The Early Christian Architecture of Ireland. 83 



dicular about six feet or more, without mortar, and the stone 

 roof sprang from the side wall by each succeeding stone over- 

 lapping the one beneath, till one stone keyed it at the apex. 

 The small church of Killelton, about two miles from Dingle, is 

 of this class. The dimensions of this little church are sixteen 

 feet long and ten feet six inches broad, inside ; the walls are 

 three feet six inches thick, and the door is two feet wide at the 

 base, one foot nine inches at the top, and five feet six 

 inches high. The next step attained in the art of building was 

 to pour liquid clay or gravel through the interstices, which 

 made the wall more air-tight. The example of this class of 

 ancient masonry may be seen near the village of Raholp, a few 

 miles from Downpatrick. The little church of Raholp is built 

 within a rath or fort, as its name implies. These churches were 

 built of unhewn stones ; sometimes the jambs of doors and 

 windows were dressed. The doorway was invariably square- 

 headed, with one, or sometimes two, stone lintels, and the jambs 

 inclined inward from the base. This style of church prevailed 

 in Ireland for more than five centuries, up to the introduction 

 of the Romanesque style, about a.d. 1002. If we try to find 

 examples of such primitive churches elsewhere in Europe, with 

 a few isolated exceptions they are only found in Greece, where 

 the most ancient churches are similar in style to those in 

 Ireland. 



If this style should be traced further back, we find its original 

 home was Egypt. There it was derived from the rock-hewn 

 temples of that country. Our ancient Church ritual was derived 

 from the Eastern, not the Western Church. The Irish Church 

 celebrated the great festival of Easter after the manner of the 

 Greek or Eastern Church. This gave rise to many bitter 

 quarrels, particularly in the North of England, between the 

 Irish monks of Lindisfarne and the followers of Saint Augustine, 

 as well as in Ireland after the Anglo-Norman invasion, between 

 the native Irish clergy and those of the Anglo-Normans who were 

 members of the Latin Church. I refer to this to show that our 

 early Christian architecture was more influenced from the East 

 than from the West. 



