ANTIQUITIES OF BUTE. 345 



of a single stone, and a square headed ambry still re- 

 main in their original places. The chancel is constructed 

 of ashlar, but not of such a good description as the earlier 

 work. 



The whole church is built on an artificial mound or cashel 

 composed of a substructure of stones, on two different levels, 

 on which earth has been heaped. Close to the chapel is a holy 

 well, lined with stone, and with a stone weighing more than 

 a ton placed on the top. This rude masonry seems coeval 

 with a circular enclosure not far from it, composed of large 

 blocks of trap, arranged in the form of a low wall, thirty-three 

 feet in diameter. This was probably a place for meditation, and 

 used as such by St. Blane and his immediate successors. 

 There are traces of extensive foundations in the immediate 

 vicinity, probably of monastic buildings, in connection with 

 the chapel. 



It is highly probable that this church occupies the site of 

 a small Culdee settlement, of the early part of the seventh 

 century. Blaan or Blane, whose day is fixed both in Irish 

 and Scotch calendars on tenth August, was by his father's 

 side one of the Dalaradians of Ulster. His mother was the 

 daughter of Aidau, the King of the Scotch Dalriads. Blaan 

 was the head of a monastic fraternity at Dunblane, similar 

 to that at lona founded by Columba, to which he also gave 

 his name, and which acquired such a prescriptive sanctity 

 that many centuries afterwards, when dioceses were being 

 defined, here was raised the beautiful cathedral church of 

 the See of Dunblane, the limits of which were conterminous 

 with the Earldom of Strathearn. 



The only other church on the island of any note is the old 

 Cathedral Church of St. Mary of Rothesay, beside the Estab- 

 lished Church. The chancel alone remains ; it is exactly of 

 the period, and with the same style of detail as the chancel 

 of St. Blane's, and like it built of sandstone. It has been 

 lighted by a large traceried window in the east gable, and by 

 pointed lights in the side walls. The square-headed ambry and 



