Uses of the Round Towers of Ireland, fyc. 159 



vir Dei primo benigne allocutus promittebat si permitterent Ecclesiam in Dei honorem in eo amoeno 

 loco excitari, ejusdem Ecclesige moderatores & rectores ex ipsorum progenie fore desumendos. Sed 

 cum illi non solum eius prajdicationi, & beneuola; proposition! non acquiescerent ; sed etiam per 

 manus attractum eum violenter expelli curarent ; tune vir Dei in tantse injurias justam vltionem 

 coepit jaculura maledictionis in ipsos, eorumque posteros inijcere. Et cum os in hunc finem aperiens, 

 diceret ; mcdedictio; tune S. Secundinus ejus discipulus inclioatam sententiam ex ore eius eripiens, 

 & complens, subjunxit ; Super lapides mantis Vsneach. Placuit viro Dei discipuli pia miseratio, & 

 intercessio & sententiam ab eo prolatam ratam habuit. Mira res ! ab isto in hunc vsq; diem lapides 

 isti quasi illius maledictionis succumbentes plagse, nulli structural apta? reperiuntur, alteriiie hu- 

 mano deseruiunt vsui. Vnde abinde in prouerbium abiit, vt siquando lapis, aliaiie materia destinato 

 non deseruiat vsui, ex mentis Vsneach lapidibus esse vulgo dicatur." Part ii. c. xvii. Trias Thaum. 



p. 131. 







SECTION III. 

 GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ANCIENT IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL BUILDINGS. 



HAVING shown, as I trust satisfactorily, in the preceding section, that the 

 Irish were not unacquainted with the art of building with stone and lime ce- 

 ment, and that they applied this art to the erection of at least their churches 

 immediately after their conversion to Christianity, I have now to treat of the 

 varieties of ecclesiastical structures in use amongst them, their size, their 

 general forms and details, and the materials of which they were constructed. 

 As this is a subject not hitherto treated of by any of our writers, and is, 

 moreover, one of extreme difficulty, from the slender historical materials that 

 can be brought to illustrate it, I must throw myself on the kind indulgence of 

 the reader, if I should fail to treat the subject, in all its bearings, with that 

 certainty of proof which it would be so desirable to attain. The structures of 

 which I am about to treat, as noticed in our historical documents, may be 



classed in the following order : 



1. Churches. 



2. Oratories. 



3. Belfries. 



4. Houses. 



5. Erdamhs. 



6. Kitchens. 



7. Cashels. 



I shall treat of each of these classes of buildings in a separate subsection. 



