50 



BRONZE AGE ARCHITECTURE. 



yet, however, their architecture is almost unknown to us. 

 Doubtless, among the numerous camps, fortifications, stone 

 circles, etc., which still remain, there are some which belong 

 to this period, but the difficulty is to fix upon them. The 

 only remains of dwellings, which we can with any confidence 



FIG. I 



Staigue Fort Kerry. 



refer to the Bronze age, are some of the Lake- villages, which 

 will be described in a future chapter. A large proportion 

 of the ancient fortifications, as, for instance, Staigue Fort 

 (fig. 60), belong, almost without a doubt, to a much later 

 period. 



My own impression is, that both Abury and Stonehenge, 

 the two greatest monuments of their kind, not only in Eng- 

 land, but even in Europe, belong to this period. The his- 

 torical account, if I may use such an expression, of Stone- 

 henge is, that it was erected by Aurelius Ambrosius, in 

 memory of the British chieftains, treacherously murdered 

 by Hengist and the Saxons, about the year 460. Giraldus 

 Cambrensis, writing at the close of the twelfth century, 

 says, "That there was in Ireland, in ancient times, a 

 pile of stones worthy of admiration, called the Giants' 

 Dance, because Giants, from the remotest parts of Africa, 

 brought them into Ireland ; and in the plains of Kildare, not 

 far from the castle of Naas, as well by force of art, as 

 strength, miraculously set them up ; and similar stones, 

 erected in a like manner, are to be seen there at this day. 



