaps of 
 timber, which have now altogether disappeared. " Lateribus autem Basilicce cellulsB istse, seu Cubi- 
 cula, insitaerant, eodemque, procuklubio, ordine, quo prrcsentiuuitem]: )rum Capella; dispositae conspi- 
 ciuntur." " These cells or resting-places were joined to the Basilicks, doubtless by the same rule as 
 is observed in placing the small chapels of the present period." Such is the view taken by Muratori. 
 It is proper nevertheless, to keep in view the statements of Dr. Petrie's in his Sub-section iv., entitled 
 " Hoi i
 
 78 
 
 THE ROUND TOWERS OE U ESTER. 
 
 DRUMLANE TOWER, COUNTY CAVAN. 
 
 " Alack, and what would good old Mogue there see, 
 But empty lodgings and unfurnished walls, 
 Unpeopled offices, untrodden stoues ?" 
 
 Drumlane fDruim-leathain, " the broad ridge," or "hill,") is the name of a townland and parish 
 in the barony of Loughtce, and county of Cavan, where arc the ruins of a church, and remains of a 
 Round Tower, which are situated near the village of Milltown, and about three miles S.W. of 
 Belturbet. The burning of this place is recorded by the Four Masters, as early as the year 1246. 
 Saint Maedhog (" Maidoc," or " Mogue,") is the reputed founder of the monastic church here, of 
 which he was considered the patron saint. Dr. Lanigan, however, considers that Colgan errs in 
 making this assertion ; and the only connection he finds of the saint's history with the place is a 
 statement which goes to prove the previous existence of Drumlane ; for his parents are represented, 
 after bein°- married some time without issue, as having prayed to God to grant them a son, for which 
 purpose they also gave great alms, and often went to the monastery of Druim-leathan, where they 
 used to request the prayers of the holy men who resided there.* 
 
 Entries of an early date in the Annals are found having reference to a religious house here. For 
 example, the Four Masters, in 1025, record the death of Duibhinsi Ua Faircheallaigh [O'Farrelly] 
 abbot of Drumlane ; and again, in 1059, the demise of another member, it may be presumed, of the 
 same family, Conaing Da Faircheallaigh, anr/iimieaeli of Driiim leathan, successor of Saint Maedhog, 
 in Connaught, &c. "The O'Farrellys were the hereditary coarhs of Saint Mogue, or Erenachs 
 of Drumlane till the suppression of the monastery." A good example is afforded by this sept 
 [natio] of Munster, Farrelly, of the peculiar tenure by which church-lands were held under the early 
 Irish system ; but it would be out of place here to do more than make a reference to the information 
 
 » Lfitiigan, vol. 3, ]i 333.
 
 
 X 
 
 
 
 
 
 ■ 
 
 3 :fc^ 
 
 «** WWfcSSS 
 
 i 
 
 
 i*" 1 
 
 V ' " '
 
 afforded by Dr. Reeves in his Acts of Archbishop Colton ; by Mr. Porter, the translator of that work, 
 in the Ulster Journal of Archeology ; and perhaps most of all by Mr. King, in his admirable Memoir 
 Introductory to the Early History of the Primacy of Armagh. 
 
 It may be interesting to collect a few of the other general notices of tins place, now obscure, but 
 at one time important in Irish history, winch are found in the Annals : — 
 The age of Christ, 1261, a great depredation was committed by Hugh O'Conor, in Breifny, and he advanced to 
 
 Druim-lahan, where a part of his army was defeated, and many of the less distinguished of tliem were slain. 
 The age of Christ, 1314, the O'Reillys were defeated at Drumlahan, by Rory, the son of Cathal O'Conor. 
 The age of Christ, 1343, John MaeDuibhne, Archdeacon of Drumlahan, died. 
 The age of Christ, 1368, Murray O'Farrelly, Coarb of Maidog [i.e., abbot of Drumlane, near Belturbet, Co. Cavan] 
 
 and Archdeacon of Breifny [i.e. Kilmore, Co. Cavan] died, after a victory over the world and the devil. 
 The age of Christ, 1369, Murray O'Farrelly, coarb of Saint Maidoc, and Archdeacon of Breifny, died. 
 The age of Christ, 1391, O'Rorke (Tiernan) with a small body of troops, repaired to Drumlahan, to meet O'Reilly 
 
 (John) ;— when the Clann Murtough O'Conor heard of this, they met him, with all their forces, at Belagh-an- 
 
 Chrionaigh the [read of the withered trees, or brambles] but O'Rorke with his small body of troops defeated 
 
 them, and made them retreat before him, 8tc. 
 This extract is peculiarly interesting in regard to this locality; for it is not difficult to believe that 
 the road now leading to the church and tower is the very passage described in the ancient record. 
 The age of Christ, 1407, John, the son of Teige O'Rourke, heir to the lordship of Breifny, died in Moyling and was 
 
 interred in Drumlane. 
 The age of Christ, 141 8, Richard, the son of Thomas O'Reilly, Lord of East Breifny, was drowned in Lough Silean, 
 
 [now Lough Sheelin] and with him were also drowned his son, Owen Reilly, Philip, the son of Gilla-lsa, son 
 
 of Godfrey O'Reilly, Deacon of Drumlane, and Vicar of Eanaeh-garbh, and many other distinguished persons. 
 
 Finola, however, daughter of Mac Rannall, and wife of O'Reilly, escaped by swimming. [The Annals of Ulster 
 
 call O'Reilly King of Breifny, and state that he went in a cot to meet the English.] 
 The age of Christ, 1490, the Canon MacTiernan, of Drumlane, died. 
 The age of Christ, 1512, Hugh O'Mael-Mocherighe, Coarb of Dromlane, was drowned. 
 
 It is not stated whether this " chief of the early rising," as his name is translated by Dr. O'Dono- 
 van, was one of the Farrelly family ; perhaps he was, as the learned editor just quoted states that 
 " Early" is now the family name representing O'Mulmogherry. In the same year an entry is found 
 of the death of Failghe, the son of Maelmora O'Reilly, slain at Drumlane, by some persons of his 
 own name. 
 
 The tower at this place was opened by the writer and Mr. Grattan, of Belfast, on the 26th July, 
 1844; assisted by Mr. O'Reilly, a Roman Catholic clergyman, residing in the ■vicinity. It stands in the 
 church-yard, close to the ruins of a former parish-church, b and very near the margin of Lough 
 Oughter, one of the many inland lakes found in this part of the country. According to Colgan, it 
 is situated on the boundary of the two Brcirhys. At a short distance are the remains of the monas- 
 tery already spoken of; and the approach to all these ancient structures is by the road already 
 mentioned, Belagh-an- Chriona/igh. 
 
 b It is on the north side ; and the church, which is a long building, extends beyond it some distance towards the west.
 
 80 
 
 The Annals of the Four Masters use the expression " the great church of Drumlane ;" but it seems 
 doubtful whether the remains now standing are those of the building mentioned by them in 1484. 
 It is of considerable length, extending some distance to the east, but much further to the west, of 
 the tower, as shown in the sketch. 
 
 
 Uij«&i«s*£"'~ 
 
 It will be observed that the side- walls are strengthened by little buttresses, at short distancei 
 apart ; and, that the west end, which is tolerably perfect, is constructed in a peculiar maimer, but 
 in conformity with the plan adopted in the sides. It consists of a triangle of heavy masonry in- 
 tersected by the side-walls, so as to cut off a part that corresponds with the buttresses ; or perhaps 
 it is more correct to say that the buttresses were constructed to correspond with the projection of 
 the western wall. The reason for giving this great strength to the building is not very apparent. 
 A part of the west window still remains, and fragments of stone mullions. The east end of the 
 church is in ruins ; materials having been taken from it for the erection of other buildings. There 
 are small side-windows, one of them exactly opposite the door of the tower, (which faces the church.) 
 It looks towards the south, and is ten feet two inches above the level of the church-yard. 
 
 The Annals of the Four Musters have an entry, at the age of Christ 1484 : the quotation of which 
 has been purposely deferred on account of its connection with this part of the subject. 
 
 John O'Farrelly, a canon of the family of Drumlane, and Brien O'Farrelly, a priest, who had commenced building 
 an anchorite's cell at the great church of Drumlane, died. 
 
 Persons who have given attention to the discussions respecting Bound Towers, will probably re- 
 collect that this simple entry has been used as a proof that these buildings were Anchorite Towers, 
 and that Dr. Petrie has fully discussed this question in his work. Here it is only necessary to copy 
 the interesting note of Dr. O'Donovan, on the text of the Annals : — " Anchorite's cell, f Clock 
 Anejeoire, i.e. the stone of the domicile of the recluse. The late Mr. Kennedy, of Killycar, near Drum-
 
 SI 
 
 lane, who was maternally descended from the O'Faro lly's, told the Editor, in May 1836, that this 
 Cloch-Angcoire, or Anchorite's stone domicile, was a small, low, stone ei'll, situated near tli. 
 church of Drumlane. Harris, in his edition of Ware, states that Cloch-Angcoire was the Irish nan 
 
 lound Tower of Drumlane ; but Mr. Kennedy, who knew the Irish language and the t raditior 
 Drumlane better than Harris, told the Editor that the Sound Tower of Drumlane was always called 
 Cloigtheach in Irish, and that he always understood that this was the Irish term for belfry; and 
 added, that the constant tradition among the O'Farrellys was, that the round steeple at Drumlane 
 was originally built, and always, till about two centuries since, used as a belfry." 
 
 The tower, when viewed hi connection with the church, as shown in the sketch ahead} git 
 inclines the observer to consider the opinion, that one object of these buildings wa s having 
 
 some plausibility ; and this is confirmed by the very remarkable mode of building adopted in the 
 tower; for the lower part, to the height of twenty-two feet, is constructed of carefully- wrought sand- 
 stone, and is equal in 
 execution to the tower 
 of Devenish itself; the 
 stones being fitted to 
 their places with great 
 care. The door- way, 
 which is in this part of 
 the structure, partakes 
 of the same skilful and 
 admirable workmanship; 
 being formed of stones of 
 the full thickness of the 
 walls, which in this part 
 is three feet three inches. 
 Its architrave projects 
 boldly 3 or 4 inches 
 from the general line of 
 the ashlar ; and the top; 
 which is arched, is key, d 
 in a workmanlike man- 
 ner, as shown in the ac- 
 companying sketch. 
 
 In the upper part of 
 ins of this 
 building, a peculiarity of poo
 
 82 
 
 construction is observed which deserves to be noticed. After the point already mentioned is reached, 
 a change takes place both in the material and workmanship ; the remainder of the tower being built of 
 coarse rubble-work, of the meanest description. As there is no evidence whatever of the lower portion 
 having been repaired or cased at a period subsequent to its erection, there is little doubt that this work, 
 at least what remains of it, now stands as originally erected ; another mystery connected with Eound 
 Towers. The probable solution is, that the object of the builder was to make the structure a place 
 of defence ; and this was fully attained by the plan pursued : for the lower portion would have re " 
 sisted a degree of violence quite sufficient to destroy the upper part. It may also be noticed that 
 the height of the ashlar-work reaches to about the same elevation as the walls of the church. If the 
 parts had been reversed, the conclusion would have been that the building was the work of diffe- 
 rent periods ; one part exhibiting the first efforts of a rude people, and the other showing unmis- 
 takeable evidence of an advanced state of architecture. 
 
 Of this tower about forty feet only now remain. Its exterior circumference at the base is fifty- 
 two feet ; at the same part, the interior diameter is ten feet six inches ; and, as already men- 
 tioned, the thickness of the wall, measured at the door, is three feet three inches. The entrance 
 itself, which is several feet above the level of the ground, is five feet six inches in height, and two 
 feet wide at the sill, tapering to one foot eight inches-and-a-half at the spring of the arch. Above the 
 door, in the upper part of the tower, a small angular-headed window is observed, the top formed, in 
 the most simple manner, by two pieces of sand-stone inclined towards one another and meeting at 
 the top. 
 
 On the north-east part of the exterior of this tower some rude efforts at sculpture are observable, 
 which, if not co-eval with the building, possess some pretensions to antiquity. Of these, two figures 
 in low relief may be mentioned, which arc named by the country-people, from the rude resem- 
 blance they bear, "the Cock and Hen." 
 
 On commencing the examination, the tower was found to be filled, up to within eight feet of the 
 entrance, with a quantity of material which it was necessary to remove. The first two feet in 
 depth consisted of the usual kind of debris found in similar buildings ; after which about a foot of 
 soft compressible mould, of a reddish-brown colour, not unlike the upper part of a peat moss, was 
 thrown out, This had apparently originated from the decomposition of a quantity of twigs, or small 
 branches of trees. A solid floor of clay was then reached, having distinct traces, over the greater 
 part of its surface, of the sprinkling or coating of lime observed in other towers. In the clay, lying 
 on its side in the north-west quadrant, as shown in the plan, was found the greater part of a 
 human skull. 
 
 There were also the principal bones of the skeleton scattered through the remainder, but with- 
 out order or regularity ; being, however, chiefly crowded into a central space, as marked by the 
 dotted lines ; with these were also found a large portion of the lower jaw of an ox, and fragments 
 of the upper jaw of a deer or goat, and of a dog ; great quantities of bones, considered at the time
 
 B3 
 
 to be those of oxen ; re- 
 mains of some small birds; 
 fragments of charcoal and 
 unconsumed peat ; fre- 
 quent traces of decom- 
 posed wood ; and, in two 
 circumscribed spaces, a 
 
 //""r 
 
 mould identical in compo- 
 sition with that which had 
 been last removed. In the 
 patch of mould lying at 
 the northern edge of the 
 floor, a fragment of glass 
 was found, nearly four 
 inches in diameter ; being 
 that part known common- 
 ly by the name of " the 
 bull's eye." It became a 
 difficult question to ac- 
 count for the presence of 
 the glass, and the two 
 patches of clay so different 
 from every other part of 
 the floor. Mr. O'Keilly, 
 who had very kindly aided 
 in the inquiries made, di- 
 rected attention to the fact 
 that, though the greater 
 part of the lime floor re- 
 mained perfect, yet evi- 
 dent proofs were to be 
 observed of the surface 
 having been partially dis- 
 turbed subsequent to its 
 
 A. Common debris- 
 
 B. Red- coloured mould. 
 
 original formation, which 
 it may be supposed was 
 at the time of the con- 
 struction of the tower. — 
 It still remained impossi- 
 ble to account for this fact; 
 but the difficulty was un- 
 
 
 S( <///>// from Bast to Door 
 
 P////t shelving Door and 
 
 ■ 
 
 expectedly solved, after 
 the close of the proceed- 
 ings, by a young man, 
 Philip Roden, who, with- 
 out being aware of our 
 perplexity, informed us 
 that the floor of the tower, 
 just opposite the " Cock 
 and Hen," had been for- 
 merly dug into by parties 
 in search of money, who 
 were induced to make the 
 attempt in consequence of 
 an old woman having 
 dreamed that gold was 
 concealed in that particu- 
 Nlar spot. It is most pro- 
 bable that (as generally 
 occurs in such cases) the 
 parties became alarmed, 
 and did not pursue their 
 inquiry; or that their cu- 
 riosity was satisfied when 
 they found no gold in the 
 immediate locality of the 
 birds, which seem to have 
 made a deep impression 
 
 C. Polid clay floor, with coating of lime. 
 
 D. Here the skull vras found. 
 
 | E. Chips of sand-stone and traces of 
 fire, &c.
 
 84 
 
 on the old lady's brain. After passing through this floor so full of remains, a stratum was reached 
 composed of chips of sand-stone, lime, sand, &c, ten inches in depth, being evidently formed durin<» 
 the construction of the lower part of the building : a few large bones and fragments of charcoal 
 were also met with. Finally, the excavation was continued in that part where the glass had 
 been found, to a depth of four feet, and the spot was reached where the foundation stones narrowed 
 the interior : nothing more, however, was discovered. Large " spawls" or chips of sand-stone, 
 exhibiting traces of fire, were observed, lying in a material similar to moist peat ashes; and some 
 large field-stones were also turned up. Amongst the ashy material a few minute particles of burned 
 bone, and a part of a nut-shell, were also picked up. 
 
 INISKEEN TOWER, COUNTY OF MONAGHAN. 
 
 " Those pointed spires that wound the ambient sky, 
 Inglorious change! shall in destruction lie." — Prior. 
 
 On the very borders of Ulster, but encroaching somewhat on Leinstcr, is found the parish of 
 Iniskeen, [the "beautiful island,"] the chief part of which lies in the barony of Farncy, County 
 of Monaghan. It is distinguished by the Four Masters from other places of the same name in this 
 country by the addition of Deagha, the name of its patron saint. 
 
 " The river Fane formerly divided here, and meeting again, lower down," says the Rev. G. H. 
 Reade, in the Transactions of the Kilkenny Archaeological Society, " thus made Inniskeene, (called by 
 some 'pleasing island;' but, as it was used as a burying-ground, may mean the island of keening or 
 mourning." Mr. Reade mentions a large moat or earn, composed of great stones and covered with 
 earth, containing, very probably, a chamber and passage like the one at Dowth. 
 
 Mr. Shirley, in Ins very interesting account of the barony of Farney, gives the following notices 
 of this parish. " The rectory was anciently appropriate to the abbey at Louth ; its value, at the 
 time of the suppression, was 40s. In the fourth of James I. it was found to be of no value, on ac- 
 count of the rebellion in the County of Monaghan ; but formerly let for twelve lagence of butter, 
 and the sum of £2 annually. These tithes, like the moiety of those of Donaghmoyne and Magh 
 Ross, which also formed part of the spiritual possessions of the Abbey of Louth, were restored to 
 the church during the episcopate of Bishop Montgomery, between the years 1633 and 1639, as \w 
 have noticed before in the account of the parish of Donaghmoyne. The value of the vicarage of 
 Inislceme, in 1622, was £10 ; it was held by John Davison, M.A., who was also vicar of Killanney, 
 and resided in this parish " in a house of his own building on temporal! lands, for he hath no glebe." 
 The church was ruinous. In 1634 the living was only worth £18 per annum." 
 
 "The Parish of Iniskeen, like that of Killanney, is partly in Monaghan and partly in the County 
 of Louth. The church which, although it appears to be modern, is really a building of some an- 
 tiquity, is in the former county, and contains nothing worthy of notice; the only remains of the
 
 85 
 
 original architecture of the place (with the exceptio i of the Round Tower) being a sculptured head in 
 freestone, much defaced, which may be observed built into the wall of a vault in the eastern ex- 
 tremity of the church-yard." 
 
 Close to the church, and not far from the banks of the rapid river Fane, is a Round Tower, the 
 only one in the barony. It is, however, one of the less interesting specimens of these remarkable 
 buildings, having lost much of its original height. It is constructed of hammered whin-stone, the 
 summit (of what remains of it) having been transformed into a modern belfry . c The door at the 
 1* ittom, which Sir Charles Coote mentions in his Survey of Monaghan as remarkable, is undoubtedly 
 modern; the walls arc three feet in thickness. The same author gives notices of inscriptions on 
 tombs, burial-places, and caves, in the neighbourhood. Mr. Eeade says, in reference to this build- 
 ing : — " Of the Round Tower there remain only forty-two feet, but it must have been one of the 
 highest when perfect, if built in the proportion of six diameters; as it is fifty-one feet in circum- 
 ference, at four feet from the present surface, which has been raised many feet by interments : it 
 is well and carefully built of very large stones, many of them nearly four feet long, and some 
 eighteen inches deep ; they are of the hard porphyritie trap and some other stones of igneous origin 
 abounding in the district, and which are so well exhibited in the cuttings of the Dnndalk and En- 
 niskillen Railway alternating with the clay slate, in many spots altering the slates by their intensi 
 heat, and inclined with them at all angles up to the perpendicular." 
 
 " These large and very hard stones have been formed to the curve of the tower by a heavy pick, 
 or some such instrument ; the deep sharp marks of which are distinctly visible at each end of the 
 stone, leaving the centre as in nature. The door, which is placed at the height of fourteen feet 
 eight inches above the present surface, faces exactly the same point as the small old church, S.E. 
 by S. ; none of the original stones of the door- way remain, except the sill-flag, which is of very 
 large size, passing through nearly the entire breadth of the wall ; there are two shallow drills cut 
 across its depth in front, as if to fit a ladder ; its dimensions are four feet six inches long, twelve 
 inches thick, and three feet six inches broad ; on the left side of its surface there is also a shallow 
 groove or drill cut along its whole breadth close to the jamb of the wall. The thickness of the wall, 
 at the height of the door, is four feet, and the inside diameter of the tower, near the bottom, iseighl 
 feet seven inches at the top of the second floor." 
 
 "The tower is divided into three floors, by a projection of the building stones of from seven to 
 five inches ; the height of the first floor from the present bottom being fifteen feet, and the height 
 of the second floor twelve feet six inches above that. About thirty years ago there was erected on 
 the top an arch for a belfry, a most inappropriate and unsightly appendage. In order to get a firmer 
 foundation for that purpose, about, four feet of the original building was then taken down. Some 
 glass beads of great thickness were found on the summit at that time. This belfry I caused fa 
 removed a short time since, and have thereby probably saved the further dilapidation of this vene- 
 
 c Removed afterwards by Mr. Beads
 
 86 
 
 rable structure, as the upper part had bulged out considerably, from the weight of the arch and bell. 
 The whole building was originally coated with cement both inside and out ; a small portion of the 
 outside remains, and it appears to be of a much harder nature than that within ; it is composed of 
 lime, sea sand, sea shells, and small quartz pebbles, and also contains charcoal, which would go far 
 to identify its age with that of the small church before mentioned. One of the original stones, and 
 only one, about one-third of the height, is of granite, which may have been a portion of a boulder 
 from Slieve Gullion, or perhaps from Clermont Cam, about fourteen miles distant, as no granite is 
 found in the neighbourhood. To my mind, this white stone, alone among its dark companions, gives 
 evidence of great antiquity — at least that those who erected this tower were the first builders in 
 stone and mortar in this locality, who naturally had appropriated the lone boulder of granite — a 
 stone so much more easily wrought than the porphyritic whins of the country." 
 
 Mr. Eeade has the following reference to an inquiry made by Mr. Grattan : — " The sexton 
 who was employed to dig did find a skeleton, without any flags or coffin, lying in the earth east 
 and west under a thin stratum of mortar. Unfortunately Mr. Grattan was not present at the mo- 
 ment, and the skull was broken to pieces, so that nothing could be determined from its shape ; the 
 portion of the bones which I saw seemed too modern to bring conviction to my mind that they had 
 lain there since the introduction of Christianity — say 1300 years — without coffin or protection from 
 the moist clay around. Some years ago a road contractor made a great hole in the side of this tower 
 to obtain material for the repairs of the bridge adjoining, but was fortunately prevented doing much 
 mischief by Mr. Norman Steele. The breach has been repaired, and a door placed in it. There are 
 no local traditions of any value connected with the tower : the common legend is, that it was built 
 in one night by a womau with three aprons-full of stones, an apron- full for each story ; and that next 
 morning some passers by deriding her work, she leaped from the top into a pool in the river Fane, 
 called ' the church-pool,' and was drowned. At the foot of the tower was found a very large stone, 
 of porphyry, with a hole in the centre large enough to thrust the arm through, and which was, I 
 believe, once used for superstitious purposes ; in more modern times a pole was placed in the hole, up 
 which the young country-folk used to climb at Easter for some trifling prize." 
 
 " There are no windows whatever in the part remaining of this tower. About two -thirds of the 
 way up, the builders seem to have exhausted their supply of large stones, and then, after a few 
 courses of inferior materials, to have again procured larger and better. A narrow ledge, or cave- 
 course, at the top, was placed there at the time of the erection of the belfry arch, which ill accords 
 with the liehen-covered walls beneath. On some of the stones inside, the trickling of the rain-drops 
 for long years has formed small marks not unlike ogham of a coarse kind." 
 
 The following notices are found in the Four Masters: — 
 The age of Christ, 636, Maelduin, son of Ardh, was burned at Inis-caein. [This entry immediately follows the 
 notice of a victory gained by Aenghus Liath, over the same individual.] The Annals of Ulster, under the year 
 639, notice this battle, and the flight of the defeated chief; and in the succeeding year, 640, " Combustus Mael- 
 duin in insula Caini." The burning does not seem to have been of a dead body.
 
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