HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



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plete little structure, and is thus described by 

 Petrie : — " This little church — which would be in 

 perfect preservation if its stone roof remained— 

 measures on the inside but 16 ft. 6 in. in length and 

 12 ft. 6 in. in breadth ; and its walls, which are 

 3 ft. in thickness, are built in a style quite Cyclo- 

 pean, the stones being throughout of great size, 

 and one of them not less than 18 ft. in length, 

 which is the entire external breadth of the church, 

 and 3 ft. in thickness." 



On this island may be mentioned, the kitchen 

 middens in various places, usually at the old eccle- 

 siastical settlements ; also a cave, said to have been 

 inhabited till recently, the last occupants being 

 some of the Patriots, who, after their defeat, fled to 

 Aran to escape the butchery that was going on in 

 Ireland, at the dawn of the present century. 



On Aranmore, the village 

 now called Killeany, was the 

 first Christian settlement, St. 

 Eude, the apostle of the island, 

 having resided here and 

 founded Teampullmore and a 

 monastery. These are now 

 gone, having been carried away 

 by the Cromwellians to build 

 the fortress of Arkin. Here 

 it may be mentioned, that St. 

 Eude is supposed to have 

 come across from the opposite 

 coast of Connemara on a large 

 flat granite block. This stone 

 is shown at a small bay on the 

 south-east coast, and called 

 Cloghnacurrach, or the stone 

 boat. At Killeany there is the 

 butt of a round tower ; fifty 

 years ago this is said to have 

 been 40 ft. high. Erom the 

 style of the building, the tower would appear to 

 have been much more modern than many of the 

 churches on the islands, which is very probable, as 

 many, if not all, the round towers in Mayo and 

 Galway were built about the tenth or eleventh 

 century, that of Aunaghdown, on Lough Corrib — 

 the site of which only remains on the strand near 

 tbe church — according to Petrie, having been 

 erected A.D. 1238. Besides the round tower, there 

 are two blessed wells, various ruins, and the pedestal 

 of a very large cross, of which now only one broken 

 fragment remains. To the south of Killeany, at the 

 church called Teaglacheinne, St. Eude and one 

 hundred and twenty other saints, are said to be 

 buried. This church, probably, was not erected till 

 the thirteenth or fourteenth century, judging from 

 the style of the building. It is now nearly buried 

 in sand, and the saint's tomb cannot be seen unless 

 you excavate. On it is an inscription in very ancient 

 letters. 



Fig. 1/1. Terminal 

 Cross or Tearmon. 



The present capital of the island is Killronan- 

 Here there was formerly a church dedicated to 

 St. K,onan ; now, however, there is only the aharla 

 previously described. Near this village is Ballcearna, 

 or St. Clama's House. Here existed her church, 

 liagan, and well. The latter is the largest spring in 

 the island, and its waters are said to be incapable of 

 being boiled, or of boiling anything. 



Monasterkeiran lies more than a mile noith-north- 

 east of Killronan, and is the best preserved church in 

 the islands. The present structure was built in the 

 fifteenth century, on the site of a more ancient 

 church. In its vicinity are the ruins of various 



Fig. 1 72. Typical Irish Cross at Clommacnoise. 



buildings, while its tearmons, with the terminal 

 crosses, have been previously described. There is 

 also a bullan and a holy well, the latter in a Cyclo- 

 pean cell. 



Teampull Soorney, or St. Serenus's church, is 

 situated about a quarter of a mile north-west of 

 Monasterkieran. Here are the remains of a church 

 that seems to be the oldest on the islands ; Tober- 

 soorney, a bullan cut in the solid rock, into which 

 the water is conducted by a minute channel; and 

 close to the latter a circular inclosure that seems to 

 be an aharla, in which a rude pillar cross stands. 

 To the north of this inclosure is the foundation of a 

 structure in the corner of which is a handsome 

 bullan cut in a large block of granite. Kilbride 

 supposed this to be the ruins of the church called 



