1888-89. 95 



built, its stately buildings illustrating the superior quality of 

 the local carboniferous limestone as a building material, and its 

 neat thatched cottages, hedgerows, and flower plots forming 

 picturesque subjects for the rambling artist, but beyond all, its 

 rich assemblage of antiquarian remains associated with the 

 ancient glory and romantic history of Ireland as well as with 

 the piety, heroism, and devotion of its most gifted sons. Here 

 St. Columba founded a monastery in 550 a.d., and the saint's 

 house, a stone-roofed building, still exists. This was probably 

 a chapel or an oratory as well as a residence. The chapel is 

 arched over, and above it there are the remains of three cells, 

 in one of which is a flat stone which is considered as the saint's 

 penitential bed. St. Columba was an active missionary, and 

 founded many monasteries besides that of Kells, including those 

 of Derry, Tory Island, Drum Cliff, Lambay, Dublin, Swords, 

 and Raphoe. He was an industrious scribe, and to him we 

 owe the well-known volume in Trinity College long known as 

 the Book of Kells. St. Columba died in 597 a.d., when almost 

 in the act of copying a psalter, which he left to be finished by 

 his nephew. The united parties then visited the round tower 

 and three ancient crosses in the churchyard. The round tower 

 is above 100 feet high, nearly perfect, and forms a most 

 picturesque and prominent feature, rising from the plantation 

 that bounds the graveyard next the public street. Within a 

 few yards of the tower there are the remains of three elabor- 

 ately sculptured crosses, and a fourth, the " Great Cross of 

 Kells," stands in the main street. The arms and shaft are cut 

 out of one stone that must have been 13 feet by 6 feet. What 

 remains of the sculpture work is still sharp and distinct, and 

 the crosses themselves are remarkably perfect when we re- 

 member how often Kells was the battle ground between con- 

 tending native chieftains, the Dublin Danes and the forces 

 under Edward Bruce, who burnt the town in 131 5. 



After visiting the ancient wells and other remains of anti- 

 quity, the entire party adjourned to the Headfort Arms Hotel, 

 where Mr, Wolf! provided a most excellent and well-served 



