MaCAlIstkr— 7!^e History and Antiquities of Inis Cealtra. 11 1 



In a schedule of land, temp. Charles II,' the names Iniscaltra and Coogy 

 appear with an estimated content of 25 acres. This is the last mention of 

 the island in any State document tliat I have found. 



We gather from a tablet in St. Caimin's Church, described below, that 

 an attempt was made in the beginning of the eighteenth century to repair 

 the churches and monuments. What the purpose and nature of these repairs 

 may liave been, it is now impossible to say : it had no permanent value in 

 staying the decay of the buildings. 



The first extant description of the island, so far as I am aware (apart from 

 the casual references in political and ecclesiastical documents, of whicli we 

 have now given a summary), is found in Dyneley's journal of his visit to 

 Ireland, 1680-1681, printed by the Eoyal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland. 

 The reference to the island will be found in the Journal of the Society 

 for 1867 (then the Kilkenny Archaeological Society), p. 83. He says : 

 ■' Ennish Caltra : This is two small miles about in the Shannon River, in 

 which are seen the remaines of Seven Churches called ye Seven Churches of 

 Asia. Here once a year the superstitious Irish go to do penance, and are 

 enjoined to walk round barefooted seven times, and they who fear hurting 

 their feet hire others to do it : here is a great concourse of both sexes. This 

 island by some is called Insula Sanctorum, a name which hath been applicable 

 to all Ireland." 



After this we hear nothing till 1838. In that year the island was visited 

 by T. O'Conor for the purposes of the Ordnance Survey. His letter on the 

 island is a model, and one almost wishes, as one reads it, that he, rather than 

 O'Donovan, should have been entrusted with the task of collecting the 

 archaeological information enshrined in the Ordnance Survey Letters. For 

 field archaeology was not that eminent man's /or^e: and when we remove 

 from his letters the somewhat elephantine jokes, and the gratuitous abuse of 

 other people, in which he frequently indulges, the residuum is often sadly 

 disappointing. The publication of these letters, which has often been urged, 

 would be a grave disservice both to Irish archaeology and to the memory of 

 O'Donovan. Wakeman also visited the island, and made beautiful pencil- 

 sketches of the group of ruins by the Eound Tower, and of one or two of the 

 slabs. These are to be found in the volume of sketches housed in the Koyal 

 Irish Academy's Library : others are to be found reproduced in Hall's 

 " Ireland," and Petrie's " Christian Inscriptions." O'Conor's letter is in vol. ii 

 of the Galway letters ; another letter, from O'Donovan, will be found in 

 the Clare volume, p. 252, adding nothing to the description of the ruins : it 



* State Papers. 



[17*] 



