223 



HAPDWICKE'S SCIEN CE- GO SS1P. 



of the nature of the grounds, the structures, as 

 is usual in all Irish ancient churches, do not bear 

 east and west. In some of the small churches, such 

 as St. Kennanach on the middle island, there 

 are peculiar stone projections (fig. US), from the 

 end walls that look like handles, and seem to 



suggest 



that the building was constructed after 





^ — '^ - ''■■■• —- VS \ - -A * ■ A^-J "Ail . 



3ZE3C 



Fig. 144. Ground p'an of a small Cyclopean Church, showiner 

 the doorway in the east wall, the lon^ stones, placed on 

 edge, forming the inside and outside of the walls (3 feet 

 thick) with rubble and grouting inside. 



small wooden models, to which were attached 

 handles for carrying them about. This, however, is 

 mere conjecture, as nowhere in the annals has a 

 record been found that mentions such a movable 

 oratory. This small class of churches are supposed 

 by Petrie to have been in general erected by. the 





Fig. 145. Typical doorway of the Irish Type of Cyclopean 

 "Church. 



persons after which they were originallyinamed, and 

 by them to have been used exclusively for private 

 devotion. Many of them, however, have now lost 

 the names of their founders, as prior to Bishop 

 Malichi's time only Irish saints' names were used ; but 



subsequently to his advent many of the old names 

 were changed for that of the Virgin Mary or those 

 of the apostles or other foreign saints. Stone altars 

 were also introduced in his time, and where they 

 occur in the old churches it is quite evident they 

 have been a subsequent addition to the original 

 building. All the early churches (which is also their 

 characteristic in most parts of Ireland) are of that 

 peculiar style of masonry termed Cyclopean or 

 Pelasgic ; large stones having been laid on edge in 

 horizontal courses, without mortar, in more or less 

 irregular courses, with their joints not always verti- 

 cal, but having the stones neatly fitted together, 

 thus forming the outer and inside portion of the 

 walls, while the space between was filled with rubble 



Fig. 146. Outside elevation of a slit window. 



and thin grouting (fig. 141) ; also, except in the door- 

 ways, windows, and low'er courses, the stones rarely 

 extend as bonds through the thickness'of the walls. 

 Most of the churches on the Aran]'is!es are of the 

 small ancient type; some, however, are of later 

 date, are more pretentious, and of larger dimensions, 

 or even may consist of a nave and chancel : these 

 later-aged churches usually have been built on the 

 sites of older ones, and into the newer buildings 

 parts of the older structures have been adapted. 



The curious appendages to many of these churches 

 called leabuidhs (labbas), or beds, evidently are 

 introductions, some apparently being very recent, 

 and constructed by interested persons to entrap the 

 superstitious. Labbas seem to have grown out of 

 St. Patrick having, in his wanderings, had to sleep 

 at various times in out-of-the-way places, which 

 afterwards were visited and slept in'.by bis followers 

 and disciples,— a practice in vogue at the present 

 day in England in connection with the beds of some 

 eminent personages. As St. Patrick had beds, 

 other eminent saints had them also ; and gradually 

 it grew to be supposed they imparted virtues to 

 their occupiers ; from visitiug the beds the custom 

 easily graduated to visiting the final resting-places 

 of the saints, so that now most of the labbas held iu 

 great veneration are the tombs of the early saints. 

 These beds are rude structures. They are generally 

 from six to eight feet long, roughly flagged, and 



