MACAi.ifiTteR — The History and Antiquities of tnis Ceatlra. I2t 



been raised in wretched masonry, roofed in, and thatched as a sheeling. The 

 remains of the original walls, which show in some places a few feet over 

 ground, were of excellent character, the stones dressed, and the jamb of a 

 door ope showing well chiselled work." Lord Dunraven also found it used 

 as a cottage, divided by a party wall into two rooms.' These domestic 

 intrusions have now been altogether cleared away. 



With these indications, the Board of Works Eeport, as well as Delany's 

 reminiscences, coincide. O'Conor strangely omits all mention of the wall 

 enclosing the churchyard. Of this the Eeport says : " Surrounding 

 St. Gamin's [_sic\ Church is the ancient enclosing wall or cashel, built of 

 squared masonry [?], the entrance with circular arched head, all the stones 

 of which have been found and re-set in their places." As we have seen, 

 mie of the stones has been built into the entrance to the Saints' Grave- 

 yard, a plain stone being put into its proper place in the St. Brigid'a 

 doorway, so that this last statement of the Eeport is not quite accurate. 

 The enclosing wall is wrongly described as being round St. Caimin's, which 

 is not surrounded by any wall, and it is referred to in connexion with 

 that church — a mistake which, in dealing with work of such importance 

 as the restoration of national monuments, is quite unpardonable. Further, 

 the Eeport says : " To the south-west of the Tower is St. Michael's [sic] 

 Church, a small building surrounded with a cashel of the same early date as 

 that of St. Camin's." There is no " cashel "' round St. Caimin's. We read 

 further : " The interior was filled with rubbish which on being examined was 

 found to contain the whole of the beautifully carved stones of the western 

 entrance, these have been re-set in their places" This accords with what 

 I learned on the spot, that the west wall was prostrate to its foundations, and 

 was entirely rebuilt, the doorway being a complete reconstruction. It is not 

 the fact, however, that all the stones were recovered, or even that all the 

 recovered stones were worked into their places. There are a number of new 

 stones (left unshaded in the elevation on Plate IX) filling gaps in both arch 

 and jambs. The outer order of the jambs, as it now appears, is an obvious 

 and impossible patchwork ; and there are one or two stones lying about loose 

 in the enclosure that liave all the appearance of belonging to the doorway. 



With regard to the name of the church, it will be noticed that 0'( 'onor, 

 our oldest authority, calls it " Baptism House." It is still sometimes called 

 " the Baptistery," though a more frequent name for it seems to be " the 

 Piggery " — a reminiscence of a time when it was treated with less reverence 



' Notes on Irish Architecture, vol. ii, p. 58. 



^ It is perhaps hypercriticism to note that a " cashel," properly speaking, is not so 

 much a wall as the space enclosed within a wall. 



