[ 1^^ ] 



XII. 



NOTES OX THE ORIENTATIOiS'S AND CERTAIN ARCHI- 

 TECTTJRAL DETAILS OF THE OLD CHURCHES OF 

 DALKEY TOWN AND DALKEY ISLAND. 



By JOSEPH P. O'REILLY, C.E. 



[Plates XIIL-XYII.] 



Bead FEBRrARY 23, 1903. 



The churclies of Dalkey Town and Dalkey Island are of course alluded 

 to, or mentioned, in the different "works treating of these localities, but 

 generally with relatively few details ; the dates of their foundations, 

 as well as the names of their founders, are apparently unknown. All 

 that can be ascertained as to their early history is to be obtained from 

 the records of Christ Church Cathedral, and from those of St. Patrick's, 

 to the Chapters of which these churches were given over by Hugh 

 de Lacy, who had received them in grant from Henry II. Both 

 churches date, therefore, from a period anterior to the Norman 

 Invasion. As to the saints or saint to whom they were dedicated, or 

 are mentioned as having been dedicated, there have been some doubts. 

 Seward's "Topographia Hibernica" (1795) says of the town: "This 

 village in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and a great part of the last 

 [seventeenth] century, before the port of Dublin was improved, was the 

 repository of the goods belonging to the merchants of Dublin. Here 

 are the ruins of a few old castles, places of defence against the 

 incui'sions of the pirates who at that time swarmed on the Iiish 

 coast." 



As regards the island, the work says: "It is so called [Dalkey] 

 from Daiki, on account of the pagan altar there." There is no ancient 

 building on Dalkey Island but the riiins of a chiu-ch. 



In Carlisle's " Topographical Dictionary of Ireland" (1810), it is 

 stated : " Dalkey Island. — Here are the ruins of a church." 



Lewds's "Topographical Dictionary" (1837) says, as regards the 

 town: " The church is in ruins; it was situated in the village, and 

 appears to have been a very spacious structm-e." 



E.I.A. PROC, VOL. XXn\, SEC. c. [16] 



