145 



unto the Lord," such an altar God himself commanded. "If thou 

 wilt make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone, 

 for if thou lift up thy tool upon it thou hast polluted it." The black 

 mould and ashes, commonly found about these Cromlechs,* confirm 

 the idea of their having been used as fire temples in the open air. Nor 

 should the circumstance of bones having been discovered under some 

 few of them, -f- militate against this conclusion, or induce a belief that 

 Cromlechs were funereal memorials. Such bones might have been 

 those of the animals sacrificed, or even if human, the rareness of the 

 occurrence only strengthens our theory, as illustrating that the desire 

 of being buried near the places of worship, so prevalent in later ages, 

 was even then partially acknowledged. 



The largest Cromlech in Ireland is supposed to be that in the 

 parish of Fiddown, County Kilkenny, described in the l6th vol. of 

 the Archaeologia. It stands on one of the Walch mountains, in the 

 County of Kilkenny, over the river Suir, between Carrick and Water- 

 ford : there is another of these Heathen remains worth most especial 

 attention, not only as a specimen of the ancient worship, but as a 

 testimony, from the geometrical accuracy of its position, of the 

 resources and mechanic skill of the ancient Irish. + There is also a 

 fine one at Brennanstown, near Dublin, a larger at Labacally, in the 

 County Cork ; and the neighbourhood of Baltinglas, (which seems 

 to derive its name Beal-tinne-glas from these rites,) and the Isles of 

 Aran§ abound with such remains. King shews, 1| that Cromlechs, 

 similar to the Irish, exist in Syria; and Armstrong, in his history of 



• See Mason's Statist. Surv. p. 388. 

 t King. Munim. Antiq. vol. 1. p. 249. 



t See Mr. Finigan's paper, Archffiol. vol. 16. p. 264. j.'I ,,/, 



§ O'FIaherty's Isles of Aran. || Munim. Antiq. vol. 1. 



VOL. XVI. U 



