I

Ireland is, perhaps, more remarkable than any other country in the West of Europe for the number, the variety, and, it may be said, the nationality of its antiquarian remains. An archæologist upon arriving in Dublin will find, within ready access of that city, examples, many of them in a fine state of preservation, of almost every structure of archæological interest to be met with in any part of the kingdom. Sepulchral tumuli​—​several of which, in point of rude magnificence, are admitted to be unrivalled in Europe​—​cromlechs, pillar-stones, cairns, stone circles, and other remains of the earliest archæological periods in Ireland, lie within a journey of a couple of hours of the metropolis. The cromlechs of Howth, Kilternan, Shanganagh, Mount Venus, Hollypark, Shankill, and Brennanstown (Glen Druid) are within easy reach of the suburbs of Dublin. The county has several round towers, and many churches of a very primitive type. An hour’s journey by the Great Northern Railway to Drogheda, with a car drive of about twenty miles, affords not only an opportunity of seeing the great prehistoric remains of Newgrange, but of viewing at Monasterboice, amongst other remains, two crosses, which are amongst the finest in Christendom. In the National Museum, Dublin, will be found the Royal Irish Academy collection of weapons and implements of the New Stone and Bronze periods, gold ornaments, crannog remains, Ogam stones, and relics of early Christian Art, which, we think it is not too much to say, is one of the finest and most representative that any country in Europe can show.

Irish Antiquarian remains may be generally classified under three heads:​—​I. Prehistoric, embracing those which are considered to have existed previous to, or within a limited period after, the introduction of Christianity in the fifth century; II. The Early Christian; and III. The Anglo-Irish.

The Prehistoric remains consist of cromlechs, pillar-stones, cairns, stone circles, tumuli, raths, stone forts, beehive huts, rock-markings, weapons, &c. They are found in considerable numbers particularly in the more remote parts of the island, where they have been suffered to remain, many more or less unmolested, save by the hand of time.

Early Christian remains are very numerous, and consist of oratories, churches, round towers, Ogam stones, and crosses. Of the early churches of Ireland​—​structures of a period when the ‘Scotish (Irish) monkes in Ireland and Britaine highly excelled in their holinesse and learning, yea, sent forth whole flockes of most devout men into all parts of Europe’1​—​there are examples in a sufficient state of preservation to give a good idea of architecture, in what may be considered its second stage in Ireland.

The remains of what may be termed ‘Anglo-Irish’ structures were erected about the period of the English invasion, and although of Irish foundation, they appear generally to have been built upon Anglo-Norman or English models. The great barons who, in the time of Henry the Second, or of his immediate successors, received grants of land from the Crown, erected fortresses of considerable strength and extent, in order to preserve their possessions from the inroads of the native Irish, with whom they were usually at war. The castles of Howth, Malahide, Maynooth, Trim, Carlow, and many others, are silent witnesses to the fact that the early invaders were occasionally obliged to place some faith in the efficacy of strong walls and towers to resist the advances of their restless neighbours, who, for several centuries subsequent to the Invasion, were rather the levellers than the builders of castles. Of the massive square keep, so common in every part of the kingdom, but especially within the English Pale, the Dublin neighbourhood furnishes several examples. As, except in some minor details, they usually bear a great resemblance to each other, an inspection of one or two will afford a just idea of all. They were generally used as the residence of a chieftain, or as an outpost dependent upon some larger fortress in the neighbourhood. Many appear to have been erected by English settlers, and they are usually furnished with a bawn, or enclosure, into which cattle were driven at night, a precaution very significant of the times.

The abbeys, though frequently of considerable extent and magnificence, are in general more remarkable for the simple grandeur of their proportions. The finest exhibit many characteristics of Transition style; but Early Pointed is also found, and in great purity. There are in Ireland but few very notable examples of the succeeding styles. Decoration, indeed, was not so much desired as strength and security; and we do not require the testimony of the ‘Irish Annals’ to show that the church buildings had occasionally to stand upon their defence: the bartizans surmounting the doorways of some, and the crenellated walls of many, are sufficient evidence of this.

There are certain antiquities which cannot well be classed with the remains referred to in the three preceding headings. Many of the lake-dwellings, or crannogs, for instance, are believed, with good reason, to have been in use even in pagan times in Ireland; some of these artificial islets were used in mediæval times, and several are recorded to have been occupied as places of human habitation so late as the seventeenth century. It would, therefore, be hazardous to classify them with either pagan or Christian remains, and it is certain that they are not Anglo-Irish. A description of these will, however, be given in a subsequent chapter.

Pillar-stones or Dallans are found in many parts of Ireland, and particularly in districts where stone circles, cairns, and cromlechs occur. They are usually rough monoliths, and evidently owe their upright position, not to accident, but to the design and labour of a primitive people. They are usually called by the native Irish, ‘Gallauns’ or ‘Leaghauns,’ and in character they are precisely similar to the hoar-stone of England, the hare-stane of Scotland, the maen-qwyr of Wales, and the Continental menhir.

Many theories have been advanced with respect to their origin. They are variously supposed to have been idol-stones, to have been erected as landmarks, and as monumental stones recording the scene of a battle, or the spot upon which a warrior had fallen. The name ‘cat-stone,’ by which some examples are known in Scotland, would well warrant such an idea, the word ‘cath’ in the Gaelic language signifying a battle. At either end of the historic ford over the river Erne, at Ballyshannon, may be seen two remarkable examples​—​to that on the northern side other stones would seem to lead. This is a significant fact in favour of the landmark theory. At the same time, we learn from the later writers of the life and labours of St. Patrick in Ireland, that he found the people worshipping certain idols in the form of stone pillars, some of which he caused to be overthrown, while upon one purposely left standing he inscribed the name of Jesus. There can be little doubt that the saint and his immediate followers, in their horror of all that was idolatrous, destroyed a large number of the pillar-stones which had been venerated and worshipped in pagan Ireland; but, nevertheless, a considerable number still remain. These, in some instances, would seem to have been consecrated to the Faith, and from having been idols were transformed into memorials of the triumph of Christianity. We are not without satisfactory evidence of such adaptation having been effected. Several, and apparently the oldest, lithic monuments may be observed rudely punched, not carved, with the figure of a primitive cross, accompanied by one or other of the inscriptions DNI, DNO, or DOM. Todd, in his Life of St. Patrick, has, we believe, conclusively shown the generally received idea of the sudden, and, it may be said, miraculous conversion of Ireland in the days of the saint, and in those of his immediate successors, to be wholly erroneous. Pagan practices and beliefs long remained, and to-day many myths, legends, and superstitions attest, as dying remnants, how deeply rooted were the ‘elder faiths.’

The Pillar-stone is the simplest form of all memorials; it is found in other countries in connection with ancient burial mounds or barrows. Such memorials to a departed hero, chief, or monarch were not confined to savage peoples, for the custom has descended through all stages of civilization, and the commemorative use of the pillar-stone is frequent in biblical history. Ancient Egypt furnishes notable examples of monoliths such as Cleopatra’s Needle; while the metropolis of Ireland, not to mention other cities, exhibits stupendous pillar monuments showing the ‘hero-worship’ of our forefathers, to the dead leaders Wellington and Nelson.

In several parts of the country the gallaun is still considered by many of the people to be something weird, and, ‘to be let alone.’ The late E. A. Conwell, in his work on the supposed tomb of Ollamh Fodhla, points out that, about two miles north-west of Oldcastle, there is a townland called Fearan-na-gcloch (from fearan, land, and cloch, a stone), so called from two remarkable stone flags, still to be seen standing in it, popularly called Clocha labartha, the ‘Speaking stones’: and the green pasture-field in which they are situated is called Pairc-na-gclochalabartha, the ‘Field of the speaking stones.’

‘There can be little doubt,’ he proceeds, ‘the pagan rites of incantation and divination had been practised at these stones, as their very name, so curiously handed down to us, imports; for, in the traditions of the neighbourhood, it is even yet current that they have been consulted in cases where either man or beast was supposed to have been “overlooked”; that they were infallibly effective in curing the consequences of the “evil eye”; and that they were deemed to be unerring in naming the individual through whom these evil consequences came. Even up to a period not very remote, when anything happened to be lost or stolen, these stones were invariably consulted; and in cases where cattle, &c., had strayed away, the directions they gave for finding them were considered as certain to lead to the desired result. There was one peremptory inhibition, however, to be scrupulously observed in consulting these stones, viz. that they were never to be asked to give the same information a second time, as they, under no circumstances whatever, would repeat an answer.’ These conditions having, about seventy or eighty years ago, been violated by an ignorant inquirer who came from a distance, the ‘speaking stones’ became dumb, and have so remained ever since. There were originally four of these stones: of the two that remain, the larger may be described as consisting of a thin slab of laminated sandy grit. Its dimensions are as follows: total height above ground, very nearly 7 feet; extreme breadth, 5 feet 8 inches; breadth near summit, 3 feet 6 inches; average thickness, about 8 inches. In no part does it exhibit the mark of a chisel or hammer. The height of the second remaining stone, above the present level of the ground, is 6 feet 4 inches; it is in breadth, at base, 3 feet 4 inches, and near the top 1 foot more; thickness at base, 14 inches. The material, unlike that found in the generality of such monuments, is blue limestone.

Perhaps the most noted example of the pillar-stone, as found in Ireland, occurs on the celebrated Hill of Tara, Co. Meath. This interesting monument at present occupies a position in the centre of the Forradh, one of the principal earthworks still remaining on that memorable site. The stone formerly stood upon, or rather by the side of, a small mound lying within the enclosure of Rath-na-Riagh, and called Dumha-na-nGiall, or the ‘Mound of the hostages.’ In 1824 it was placed in its present position, to mark the grave of some men who were slain in 1798 in an encounter with the king’s troops. It was suggested by George Petrie that this pillar, or menhir, was no other than the celebrated Lia Fail, or ‘Stone of Destiny,’ upon which, during many ages, the monarchs of Ireland were crowned, and which, according to the early bardic accounts, ‘roared’ beneath them at their inauguration. The Coronation Stone at Westminster was generally supposed to have been removed from Ireland to Scotland, in the beginning of the sixth century, for the coronation of Fergus Mac Earc, a prince of the blood-royal of Ireland, there having been a prophecy that in whatever country this famous stone was preserved, a king of the Scotic race should reign. In the MSS. to which Petrie refers, one of which is probably of the tenth century, the stone is mentioned as still existing at Tara; and ‘it is,’ he writes, ‘an interesting fact, that a large obeliscal pillar-stone, in a prostrate position, occupied till a recent period the very situation on the hill pointed out as the place of the Lia Fail by the Irish writers of the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth centuries.’ After remarking upon the want of agreement between the Irish and Scottish accounts of the history of the Lia Fail, and on the questionable character of the evidence upon which the story of its removal from Ireland rests, he further observes: ‘That it is in the highest degree improbable, that, to gratify the desire of a colony, the Irish would have voluntarily parted with a monument so venerable for its antiquity, and deemed essential to the legitimate succession of their own kings.’ We cannot here enter into a discussion of this question, in which numerous conflicting traditions are involved. The removal of the Coronation Stone from Tara to Scotland is now generally admitted. The use of the present pillar-stone at Tara for the purpose of inauguration has not been established: its very shape is strongly presumptive against any such theory, as the custom usually was for the king or chief to stand upon the stone. That the monument is an original relic, raised for some memorial use, may reasonably be accepted.

Some of our finest and perhaps oldest pillar-stones bear cup-and-circle markings, similar to those found upon the face of undisturbed rocks in various parts of Ireland, Britain, the European Continent, and other parts of the world. A very remarkable example occurs at Muff, about five miles from Londonderry. This stone, which stood 8 ft. in height, and measured 4 ft. 6 ins. across at the base, by 2 ft. 6 ins. in thickness, was on one of its faces covered with cup-and-circle markings, some of which exhibited the central channels which appear on the rock sculptures in Kerry. This was examined by the late Rev. James Graves, who wrote: ‘Where the soil had covered the base, two of the cups, with their concentric circles, were very plain and unworn; but the water trickling from a hollow on the top of the stone, had injured some of those above. Excavations were made to a depth of four feet round its base, but no trace of interment, or relic of any kind, was discovered. Close to the stone was found a kind of bone earth, or soil mixed with minute fragments of bone, apparently not human, but from their minute and decomposed state identification was impossible.’2

Mr. G. H. Kinahan, in pages of the Journal here referred to, figures and describes a remarkable pillar-stone which he found near Kilmacrenan, Co. Donegal. In this instance four of the cups are so arranged that the channels extending from them form a perfect cross of the Roman character.3 Here the likeness to the Christian symbol cannot be considered other than accidental. A device, almost precisely similar, is found upon a rude stone monument in Scotland; and we know that upon the bases of some of the cinerary urns, formed of baked clay, discovered in cists in Ireland, and found to contain calcined human bones, flint arrow-heads, and bone implements, a cruciform ornament may be noticed. This, at least as so placed, cannot be considered a Christian symbol.

Several pillar-stones yet in situ, and a great many others overthrown or removed, present Ogam inscriptions, a subject that will be found treated of in a subsequent chapter. Immediately near Kesh, a station on the railway line between Enniskillen and Bundoran, occur a cairn, an earthen sepulchral mound, and a pillar-stone of great size. The latter, upon its south-western angle, bore a legend in Ogam characters, which some years ago, when an expert from the south was expected to come and examine it, was, by a local worthy, whose intentions were no doubt laudable, so scraped, cleaned, and ‘improved,’ that little trace of the inscription remained.

Of the ordinary plain gallaun, or pillar-stone, the annexed illustration, representing one of several remaining in the vicinity of the tumulus of Newgrange (hereafter to be noticed), will afford a good idea. It measures 10 feet in height, and in circumference 17. A similar monolith, in the village of Ballynacraig, i e. ‘Rock town,’ to which it probably gave its name, about half a mile from Newgrange, measures 24 feet in girth, but its present height above ground is only about 6 feet. There are monuments of a similar class in the valley of Glenasmole, ‘Valley of the thrushes,’ beyond Rathfarnham, about five and a half miles from Dublin.

Some of these remains, whether monuments, boundary stones, or idols, appear to have been known by particular names, as, for instance, a fine example standing, amongst a group of megalithic structures, in the sandhills of Finner, a wild district lying towards the sea, between Ballyshannon and Bundoran. It is called ‘Fleatuch,’ and what that appellation means we have failed to ascertain. Nor were we more successful in a search after the significance of ‘Eglone,’ the name by which a boulder near Highwood, rising 18 feet in height, and measuring on two sides 7 feet 6 inches, and 11 feet 6 inches on the others, is known amongst the peasantry of Moytura, Co. Sligo. This massive monolith stands perfectly upright, is rudely symmetrical in form, and has the appearance of a pillar-stone. It is in all probability by the agency of ice that this mass of grey magnesian limestone was torn from its natural bed and deposited as we now find it. No legendary tale concerning the ‘Eglone’ at present remains, but the stone, or rather rock, is regarded by many of the neighbouring people as possessed of mysterious attributes, of some kind or other, which they cannot explain: it may have been an idol. At a place called Keimaneigh, the fine mountain pass between Macroom and Bantry, is a true pillar-stone, which is supposed by natives of the locality to represent a woman who, for her numerous sins and scorn of repentance, had been thus petrified by St. Fiachna in the sixth century. The pillar, which is about 6 feet high, bears a rude resemblance to a female human figure; hence, no doubt, the origin of the legend.

Of the hundreds of pillar-stones remaining in Ireland the great majority are prehistoric. The date of one example, however, has been satisfactorily settled. Cruachan, or Rathcrogan, situated about five miles from Carrick-on-Shannon, consists of a stone ditch, circular in form, but greatly defaced. ‘Within this,’ writes George Petrie, ‘are small circular mounds, which, when examined, are found to cover rude sepulchral chambers formed of stone, without cement of any kind, and containing unburnt bones.’ Outside the rath, or enclosure, in the centre of a small tumulus, is a pillar, referred to in the following notice of it by Duald Mac Firbis: ‘The body of Dathi was brought to Cruachan, and was interred at Relig-na-Riogh, where most of the kings of the race of Heremon were buried, and where to this date the red pillar-stone remains on a stone monument over his grave, near Rath-Cruachan, to this time (1666).’4 Dathi was the last pagan monarch of the Milesian race. He died in the beginning of the fifth century from the effects of lightning while leading his army on a continental raid. The scene of his death was in the neighbourhood of the Alps.

Holed-stones.​—​Perforated stones, very similar to the ordinary pillar-stone, are found in many parts of Ireland, Scotland, France, and, as appears from Wilford’s Asiatic Researches, in India. Abroad, as well as at home, their origin has been a matter of much speculation, and it is not likely that any definite solution can ever be arrived at. Colonel Wood-Martin, speaking on the subject, says:​—​‘The original purpose for which the larger apertures were utilised seems to have been a literal as well as a symbolic means whereby an ailment, disease, or sin might be left behind or got rid of, also as a symbol by which a compact could be ratified, or an oath taken, by a well-known and public act. The postulants, at first, probably crawled through the orifice; then when it, through change in custom, became diminished in size, they probably passed a hand, or if a compact was to be made, clasped hands through it.’5 Wilford6 states that perforated stones are not uncommon in India, and devout people pass through them when the opening will admit, in order to be regenerated. If the hole be too small, they put the hand or foot through it, and with a sufficient degree of faith it answers nearly the same purpose.

In Ireland they are generally associated with prehistoric remains, and are occasionally found in connection with church buildings of the earliest type. It is probable that, dating from prehistoric ages, they were in time pressed, as it were, like the holy wells, into association with Christian rites. The following are some of the many places where holed-stones may be found in connection with our old churches: Kilmalkedar, Co. Kerry; Castledermot, Co. Kildare; Inismurray, Co. Sligo; Roscam, near Galway; Mainister, on Aran Mór, Co. Galway; Layde, Co. Antrim; Holy Island, Lough Derg; Glendalough; and on the Island of Devenish in Lough Erne, Co. Fermanagh.

We have perhaps lived beyond the age when legends referring to this class of monument were still generally current. The virtue of the Kilmalkedar stone was some fifty years ago equal in repute to that conceded to the Stennis example, and even, in some respects, superior; for, it was further firmly believed by many of the old inhabitants of Kerry, that persons afflicted with chronic rheumatism, ‘falling sickness,’ or some other ills, might, by passing three times round it (with faith, and by the offering of certain prayers), be restored to health. In the parish of Aghade, Co. Carlow, is a stone called Cloghafoyle, the ‘Stone of the hole.’ ‘It projects in a semi-recumbent position 7 feet 6 inches above ground, is 5 feet 8 inches in width, 1 foot 6 inches in its thickest part, and is pierced​—​nearly equally distant from the sides and top​—​with a round hole 11½ inches in diameter. Formerly children were passed through this aperture, either as a cure for, or a preventive against, the malady called rickets.’7 A similar custom, as Colonel Wood-Martin points out, was observed at St. Madron’s well in Cornwall, Minchen Hampton in Gloucestershire, and Fyvie in Aberdeenshire.8 A famous stone exists on Ardmore Strand, Co. Waterford, beneath which pilgrims on St. Declan’s day (22nd Dec.) crawled on completing their devotions.

The most celebrated holed-stone in the British Isles is doubtless that of Stennis, near Kirkwall in Orkney. It has been rendered famous in his tale of The Pirate, by Sir Walter Scott. Fergusson, in his Rude Stone Monuments, says​—​‘It is quite certain that the oath to Woden or Odin was sworn by persons joining their hands through the hole in this ringstone, and that an oath so taken, although by Christians, was deemed solemn and binding’ (page 255). This ceremony was held so very sacred that anyone breaking it was accounted infamous and a party to be shunned. In his Journey to the Orkney Islands (1781), Principal Gordon gives the following anecdote: ‘The young man was called before the session, and the elders were particularly severe. Being asked by the minister the cause of so much severity, they answered, “You do not know what a bad man this is; he has broken the promise of Odin,” and further explained that the contracting parties had joined hands through the hole in the stone.’ All this does not serve to indicate the original character of the Stennis monument. That it was at one time sacred to Odin, or Woden, and reverenced by pagan northmen and their successors, perhaps for many generations, and that even Christians used the stone on certain solemn occasions, is no doubt interesting. The Scandinavian occupiers of Orkney may have, as it were, adopted a pillar-stone which they found associated with old-world customs and memories, dedicated it to Odin, and sealed their oaths upon it.

Few who have paid even passing attention to the subject of Irish antiquities, recognising the fact that several holed-stones, bearing apertures of considerable size, and found in the immediate neighbourhood of remains universally acknowledged to belong to prehistoric days, will assume, we think, that the former do not partake of the same primeval character as cromlechs, stone circles, and cairns. Fergusson was mistaken in stating that there is no proof of a holed-stone being used in any Celtic cemetery for purposes similar to those practised at the Stennis example. Unquestionably some of the holed-stones are of doubtful character, inasmuch as they may be classified either as prehistoric, or belonging to an early period of Christianity. We may perhaps assign to one of the finest monuments of this class remaining in Ireland a degree of antiquity equal at least to that acknowledged to be possessed by the cromlechs, circles, and other megaliths of Carrowmore, immediately adjoining. Of this stone Colonel Wood-Martin, in Rude Stone Monuments in Sligo, gives the following description: ‘It marks the point of junction of the three parishes of the district formerly, and still by the country people, designated Cuil-Irra. This boundary mark is a thin limestone flag, set on edge; it is 9 feet in height and 10 feet in breadth above ground. The little stream which issues from Tobernavean, or Tobar-na-bhFian, the “Well of the warriors,” laves its base, which must be deeply buried in the earth. Toward the east side this flagstone is pierced by a squarish, or rather an oblong, perforation, 3 feet in length by 2 feet in breadth. From its mottled appearance this slab is popularly called Cloch-bhreac, or the “Speckled stone”; also Cloch-lia, or the “Gray stone”’ (page 99).

Another example, standing upwards of five feet in height above the level of the ground, with a round hole sufficiently large to admit the hand, may be seen upon an eminence in the immediate vicinity of Doagh, a village in the county of Antrim. In the same district, on a hill near Cushendall, a second fine holed-stone until lately existed. Probably one of the most curious monuments of the class under notice, in Ireland, formerly stood in the early Christian cemetery of Inniskeen, close to the cloictheach, or round tower, Co. Monaghan. This relic, which was of porphyry, had an aperture through it sufficiently large to admit the insertion of a full-sized human arm. In modern times it was the custom at Easter to fix in the stone a pole, up which the neighbouring young people used to climb for a prize. The stone is said to have been formerly used for superstitious purposes, but no particulars of the rites or customs once practised have been handed down.

The holed-stone of Castledermot is a very remarkable one, and the following particulars are from a description of it by Lord Walter FitzGerald: ‘It stands at the head of a modern grave in the south-east side of the churchyard, and is known locally as the “swearing-stone.” It is 3 feet long, 1 foot 2 inches wide, and 5½ inches thick. The hole is at the junction of the arms of a ringed cross, and measures 5 inches in diameter. The cross, which is much worn, was mistaken by Vallancey for Ogam scores, and his misrepresentation was copied by subsequent writers.’9 It is probable that the holed-stones found in connection with church buildings date from ante-Christian times, and were consecrated by the emblem of the cross to the religious services of a people recently won to Christianity, but who still possessed some lingering reverence for the idols of their forefathers.

The holed-stone at Mainister on Aran Island stands 3½ feet above ground, and the hole is 2 inches wide. It is curiously incised with a double circle and ringed cross, the top of the latter ending in small spiral pattern. It is held in great reverence, and small articles of clothing of sick persons are drawn through the orifice in hope of their recovery.

The following particulars of holed-stones, to which popular superstitions are attached, are derived from A Survey of Antiquarian Remains in Inismurray10 by Mr. Wakeman. This island, off the coast of Sligo, presents three fine specimens of the pillar-stone, two of which must be considered valuable, and probably unique examples of the ‘holed’ class. These are sometimes called ‘Praying stones’ by the natives of the island. The more important stands on the southern side of Teampull-na-bfear, or the ‘Church of the men,’ at a little distance from that structure. It measures 4 feet in height, 11½ inches in breadth at top, 1 foot 1 inch at base, and about 7 inches in thickness. The monument faces east and west; its edges and eastern side are plain. The western face, on which a graceful cross has been incised, exhibits two holes of a size just large enough to admit the insertion of a thumb. It may be observed that the arms and head of the symbol terminate in spirals like those found upon the celebrated ‘Alphabet Stone’ at Kilmalkedar, the work upon which has been held, by acknowledged authorities on such matters, to belong to the sixth, or at latest to the seventh century of the Christian era. The orifices extend through the adjoining angles of the stone, and open out at its sides in apertures sufficiently spacious to receive the fingers of a full-sized hand. In connection with this pillar-stone, as also with a similar monument situated close to Teampull-na-mban, or ‘Church of the women,’ a custom which is worthy of record, very generally prevails. Women who expect shortly to become mothers are wont to resort to these stones, for the purpose of praying for a happy issue from the perils of their impending travail. The natives assert that death in childbirth is an unknown calamity upon the island. The postulants kneel, passing their thumbs into the front, and their fingers into the side openings, by which means a firm grasp of the angles of the pillar is obtained. They are thus enabled to rise from their act of obeisance with a minimum of strain or difficulty. A pillar-stone, unperforated and uninscribed, of about the same dimensions as that just noticed, is seen immediately beside it. The two stand in line at right angles with the northern wall of the very ancient church almost immediately adjoining.

The second holed-stone, to which we have already referred, bears upon its eastern face a plain Latin cross. It is 5 feet high, 10½ inches broad at base, 11½ inches at top, and 4½ inches in thickness. Like its fellow at the ‘Church of the men’ it is held in profound veneration, especially by the women of the island. The pillar may indeed be prehistoric, and the cross an addition. The type of cross which it exhibits is characteristic of the earliest Christian times in Ireland; this being so, the monument in its present style may be assigned to a period not later than the close of the sixth century.

Rock Scribings, Cup-and-Circle Markings.​—​This subject has proved of considerable interest to archæologists everywhere. Rock scribings or markings, whether noticed upon European, Asiatic, or American rocks or monuments, often in their general features bear so strong a family likeness that it is at first sight difficult to believe that they have not been executed by one and the same race of people. But we know that the minds of savages or semi-savages, situated widely apart, and placed under somewhat similar environment, will instinctively run in parallel grooves of thought; and thus, in the form, material, and ornamentation of their objects of veneration, arms, and implements of everyday life, as well as in their personal decorations, present a like development. It need be no wonder then that, far and near, over the surface of the Old and of the New World, rock and stone scribings are to be found, and that they should frequently have many common characteristics. Until recently these antiquarian puzzles have received but little attention from Irish archæologists. Petrie does not seem to have noticed their existence; O’Donovan and O’Curry make no mention of them; nor do the older writers, except in one or two instances, where a single stone or so is referred to as bearing work of a mystic and barbarous character. The forms of these markings to be met with in Ireland are these: cups; cups and rings; the same with radial channel; concentric rings; penannular rings; spirals; stars; triangles and wheels; zigzag and other lines. Considerable attention has been given in recent years to the elaborate scorings on the rocks forming the great chambers at Newgrange, Dowth, and Loughcrew, Co. Meath, to which we shall refer in a subsequent chapter. In these ‘Ireland,’ as Colonel Wood-Martin says, ‘possesses a collection of this species of prehistoric ornamentation which, in singularity, number, and quaintness of design, is approached in point of interest only by some of the great stone chambers of the district of Morbihan.’

The late Dr. Graves, Bishop of Limerick, in the publications of the Royal Irish Academy, appears to have been the first to draw attention to sculpturings of this class found in Ireland. Subsequently the subject was taken up by inquirers, in various parts of the world, who found in their own countries kindred rock carvings. In Ireland the groups of designs found upon the surface of our undisturbed rocks exhibit in many instances characteristics almost, if not entirely, peculiar to themselves. For instance, the incomplete concentric circles with a central cup, from which extends a straight or slightly curved stroke, called ‘the channel,’ through and sometimes beyond the outermost gap in the curved lines, are absent from the varied figurings found in the great sepulchral chambers. Again, the spirals of the stone sepulchres are, as far as we are aware, invariably absent in the array of designs found upon the undisturbed or natural rock. This circumstance was not left unobserved by Dr. Graves when describing his discoveries in Kerry. But upon one small stone in the neighbourhood of Tullakeel, near Sneem, he found a rude carving of a short portion of a spiral. This stone lay set in a fence; it may have belonged to some tomb of which no other relic is known to remain, so that little argument can be based on the character of its scribing. Although antiquaries are not yet in a position to pronounce authoritatively on the precise significance of our rock markings, a glance at some early speculations as to their nature may not here be out of place. It has been suggested that the circular markings were intended to represent shields. ‘This notion,’ says Dr. Graves, ‘seems inconsistent with the fact that the same stone presents so many circular symbols of different sizes, varying from the small shallow cup of an inch or two in diameter to the group of concentric circles two feet across. It also seems probable that, as shields in general used to bear distinctive devices, these would appear in the inscriptions; but the inscribed circles exhibit no such variety as might have been expected on this hypothesis. Again, if the circles represented shields, what could be meant by the openings in the circumference of so many of them? Lastly, what connection could there be between the idea of shields and the long lines appearing in the Staigue monument, or the short ones on that of Ballynasare? Another idea was that these figures were designed to represent astronomical phenomena.’ For several reasons he rejected that theory, particularly as it failed to account for the openings in the circles, the absence of figures indicating the sun and moon, and not even the rudest attempt at the phases of the lunar body. It was also suggested that the circles were intended for moulds to cast metal rings. The fact of the circles so often occurring on a sloping face of a rock renders this untenable. That the circles were used for some game was rejected from the varying sizes of the circles on different stones. ‘The idea which occurred to my own mind,’ he continues, ‘was, that the incised circles were intended to represent the circular buildings of earth or stone, of which the traces still exist in every part of Ireland. This conjecture is supported by the following considerations:​—​1. The circles are of different sizes, and some are disposed in concentric groups. The ancient dwellings and fortified seats of the ancient Irish were circular; they were of various sizes, from the small cloghan, or stone house, of ten feet in diameter, to the great camp including an area of some acres; and the principal forts had several concentric valla. 2. The openings in the inscribed circles may have been intended to denote the entrances. 3. The other inscribed lines may have represented roads passing by or leading up to the forts.’

Discouraged by the reception with which his theory was received, he laid his drawings aside for many years. Returning again to the subject, he gave it further examination, which confirmed his original opinion. He says: ‘The centres of the circles and the neighbouring cups and dots arrange themselves generally three by three in straight lines. This disposition of the symbols could not be said to be perfectly accurate; but I thought I could observe close and designed approximation to it. If, then, the circles represent forts, and are disposed three by three in straight lines on the inscribed stones, I saw that we might expect to find the forts disposed in like manner over the surface of the country; and I think that I have succeeded in verifying this inference. The ancient raths have fortunately been laid down on the six-inch Ordnance Survey maps of Ireland; and unless I am deceived by fortuitous collineations, I find that the forts are actually arranged three by three in straight lines. The discovery of this fact, if it be a fact would be of much more consequence than the explanation of the meaning of the inscriptions of which I have just given an account. But this further inquiry must be conducted with care. Large portions of the country must be examined, and those difficulties must be confronted which the disappearance of ancient remains must inevitably give rise to.’11

It has been objected to the map theory that in the parts of Scotland and England where circle-and-channel scorings occur most numerously, no raths or forts, or, if any, very few, are to be found. But it may be urged that the early British strongholds, corresponding to our raths, duns, and stone forts, were very frequently composed of perishable materials, such as timber stockades, or the interwoven branches of trees, of which, in the course of a few centuries at most, no trace would remain.

Only a small portion of the rubbings and drawings made of the rock scribings by Bishop Graves was published by him. Mr. Robert Day has published some interesting examples taken from a scored rock of red sandstone on the road between Bantry and Ballydehob. The scribings consist of circles, cup-shaped cavities, penannular rings, and V-shaped markings.12 The late George Du Noyer describes at length some which he found in various parts of the country13; and other antiquarians have largely added to the list. Amongst these is Mr. G. H. Kinahan, whose descriptions and illustrations of the scribings on rocks in Wicklow and Wexford, and in the Mevagh and Barnes districts (Co. Donegal), deserve attention.14

A stone now in the Grainger collection of the Museum, Belfast, and which once stood on a hill near Broughshane, Co. Antrim, furnishes an instance of elaborate scoring within a roughly shield-shaped outline. The stone is stated to have been originally found covering a cist. A similar example of scorings was found in a sepulchral chamber at Cloverhill, near Sligo.15 Mr. Wakeman discovered, near Boho, Co. Fermanagh, about nine miles from Enniskillen, a cluster of large rocks bearing a number of the cup-and-circle devices.16 In the same neighbourhood were similar markings on the living rock. They occur a little to the south of Lough Blocknet, on the slope of the hill.

Important examples of rude sculpturings appear upon the walls of certain natural, or perhaps semi-artificial, caverns occurring at Knockmore, close to the village of Derrygonnelly, Co. Fermanagh. The chief of these is the ‘Lettered Cave,’ so called from the carvings of an early date with which its sides are scored. The dimensions of this singular retreat are as follows:​—​Height, at the mouth, 10 feet 5 inches; these proportions gradually lessen to a distance of about 18 feet from the external opening. There the passage takes an oblique turning to the southward, and continues to a distance of about 9 feet further into the heart of the limestone. The height of the chamber at its extreme end is about 5 feet. The opening faces north-east, and is well sheltered from the wind by a grassy knoll, which extends, right and left, in front. There is every reason to believe it was long used as a habitation or place of retreat. The markings are placed, without any attempt at symmetrical arrangement, upon almost every smooth portion of the rocky surface of the interior. Many are extremely well marked; others have become all but obliterated through the influence of time, the efflorescence of the stone, and the action of persons who have in many places scraped away the ancient figurings, or portions of them, in order to find space for inscribing their respective names; but, nevertheless, a considerable portion of the old markings remain in excellent condition. These scribings consist for the greater part of a number of figures and designs usually considered, by archæologists, as prehistoric. But whatever may be the age and character of such carvings, there can be no doubt amongst antiquaries that an elaborately-formed interlacing cross, which may be seen engraved upon the left-hand side of the entrance to the cave, must be referred to an early Christian period.

Knockmore contains on its northern side, in a situation rather difficult of access, a second scored and partially artificial cavern. This little eyry, which is only large enough to retain in a recumbent position two, or at most three, persons of ordinary size, must, while yet the slopes of the knock were covered with trees and brushwood, have formed a very secure retreat. That it was inhabited in early days is certain, as upon digging up a considerable portion of the floor, indications of fires having been used were traceable on at least three separate levels. At a little distance from the surface, amongst burnt-looking earth and particles of wood charcoal, Mr. Wakeman found some bones of animals which had been used as food. They were generally very small, and difficult of identification, but amongst them occurred those of the red deer. The carvings here are rather of an elaborate character, and form an interesting combination of the older style of sepulchral rock-sculpture with what is generally considered early Irish work, but of a period subsequent to the spread of Christianity in this country.17

A third cave, situated three and a half miles from that of Knockmore, and over four from the police station of Boho, contains some very interesting examples of cavern scorings. This weird spot is worth visiting, though there is no road running nearer to it than at a distance of four miles. The name of the place is Loughnacloyduff, or ‘Lake of the dark trench.’ The lake, or lough, which covers about one acre, is bounded on its northern side by a shattered cliff of yellowish sandstone, rising to a height of perhaps thirty feet above the level of the water. Within the face of this rock are several caverns, two of which present every appearance of being, in part at least, artificial. The largest measures about 6 feet in height, by about the same in breadth, and 10 in depth. The sides and roof are extremely rugged, except here and there where some little care appears to have been exercised for the reception of a series of scorings of various kinds, any notice of which, up to the time of our visit, had not, as far as we are aware, been published. The principal cave is connected with a second and smaller one, lying upon its western side, by an aperture in the partition of rock, by which, but for this provision, the two chambers would be completely severed. The lesser cavern is small, rude and uninscribed, but sufficiently large and dry to have been used as a sleeping apartment by the primitive occupants. The carvings at Loughnacloyduff consist chiefly of crosses enclosed within an apparent lozenge; of starlike designs; and of strokes which look very like a species of Ogam writing. The caverns, once perhaps the home of the cave-dweller, are now the dens of wild animals​—​the fox and the brock or badger, as the bones of other animals and the tattered plumage of birds testify.

In our observations on Caves, we have confined ourselves to those which are natural, or partly artificial, rock-caverns, and in no instance referred to the souterrains​—​underground passages and chambers, lined with drystone masonry and roofed over with flags, found very plentifully in various parts of the country, and too carelessly or vaguely described by some writers under the title of ‘Caves.’ These will be dealt with in a subsequent chapter.

As we have already intimated, in the present state of our knowledge it is impossible to dogmatize upon rock markings. Caution must be used in any attempt to interpret them. Many are no doubt due to natural causes. The familiar water-marks on the Old Red Sandstone formation may too readily be taken for cuttings made by the hand of man. The late Richard Rolt Brash once observed, in the sections of vertical rock strata in the quarries of South Wales, cup-like holes, with corresponding bosses on the opposing layers, and was of opinion that these were sometimes taken for artificial hollows. The late Dr. Frazer, following on the lines of M. Valenciennes, found the Echinus lividus lodged in a cup-like hollow burrowed for itself in the rocks on the sea-shore of Bundoran. Dr. Frazer expressed his opinion that the cup-markings on the rocks round the shore of Lough Melvin, once probably an arm of the sea, were due to the same cause; and further, that some of the markings on rocks described by Sir James Simpson in British Archaic Sculpturings were pittings of the Echinus.18 Many of the cup-like indentations in the limestone rock are, in the opinion of some scientists, due to acid secretions of the snail, notably the Helix aspersa. Making due allowance for these natural causes, yet a mass of rude markings by the hand of man remain, difficult to interpret as to their origin, their meaning, and the people to whom they are to be assigned. In many districts of this country, and some of them widely apart, we find upon the sides of caves and rocks, and within the enclosure of pagan sepulchral tumuli, a certain well-defined class of markings, often arranged in groups, and with few exceptions, presenting what may be styled a family type: we can hardly imagine them to be the result of caprice. In ancient and in modern times, men confined by necessity to a listless existence, in an inhospitable district, or when tending flocks and herds, might very naturally have beguiled their hours by carving with a stone or metallic instrument such figures as their fancy prompted, upon the nearest object which happened to present a surface more or less smooth. Scorings or patterns made under such circumstances would be, in character, as various as the skill or humours of the designers.