Uses of the Round Towers of Ireland, fyc. 143 



writers, may have been applied to wooden churches, which appears never to 

 have been the case, those writers usually designating such buildings by the 

 term oratorium; and hence it is not uncommon, when the oratory was not of 

 wood, to designate it by the term oratorium lapideum, as in the often quoted 

 passage in Bernard's Life of St. Malachy, relative to the stone oratory at Bangor, 

 and of which I may also quote as an example the following notice in the Annals 

 of Ulster, at the year 788 : 



" A. D. 788. Contencio in Ardmacae in qua jugulatur vir in hostio [ostio] ORATORII LAPIDEI." 



To prove this interchange, first in the terms damhliag and tempull, among 

 the Irish writers themselves, before the English invasion, I insert the following 

 passage relating to the damhliag of Mayo, usually called Tempull Oerailt by 

 the Irish, from an ancient Irish MS. in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin, 

 H. 2, 17, p. 399: 



" Ro eobaippio Sacpam Dlaiji eo oechinao a cachpach DO t)ia 7 DO TTIicel, 7 DO ponpao 

 oamliacc inci DO oeopaoaib Oe co bpcich. Ocup po jubpac TTIuintip TTlailpinneoin a papach, 

 7 DO pochaip in oatnliacc pm popp in muincip gup mapo oaeimB, inmbb. lap pin co came an 

 penoip, .1. Cachapach, 5Op acnui^io an cempul pain, a piji Ruaiopi 7 a mic, .1. Coipoelb'aij;, 7 

 po h-air-oilpi^eo o pin amac DO oeopaoaib co bpac; 7 rucao cop mo eapcoip 1 t)unan, 7 mum- 

 dpi Cilli tDalua, 7 in c-penopa, .1. Carapac, 7 Coipoelbuijj, pij Connachc, 7 ano epcoip 1 

 CnaiU, 7 ano epcoip 1 tDubchaij, ma biroilpi co bpaeh. Ocup gepe ci caipip pein po gacup a 

 ouchaio pein a calmam aip, 7 pob oopaio an pueoul DO," 



" The Saxons of Mayo granted the tythes of their city to God and St. Michael, and they made 

 a damhliag in it (i. e. in their city) for the pilgrims of God for ever. And the family of Mailfinneoin 

 proceeded to destroy it, and that damhliag fell on the people and killed men and cattle. After this 

 came the senior i. e. Cathasach, and he renewed [re-built] that tempul [church], in the reign of 

 Ruaidhri and his son, i. e. Toirdelbhach, and it was re-confirmed from that out for pilgrims for ever ; 

 and the guarantee of the bishop O'Dunan, and of the family of Killaloe, and of the senior, i. e. Ca- 

 thasach, and of Toirdelbhach, king of Connaught, and of the bishop O'Cnaill, and of the bishop 

 O'Dubhthaigh, was given for its possession for ever. And whoever comes beyond [i. e. violates] 

 this he shall be deprived of his own country on earth, and this life shall be miserable to him." 



As the preceding passage, hitherto unnoticed, removes to a great degree the 

 obscurity in which the history of the church of Mayo has been hitherto in- 

 volved, I may observe that the edifice to which it refers must not be confounded 

 with the great abbey church of Mayo, which was erected for the Saxons by 

 St. Colman, about the middle of the seventh century, but to that called 



