The Early Christian Architecture of Ireland, 8i 



churches were quite common, being the only kind it was possible 

 to have, until the country became more densely populated. 

 Our ancient records frequently refer to the " Duirtheachs," 

 which were small churches or oratories constructed of timber ; 

 the name literally means oak house. These churches of the 

 earliest period were frequently erected within a fort, such as a 

 cashel or rath, which the principal man of the district, if a 

 Christian, would place at the disposal of the Christian priest. 

 No vestige, of course, remains of such structures. The Vener- 

 able Bede, in his works, referring to the early Churches, states 

 that St. Finian, who had been a monk of the Monastery of lona, 

 on becoming Bishop of Lindisfarne built a church for his epis- 

 copal see, not of stone, but altogether of sawn wood, covered 

 with reeds, after the Scotic (or, as we would now say, the 

 Scottish), that is the Irish manner. In Tireachan's annotations 

 on the life of St. Patrick, preserved in the Book of Armagh, a 

 seventh-century manuscript which was in the hands of the late 

 Bishop Reeves at the time of his lamented death, it says — 

 " When Patrick went up to the place which is called Fiorrgea 

 of the sons of Awley, to divide it among the sons of Awley, he 

 built there a quadrangular church of moist earth, because wood 

 was not near at hand." Here we observe in Saint Patrick's 

 time what we would now designate a mud house was erected 

 for a church. I may mention that the district here referred to, 

 the barony of Tyrawley, is still as bare of wood as at the time oi 

 Saint Patrick. In the life of Saint Monena, compiled in the 

 twelfth century, as quoted by Ussher, it is recorded that she 

 founded a monastery which was made of smooth timber, ac- 

 cording to the fashion of Scotic nations, who were not accus- 

 tomed to erect stone walls. We may conclude that Duirtheachs, 

 or timber churches, were numerours in the early days of 

 Christianity, especially where timber was plentiful. 



That stone churches were equally numerous seems evident 

 from the frequent mention of the Daimhliags in our ancient 

 records, as well as from the great numbers still standing, par- 

 ticularly in the South and West of Ireland. The stone buildings 



