212 



the outside and inside face of the walls were built of round field 

 stones (or perhaps coggle-stones from the sea-beach, as is the case 

 at Cloyne) very well put together, all the middle part being filled 

 with small stones and rubble, but the whole so well cemented that 

 it is easier to break the stone than to dissever the mortar.* 



' Ardmore, Devenish, Roscrea, Kildare, Kilkenny, Monaster Boice, 

 and those at Clonmacnoise, are among the finest and the most 

 perfect. 



Ardmore and Devenish are more ornamented than any others. 

 Ardmore, which is ninety feet high, is wholly built of hewn stone, 

 beautifully jointed and divided into four stories by projecting bands, 

 in which it differs from other towers ; the pyramidal roof is also of 

 stone well cut and closely laid : it was formerly finished with au 

 ornament, which is said to have resembled a monk's sandal, that is, 

 hollow in the middle, and rising obtusely at each end. Might not 

 this have been the Druidic crescent, which resembled, or rather 

 which was meant to represent the sacred boat, flat in the middle, 

 and the points not greatly raised, such as is called the Isiac cres' 

 cent, and nearly agreeing with the trident of Seeva, the crowning 

 ornament in the ancient pyramids of Deogur in India P-f 



The inside of this tower is coated with a plaster wiiich is per- 

 fectly smooth, and still retains its whiteness. It has been used as a 

 bell tower, as a channel for the rope is cut in the door-sill, and part 

 of the timber for hanging the bell remained when Dr. Smith wrote ; 

 but these beams must have been of very modern date, compared with 

 the flooring timbers, the whole of which were gone, j: Within this 

 church-yard St. Declan's small stone-roofed house is still shewn. 



* Survey of Antrim, p. 596. 

 f Origin of Pagan Idolatry, III. p. 286. 



X Smith's History of Waterford, p. 48.— Ryland's History of Waterford, pp. 326—329 — 

 Montmorency on the Pillar-Tower, p. 48. 



