IRELAND. 401 



been invented after the much, simpler Latin alphabet had become known.* But 

 however this may be, it can hardly be doubted that most of the stones with ogham 

 inscriptions were raised between the fifth and eighth centuries of our era, for they 

 bear Christian emblems. As to the relationship supposed to exist between the 

 oghams and the Scandinavian runes, the learned have not yet arrived at an 

 agreement. 



Ancient stone monuments, which were formerly for the most part attributed to 

 the Danes, abound in Ireland, and this applies more especially to rat lis, or 

 seijulchral mounds. There are districts in which every hill-top is crowned with a 

 rath. The sixty-seven stones of Raphre, in Donegal, form an old temple similar to 

 Stonehenge ; the extensive entrenchments of Grianan, near Londonderry, cover a 

 whole hill. Elsewhere we meet with cromlechs rising above the heather. But 

 the most remarkable, and at the same time most mysterious, monuments of ancient 

 Ireland are the round towers scattered over the whole island. Of ancient struc- 

 tures of this kind eighty-three have been discovered, whilst in Scotland, where 

 similar towers were probably constructed by men of the same race, there are but 

 two, and in the whole remainder of Europe none at all. The round towers of 

 Ireland bear some resembhmce to minarets. Several of them are built of 

 unhewn rocks, not touched by iron implements ; others are of hewn stone. 

 Most of them rise singly. Their height varies between 70 and 128 feet, with a 

 diameter of 10 to 16 feet, and the walls decrease in thickness with the height. 

 Excepting four instances, the openings which give access to the interior are at a 

 considerable elevation above the ground. t As in the case of the nuraghe of 

 Sardinia, these towers have been ascribed to the most diverse peoples, and whilst 

 there are some who look upon them as the work of Phoenicians or Carthaginians, 

 others prefer the claims of fire-worshippers, Greeks, or Danes. History is silent 

 as to their origin, but it is certain that the Danes were not the architects, for they 

 raised no such monuments in their Scandinavian homes, and we can hardly 

 conceive their doing so in foreign lands which they were about to colonise. 

 These round towers were most likely the spontaneous product of Irish archi- 

 tects, and were probably built between the ninth and twelfth centuries, some 

 as belfries and watch-towers, others as appendages to religious edifices. It 

 is true that none of the ancient ecclesiastical documents refer to them,+ unless, 

 indeed, they are clodeachs, or steeples, as Mr. Pétrie supposes. The towers of 

 Kilkenny and several others stand on the site of Christian churchyards, which 

 can only have been opened after the arrival of St. Patrick, for all the dead lie 

 stretched out from east to west.§ But whatever may have been the origin of 

 these towers, there can be no doubt that the clergy held possession of them during 

 the Middle Ages, for churches and chapels have been raised in their vicinity. At 

 the present day Irish patriots look upon these round towers as the great national 



* John Rhj'S, Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academi/, December, 1875. 

 t Mr. and Mrs. Hall, " Ireland, its Scenery and Character." 

 X J. Bourke, " The Aryan Origin of the Gaelic Race and Language." 

 5 Dunraven, " Notes on Irish Architecture." 



