500 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



within a few feet of the bell openings; a parapet having been 

 maintained on the western face of the wall, as is the case in Howth 

 Church, where the masonry is of better design and workmanship, and 

 better preserved than at Dalkey. Of coui'se there can be only a strong 

 presumption in favour of this interpretation of the staircase leading to 

 the belfiy in these two cases, but the structui'e clearly admits of the 

 interpretation. Could it be shown that the religious orders to which 

 these chui'ches belonged had relations with Spain or southern Trance, 

 the case would be strengthened. That there were continuous com- 

 mercial relations with both these countries from at least the period 

 of the introduction of Christianity must be admitted, were it only on 

 account of the wine required for ecclesiastical purposes. 



O'Halloran, in his Introduction to " Irish Antiquities and History," 

 p. 121, when insisting on the importance and strength of the Irish 

 merchant marine in early times, says :— " The annual duties (so late as 

 the reign of Brien Boroihme) arising from goods imported into the 

 single port of Limerick, and 2^aid in red wine, amounted to 365 pipes. 

 Now such wine came either directly or indirectly from Southern Prance 

 or Spain, and it would not be excessive to assume that small colonies 

 of merchants were settled in the principal ports of Ireland from these 

 countries, and that they would attract, for their service from the 

 mother country, religious communities, or branches of such, to such 

 ports where they established small churches or houses in the style of 

 their country, and as much as possible in harmony with the habits and 

 customs of their fellow-countrymen. In this respect it is worth noting 

 Petrie's Commentary on the word Aistreoir or Aistire (p. 377, "Eound 

 Towers"), which word he cites fi'om O'Eeilly's Dictionary as meaning 

 " an officer whose duty it was to ring the bell in the steeple of the 

 church " ; he adds : " And as it more clearly defines the duties of this 

 officer and identifies the name with Ostiarius, I avail myself of it 

 here." Aistreoir, i.e. changeable his work, i.e. to ring the bell or use 

 the key ; or Uaistroier (high his work), when the bell is that of a 

 Cloictheach, or Istreoir, i.e. low his work, when it is a hand bell." 

 He concludes that the office of Aistire existed in the time of St. Patrick, 

 as even the name of the very person who held this office is preserved. 

 " Sinell, the man of the ringing of the bell." In this commentary it 

 is assumed that the tower-bell was rung with a rope, which Lord 

 Dunraven seems rather to discredit, and to assume that the tower-beU 

 was struck or "tolled." N"ow it is of interest to note that the word 

 Ostiarius still sm-vives in Spanish as " Ostiario'''' = "ostiary," "door- 

 keeper," " one of the minor orders of the Roman Church " (Lopes and 



