The free-standing crosses of Wales and Cornwall differ from those of Ireland in having heads of much smaller diameter in proportion to the height of the shaft, and bases are the exception rather than the rule. In the Welsh and Cornish crosses figure-sculpture is made altogether subordinate to ornament, whilst in the Irish crosses exactly the reverse is the case. The fronts and backs of the Irish crosses, and sometimes the sides also, are entirely covered with panels of symbolical figure subjects forming a cycle, which does not occur in the illuminated MSS., although evidently borrowed from a Byzantine source. The subordination of ornament to figure subjects on the Irish crosses shows that they are further removed from the MSS. than the Welsh, Cornish, and Scottish crosses, and therefore of later date. The free-standing crosses of Scotland seem to belong to the Irish group.

The following list gives the best examples of free-standing crosses:—

The shafts of the erect free-standing crosses which have just been described are rectangular in section, but there are a few exceptional monuments with shafts of square section or of round section, or partly of square and partly of round section. As an instance of a cross of square section we have the one at Llandough, Glamorganshire. At Llantwit Major, in the same county, is a cylindrical pillar with a vertical groove down one side of it, the use of which has caused much futile speculation amongst antiquaries. The pillar of Eliseg at Valle Crucis, Denbighshire, is round at the bottom and square at the top, thus corresponding in shape to a well-known type of monument which is common in Mercia. These round pillar crosses usually occur in pairs.

There are a few unique monuments that cannot be classed with any of those already described, such as the ornamented stone coffin at Govan, Renfrewshire, and the altar tomb at St. Andrews, Fifeshire.

Descriptions and illustrations of nearly all the monuments mentioned will be found in Dr. J. Stuart’s Sculptured Stones of Scotland (published by the Spalding Club of Aberdeen); Dr. J. Anderson and J. R. Allen’s Early Christian Monuments of Scotland (published by the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland); R. C. Graham’s Carved Stones of Islay; H. O’Neill’s Sculptured Crosses of Ancient Ireland; Dr. Petrie’s Christian Inscriptions in the Irish Language (published by the R. Soc. Ant. of Ireland); Miss M. Stokes’ Early Christian Art in Ireland; Prof. J. O. Westwood’s Lapidarium Walliæ; A. G. Langdon’s Old Cornish Crosses; J. G. Cumming’s Runic Remains of the Isle of Man.

The Celtic metalwork of the Christian period may be arranged under the following heads:—

With a few exceptions all the existing specimens are now preserved in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy in Dublin, the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland in Edinburgh, and the British Museum in London.

Ecclesiastical bells are of two different kinds, namely, (1) portable bells, sufficiently light to be carried in the hand; and (2) fixed bells, whose weight renders a trussed framework of wood necessary for their support. Each kind of bell can be rung in two separate ways, namely, (1) by holding the bell stationary and striking it on the outside with a hammer; or (2) by providing the bell with a tongue, or clapper, suspended from the inside and swinging the bell backwards and forwards, so as to cause the clapper to strike against the interior and thus produce sound. The method of bell-ringing by means of a hammer is frequently illustrated in the illuminated psalters of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and is also to be seen on the sculptured capitals in the Abbey of St. George’s de Boscherville,[385] in Normandy. The great bells of the Kremlin at Moscow, and in other Greek churches throughout Russia, are rung in this fashion. Portable bells with clappers have a handle at the top, by which they can be swung backwards and forwards in the hand, in the manner depicted upon the Bayeux Tapestry.[386] Fixed bells with clappers have loops at the top for suspension by iron bands to a horizontal wooden axle or rocking bar working in bearings supported on a trussed framework of timber, usually within a masonry tower. The required rocking motion is given by a lever and rope or a grooved wheel and rope.

The bells used in the Celtic Church seem to have belonged exclusively to the class of portable bells rung by hand. During the earlier period of Christianity in Ireland, when the monks lived together in small isolated communities, bells which were intended to carry sound to a great distance would be unnecessary, so that the absence of belfries in connection with the primitive dry-built stone oratories of the sixth and seventh centuries is easily explained. When, however, at a later period, the congregations became larger and more widely scattered, the lofty tower served a useful purpose in greatly increasing the area over which the sound of the bell could be heard.

The commencement of the building of belfries in Ireland coincides with the introduction of Lombardo-Byzantine architecture into that country, and the Irish round tower is obviously nothing more than a local variety of the Italian campanile. The Viking invasions at the same time gave an additional impetus to the erection of structures which could be used not only for ecclesiastical purposes, but also as watch-towers to detect the approach of the enemy, as bell-towers to alarm the neighbourhood, and as towers of defence to secure the lives and property of the congregation. The fact that the Irish round towers are called by the name of cloiccthec, or bell-house, in the ancient annals is sufficient proof they were used as belfries, but it does not appear to be known whether the bells were rung by swinging in the hand or fixed to a framework and swung on pivots. At any rate, no Irish bells of this period (A.D. 800 to 1000) have survived except the portable hand-bells. If any mechanical appliance was employed for bell-ringing in the Irish round towers it was probably constructed by fixing an ordinary hand-bell to a horizontal axle-bar of wood or iron, working in two bearings, and swung backwards and forwards by means of a rocking lever with a rope attached to it, as is done in many village churches at the present day. The large, heavy metal bells made specially with a view to being fixed in a tower and rung by a grooved wheel and cord belong to a much later period, after the Norman Conquest, when the art of making castings in bronze of great size had been learnt.

The portable bell of the early Celtic Church is merely an ordinary cattle bell,[387] such as would, no doubt, be common in Pagan times, adapted to ecclesiastical purposes and slightly modified to suit the requirements of the monks. It differs hardly at all, except as regards size, from the common sheep-bell still to be found in many parts of England. Dr. Joseph Anderson tersely sums up the peculiarities of the Celtic ecclesiastical bell, as regards its material, manufacture, form, and size, in his Scotland in Early Christian Times (first series), p. 183, somewhat as follows:—

The original home of ecclesiastical bells of this type was in Ireland, where there are still the greatest number in existence, and thence they spread to Scotland, Wales, England, Brittany, France, and Switzerland.

The largest iron bell of this kind is preserved in the Church of Birnie, near Elgin, N.B. It is 1 foot 2 inches high, and 7 inches by 5 inches at the bottom, tapering to 4½ inches by 3 inches at the top. It is riveted down each of the narrow sides with four rivets, and the handle is fixed to the top by four much smaller rivets. As a rule, however, the height of such bells rarely exceeds 1 foot or is less than 8 inches.

The Celtic ecclesiastical bell of wrought-iron was afterwards copied in cast bronze. It is reasonable to suppose that the bronze bells are of later date than those of iron (1) because the rectangular shape is useless and meaningless in the case of a bronze bell, and results from copying an iron bell, in which the rectangular shape is necessitated by its method of construction; (2) because the bronze bells are of more refined shape and better manufacture than those of iron; and (3) because the bronze bells are in many cases ornamented.

Celtic ecclesiastical bells of cast bronze may be divided into the following classes:—

• (1) Bronze bells without ornament.
• (2) Bronze bells without ornament, but inscribed.
• (3) Bronze bells with ornamented handles.
• (4) Bronze bells with ornamented bodies.

Examples of Celtic quadrangular bells of cast bronze without ornament have been recorded at the following places:—

• Wales—
• Llanrhyddlad, Anglesey (Archæologia Cambrensis, 4th
• ser., vol. ii., p. 275).
• Llangystenyn, Carnarvonshire; now in the Powysland Museum
• at Welshpool (Montgomeryshire Collections, vol. xxv., p. 327).
• Scotland—
• Eilean Finan, Loch Shiel, Argyllshire (Dr. J. Anderson’s
• Scotland in Early Christian Times, 1st ser., p. 198).
• Insh, near Kingussie, Inverness-shire (Ibid., p. 195).
• Little Dunkeld, Perthshire (Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. xxiii., p. 119).
• Forteviot, Perthshire (Ibid., vol. xxvi., p. 434).
• Ireland—
• Garton, Co. Donegal (Rev. H. T. Ellacombe’s Church
• Bells of Devon—Supplement, p. 342).
• Lower Badony, Co. Tyrone (Ibid., p. 344).
• Scattery Island, Co. Clare; now in the British Museum (Ibid., p. 344).
• Kilbroney, Rostrevor, Co. Down (R. Welch, photo.
• No. 1,932; Jour. R. Soc. Ant. of Ireland, vol. xxxiii., P. 55).
• Kilmainham (Jour. R. Soc. Ant. of Ireland, 5th ser., vol. x., p. 41).
• Cappagh, Co. Tyrone (Jour. R. Soc. Ant. of Ireland, vol. xxxiii., p. 52).
• Drumragh, Co. Tyrone (Ibid., vol. xxxiii., p. 54).
• France—
• Goulien, Finistère (Ibid., 5th ser., vol. viii., p. 167).

As has already been pointed out, the bells of cast bronze are copies in another material of the wrought-iron bells, the quadrangular form of which had its origin in the method of construction out of a thin sheet of metal with riveted joints being still adhered to in the bronze bell, where joints were not required. The only difference in the shape of the iron and the bronze bells is that the latter have in most cases a flange, or an expansion and thickening of the metal round the mouth. The handles vary from those which are almost rectangular to those which are quite round. The bell still preserved in the church at Insh, near Kingussie, Inverness-shire, may be taken as a fair sample of the Celtic quadrangular bell of cast bronze without ornament. It is 10 inches high, and measures 9 inches by 7¾ inches at the mouth. The handle is oval and the mouth expanded. The remaining bells of the same class vary from 4 inches to 11 inches in height, with their other dimensions in proportion.

There are three Celtic quadrangular bells of cast bronze without ornament, but inscribed, at the following places:—

• Ireland—
• Clogher, Co. Tyrone (H. T. Ellacombe’s
• Church Bells of Devon—Supplement, p. 369).
• Armagh; now in the Museum of the R.I.A. at Dublin
• (M. Stokes’ Early Christian Art in Ireland, p. 65).
• Brittany—
• Stival (Mémoires de l’Institut Impériale de France; Académie
• des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, vol. xxiv., pt. ii., p. 387).

The bell of Clogher is inscribed, in one horizontal line, with Roman capital letters—

PATRICI

The bell of Armagh is inscribed, in three horizontal lines, with Hiberno-Saxon minuscules—

✠ oroit ar chu
mascach ṁ
ailello

“✠ A prayer for Cumascach, son of Ailell.”

The bell of Stival is inscribed, in one vertical line, with Carlovingian minuscules—

pirtur ficifti

“Pirtur made this” (?).

Or, according to the Vicomte Hersart de la Villemarqué:

pir turfic is ti

“Sweet-sounding art thou.”

The Cumascach mentioned on the bell of Armagh was probably the steward of Armagh, who, according to the Annals of the Four Masters, died in A.D. 904, thus fixing the date of at least one of the bells of this class.

Celtic quadrangular bells of cast bronze with ornamented handles exist at the following places:—

• Wales—
• Llangwynodl, Carnarvonshire; now in the possession
• of W. C. Yale-Jones-Parry, Esq., of Madryn Castle,
• Pwllheli, Carnarvonshire (Archæologia Cambrensis,
• 1st ser., vol. iv., p. 167; and 4th ser., vol. ii., p. 274).
• Scotland—
• Strathfillan (Bell of St. Fillan), Perthshire; now in the
• National Museum at Edinburgh (Dr. J. Anderson’s
• Scotland in Early Christian Times, 1st ser., p. 186).
• Ireland—
• Lorrha (Bell of St. Ruadhan), Co. Tipperary; now in
• the British Museum (H. T. Ellacombe’s Church Bells
• of Devon—Supplement, p. 344).
• France—
• St. Pol de Léon (Bell of St. Meriadec) (Rohault de Fleury’s
• La Messe, vol. vi., pl. CDXVIII.; Ellacombe, p. 383).

The ornament on the handles is of two kinds—zoömorphic and phyllomorphic. The former consists of the head of a beast at each end of the loop handle where it joins the body of the bell, and the latter of a leaf in the same position. The bell of Llangwynodl[388] has a good typical example of a zoömorphic handle, and the bell of St. Pol de Léon is the only one with leaf terminations to the handle. The Llangwynodl bell is 5 inches high, and measures 6½ inches by 4 inches across the mouth; and the St. Pol de Léon bell is 9½ inches high, and measures 6½ inches across the mouth. St. Fillan’s bell is 1 foot high, and St. Ruadhan’s bell only 2 inches or 3 inches high.

Celtic quadrangular bells of cast bronze with ornamented bodies exist at the following places:—

• Ireland—
• Lough Lene Castle, Co. Westmeath; now in the Museum
• of the R.I.A. at Dublin; Bangor, Co. Down (Ulster
• Journal of Archæology, vol. i., p. 179; Ellacombe, p. 340).
• Cashel; now at Adare Manor (Lady Dunraven’s Memorials
• of Adare Manor, p. 152; Ellacombe, p. 340).

By the courtesy of Mr. George Coffey, M.R.I.A., of the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy, we are able to illustrate the bell from Lough Lene Castle.

It is 1 foot 1¼ inches high, including the handle, and measures 8⅛ inches by 7¾ inches across the mouth. The shape of the body of the bell resembles that of the iron quadrangular bells, but exhibits much greater refinement in the delicate and almost imperceptible curves of the sides. The handle is semicircular. The cross of the well-known Irish type, with a border of key-pattern below, round the mouth of the bell, on one of the border faces; and a border of angular interlaced-work in a similar position on each of the narrower faces.

The bell of Bangor was found at the place of that name, in Co. Louth, and was subsequently in the possession of Dr. Stephenson, of Belfast. It now belongs to Colonel MacCance, of Knocknagoney House, Holywood, Co. Down.[389] It is 1 foot 2½ inches high, and measures 9 inches by 8 inches across the mouth.

This bell is also ornamented with a cross and key-patterns, like the one just described, the only difference being that the cross is not combined with a circular ring, and the design of the key-pattern is not quite the same.

The bell of Cashel was found at the place of that name, in Co. Tipperary, in 1849, and is now preserved at Lord Dunraven’s house at Adare Manor, Co. Limerick. It resembles the bell of Bangor almost exactly, except that there are four round dots in the hollows between the arms of the cross. The handle is broken off, and without this the bell is 1 foot high. Its dimensions across the mouth are 9½ inches by 6¼ inches.

These three bells are so nearly alike as regards their size, shape, and ornamentation that they are probably all the same date, and may even have been the work of one artificer in metal. A peculiarity occurs in the key-patterns on the bells from Lough Lene Castle and from Bangor which may perhaps help to fix the date. It will be noticed that the square spaces in the middle of the key-patterns are filled in with an almond-shaped figure. This is also a feature of the key-patterns in the Irish Gospels (Codex No. 51) at St. Gall, in Switzerland.[390]

There is in the British Museum a Celtic quadrangular bell of iron with an ornamental bronze cap fixed to the top of it, but it is not clear whether the cap forms part of the original design or was added subsequently. This bell is called the Bell of Conall Gael, and came from Inishkeel, in the Barony of Boylagh, Co. Donegal. It was enclosed within a metal shrine in the fifteenth century.

All the other Celtic ecclesiastical bells which have been enshrined are entirely of iron, a fact tending to show that the bronze bells are of later date than the iron ones, because the enshrined bells were those belonging as a general rule to the saint who founded the church. The bronze bells probably came into use long after most of the older churches had been founded.

It may be interesting to give a list of the bell-shrines still in existence:—

• Ireland—
• Shrine of the Bell of St. Patrick’s Will; now in the
• Museum of the R.I.A. at Dublin (H. O’Neill’s
• Fine Arts of Ancient Ireland, p. 46).
• Shrine of the Bell of St. Culan, called the Barnaan Cuilaun;
• now in the British Museum
• (Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy, vol. xiv., p. 31).
• Shrine of the Bell of St. Mogue.
• Shrine of the Bell of Maelbrigde (Miss M. Stokes’
• Early Christian Art in Ireland, p. 67).
• Shrine of the Bell of St. Mura, from the Abbey of
• Fahan, Co. Donegal (Ulster Journal of Archæology, vol. i., p. 274).
• Shrine of the Bell of Conall Gael, from Inishkeel,
• Co. Donegal; now in the British Museum (H. T.
• Ellacombe’s Church Bells of Devon—Supplement, p. 365).
•  
• Scotland—
• Bell-shrine of Kilmichael Glassary, Argyllshire, dug up
• on Torrebhlaurn Farm in 1814; now in the National
• Museum at Edinburgh (Dr. J. Anderson’s
• Scotland in Early Christian Times, 1st ser., p. 207).
• Bell-shrine, preserved at Guthrie Castle, Forfarshire p. 209).

The bells of the Celtic Church, whether they be of iron or bronze, whether devoid of lettering or inscribed, ornamented or plain, possess a far higher interest than that attaching to ordinary museum specimens, because most of them have an authentic history, going back in some cases to the time when Christianity was first introduced into this country. The bell, the book, and the crozier which belonged to the Celtic saints who founded churches, were always looked upon with the highest veneration, and were used for a variety of superstitious purposes, such as healing the sick, procuring victory in battle, and the solemnising of oaths. The relics of the saints of the fifth, sixth, and seventh centuries were enclosed in costly metal shrines, generally a few hundred years after the death of the saint, and an hereditary keeper was appointed to be responsible for the safety of the relics when borrowed for effecting cures and other purposes. The shrines and their contents were thus handed down from generation to generation, and in most cases sold by their last hereditary keepers to collectors of antiquities, from whom they were acquired by the national museums of England, Scotland, and Ireland. The relics still bear the names of the saints to whom they originally belonged; the names of their hereditary keepers are well known, and they have been obtained from the localities where the saint founded his church, and where the relics remained for centuries afterwards undisturbed. No class of antiquities, therefore, possesses a better record or a more satisfactory pedigree.

The Irish and Scottish bell-shrines which have been enumerated are cases of metal of the same shape as the bell they contain, having four sloping sides and an arched top. The sides are usually made of bronze plates ornamented with gold, silver, enamel, and settings of crystal and precious stones. Two features which are characteristic of the ornamental bronze bells are repeated in the shrines, namely, the zoömorphic terminations of the handles and the cross on the body of the bell. In the two Scottish bell-shrines the Crucifixion takes the place of the Cross. The ornament on the bell-shrines is much further removed in style from that of the illuminated MSS. than is the case with the sculptured stones. This is only what might be expected, considering the late date of the bell-shrines as compared with that of the crosses. On two of the bell-shrines Scandinavian influence may be clearly detected in the ornament upon them. Thus on the Shrine of the Bell of St. Patrick’s Will the pear-shaped eyes of the beast’s heads on each side of the arched top are placed with the point outwards in the Scandinavian fashion; and on the Shrine of the Bell of St. Mura the “tendril pattern,” which is so common on the Rune-inscribed monuments of the Isle of Man, may be noticed.

The dates of three of the bell-shrines have been ascertained by means of the inscriptions upon them, namely, Maelbrigde’s Bell-shrine, circa A.D. 954; the Shrine of the Bell of St. Patrick’s Will, A.D. 1091 to 1105; and the Guthrie Bell-shrine, 14th century. Judging merely from the style of the ornament, the Shrine of the Bell of St. Culanus should be of the twelfth century, and the Shrines of the Bell of St. Mura and of Kilmichael Glassary perhaps as late as the beginning of the thirteenth century.

The metal croziers of the Celtic Church are in reality shrines enclosing the wooden pastoral staffs of the different saints, whose names most of them still bear. The chief peculiarity of the Celtic crozier is the shape of the head, which is like the hook of a modern walking-stick, but with a remarkable flattened end. The inside curve of the hook is nearly circular, but the outside curve is only partially semicircular, and suddenly changes to a nearly vertical straight line just before the end of the crook is reached. At the bottom of the crozier is a pointed ferrule, and the straight portion consists of two cylindrical tubes of thin metal joined together in the middle by a bulbous collar. The upper tube is joined to the head at the top by a similar bulbous collar, and the lower tube is joined to the ferrule at the bottom by a third bulbous collar.

One of the most perfect of the Irish croziers is preserved at Lismore Castle,[391] Co. Waterford. It bears an inscription showing that it was made by Nectan, the artisan, for Niall, son of MacAeducain. Mac Mic Aeducain was Bishop of Lismore from A.D. 1090 to 1113. Another fine crozier in the British Museum[392] has an inscription asking a prayer for Maelfinnia and Condulig. The former was Bishop of Kells, and died in A.D. 967. Condulig was an ecclesiastic of the same monastery, and died in A.D. 1047.

The best examples of uninscribed croziers are the croziers of Clonmacnois[393] and of St. Berach in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy in Dublin, and a crozier now in the possession of the Roman Catholic Bishop of Killarney. Besides the complete croziers mentioned there are several heads and other portions of croziers in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy, and in the Edinburgh Museum of Antiquities may be seen the head of the crozier of St. Fillan,[394] which has an unusually interesting history.

The decoration of the Celtic croziers is concentrated on the head, the ferrule, and the collars round the straight portion of the staff. Most of the croziers have a zoömorphic cresting[395] on the outside curve of the head, sometimes consisting of a procession of beasts one behind the other, and sometimes only having terminal beasts’ heads at each end.[396] The flat portion of the crook of the crozier at the end is decorated in some cases with the head of the saint or bishop, and a crystal setting below.[397] Zoömorphism enters very largely into the ornamentation of the Celtic croziers, and the beasts with only two toes instead of three on the Crozier of Clonmacnois obviously betray their Scandinavian origin by this detail. The decoration of the heads of the croziers is treated in at least three different ways: (1) the head of the Lismore crozier is divided into rectangular panels with raised bosses of enamel at the intersections of the bands, which form the divisions between the panels; (2) the heads of the croziers of Dysert, Blathmac, and St. Fillan are divided into lozenge-shaped panels by a sort of raised lattice-work; and (3) the head of the crozier of Clonmacnois is not divided into panels, but the surface entirely covered with zoömorphic strapwork.

The croziers are all of the eleventh century or later, and their decoration has little in common with that of the early illuminated MSS.

“Cumdachs,” or book-shrines, are peculiar to Ireland. Three MSS. still in existence are known, from historical evidence, to have had cumdachs, although they have been lost.

These are:—

The existing cumdachs are as follows:—

The cumdachs are simply rectangular boxes, sufficiently large to hold the MS., made either of wood or bronze and plated with silver. The decoration of the principal face of the cumdach is generally arranged in the form of a cross, the treatment being much the same as in the ornamental pages of the MSS. of the Gospels. The cross on the cumdach of Molaise’s Gospels is formed of a flat silver plate with panels pierced right through the thickness of the metal, and filled in with interlaced patterns in filigree-work. The cross in the middle is surrounded by the Symbols of the Four Evangelists, with their names inscribed at the side of each. The centre of the cross and the ends of the four arms are ornamented with settings of crystal.

On one of the narrow faces of this cumdach are some very curious figures of two ecclesiastics, one holding a bell and the other a pastoral staff; and a harper, with an angel above his head, between them.

The cumdach of the Stowe Missal has upon the principal face a cross within a rectangular frame. The centre of the cross is ornamented with a crystal setting, and the recessed panels of the background are filled in with a peculiar kind of triangular and square chequerwork made of pierced metal plates.

The cumdach of Dimma’s Book has also on the principal face a cross surrounded by a rectangular frame, and ornamented with thirteen crystal settings. The four recessed panels of the background of the cross are filled in with zoömorphic designs in the same style as those on the High Cross of Tuam,[398] Co. Galway, which is of about the same period, having been erected in A.D. 1123.

The relic shrines of the Celtic Church are of two kinds, namely, (1) those made in the shape of the portion of the body of the saint enshrined; and (2) those made in the shape of a small oratory or house with a steep pitched roof having hipped ends. As an example of the first kind we have the Shrine of St. Lachtin’s Arm.[399]

The most beautiful and perfect example of a reliquary in the form of a small oratory is the one now in the possession of Sir Archibald Grant, and preserved at Monymusk House,[400] Aberdeenshire. It is a wooden box, hollowed out of the solid, and covered with plates of bronze and silver. It is decorated with enamel, settings of precious stones, and raised circular medallions and rectangular plaques of interlaced-work on a chased background of zoömorphic designs. Another reliquary of the same kind was found in Lough Erne,[401] between Enniskillen and Belleek, in 1891, and belongs to Mr. T. Plunkett, of Enniskillen. It is 7 inches long by 3½ inches wide by 5⅞ inches high, and is made of plates of bronze covering an inner box scooped out of two solid pieces of yew-wood. The decoration, which consists of interlaced-work, is concentrated upon the ridge-piece of the roof; upon a band concealing the joint between the eaves of the roof and the sides; upon six circular raised medallions, one on each of the longest sloping faces of the roof and two on each of the longest sides; and upon the hinges at each end of the box to which the bars for suspending the shrine round the neck of its hereditary keeper were attached. There is a third reliquary, like the two just described, from Norway, in the Copenhagen Museum.[402] It has raised circular medallions arranged in the same way as on the Lough Erne shrine, but they are decorated with spiral designs, and the background, instead of being plain, is covered with elaborate interlaced-work. An inscription in later Runes on this shrine reads “Ranvaig owns this casket.” The Edinburgh Museum possesses a fourth shrine of the same class found in the Shannon[403] in a very dilapidated condition.

Dr. J. Anderson[404] has pointed out the identity of the form of the Temple at Jerusalem, as represented in the Book of Kells, with the form of this particular class of reliquary.

The Breac Moedoc,[405] or shrine of St. Mogue, from Drumlane, now in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy at Dublin, resembles the reliquaries of the Monymusk type in shape except that the roof is gabled instead of being hipped, and the method of applying the decoration also is entirely different. It is 7¼ inches long by 8⅞ inches wide by 3½ inches wide, and is made of bronze, with decorations of bronze-gilt, enamel, and glass. The front is divided into rectangular panels, each containing a group of figures of male and female saints numbering twenty-one altogether; and on one of the gabled ends is a bearded figure playing a harp on which a bird is perched. The back and bottom of the shrine are ornamented with cruciform patterns in pierced work, as on the shrines of the Bell of St. Patrick’s Will, of the Stowe Missal, and of Dimma’s Book.

The relic-shrine of St. Manchan[406] differs from all those previously described in being considerably larger, and in being shaped like the gabled roof of a house, but without any house; that is to say, it has two rectangular faces meeting in a horizontal ridge and two nearly vertical triangular ends. It was formerly in the keeping of the ancient Irish family of Mooney, of the Doon, but it is now preserved in the Roman Catholic Church of Boher, in the parish of Lemanaghan, near Clara, King’s Co. The Shrine of St. Manchan is 1 foot 11 inches long by 1 foot 1 inch wide by 1 foot 7 inches high. The framework of the shrine is made of yew boards. The front and back are each ornamented with an equal-armed cross having large circular raised bosses in the centre, and on the ends of the four arms. The four spaces forming the background of each of the crosses are filled in with rows of small figures fixed to the bronze plate behind with rivets. The front, back, and two ends of the shrine are partially surrounded by a border of zoömorphic ornament. The bosses in relief of the crosses on the front and back, and the recessed triangular panels on the two ends are also elaborately decorated with zoömorphs. At each of the four corners of the base is a circular ring, probably for carrying the shrine about. The clamps of the rings, the borders round the bottom of the shrine, and the narrow parts of the arms of the crosses have step-patterns in red and yellow enamel upon them. The whole of the bronze was originally gilt. The style of the ornament is so similar to that on the Cross of Cong that we shall not be far wrong if we attribute the shrine of St. Manchan to the same period, namely, the twelfth century.

There is only a single example of a processional cross belonging to the Celtic Church now in existence, namely, the Cross of Cong[407] in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy at Dublin. It is 2 feet 6 inches high by 1 foot 6¾ inches across the arms by 1¾ inches thick. The cross is of oak covered with copper plates, and has a boss of rock-crystal in the centre, beneath which the portion of the true cross was enshrined. The outer margin of the cross is formed by a roll moulding of silver, with eighteen small enamelled knobs at intervals to emphasise the cuspings of the outline of the cross. The face of the cross within the margin is divided into two rows of panels by a narrow longitudinal band in the middle of the arms, with enamelled bosses of enamel in relief and circular silver discs alternately marking the points where the cross-bars branch off at right angles to the central stem, so as to divide the surface into panels. The eight panels surrounding the boss of rock-crystal in the centre of the cross are filled in with scrolls of gold filigree-work, and the remaining thirty-eight panels on the arms and shaft are filled in with zoömorphic designs in cast bronze gilt, riveted to the copper plates beneath. At the bottom of the cross is a beast’s head with a bulbous projection between it and the socket to receive the staff. The bulbous portion is ornamented with small bosses of blue enamel and panels of zoömorphic designs. The general effect of the whole is extremely rich, and shows great artistic feeling. The prevalence of the zoömorphic element in the design and the arrangement of the panels reminds us of the croziers of the same period, more especially the one at Lismore Castle, Co. Waterford.

The inscriptions on the Cross of Cong, of which the first is in Latin (twice repeated) and the remaining four in Irish, may be thus rendered in English:—