X 



560 



The Pillar Towers of the British Islands. 



[No. 5, 



selection of the slate stones has been so good, that it is still in good pre- 

 servation. The marks of the narrow, flat, and slightly concave chisel- 

 hammer are still clean cut in the stone. The floor of this Tower is on 

 a level with the door, and is supported by a flat arch with a well-hole 

 in the centre, proving the advanced state of the arts at the time of its 

 construction : a chamber is thus formed below the level of the door. The 

 whole erection is admirably executed, and cemented with shell-lime, and 

 the general effect is most graceful. This would be much more apparent, 

 but for the ivy which covers the lower part and has already displaced some 

 of the stones. If this ivy is not removed it will endanger the Tower.* 

 3. In the third, or Anglo-Saxon period, the Christian religion had 

 been introduced into Ireland. It extends from the fifth or sixth to the end 

 of the ninth century ; when the primitive churches were made of mud, 

 and wattled as in Britain. As the influence of the priests increased, they 

 absorbed much of the wealth of the country, and brought architects from 

 the continent, whose constructive skill they employed in preparing the 

 first stone edifices, while they enriched their altars with their most 

 precious ornaments, to increase the splendour of their religious rites. 

 This explains why these establishments were so frequently attacked by 

 their unscrupulous neighbours, and the merciless Danish pirates. By 

 the priests, the Pillar Towers, of Ireland were found most valuable 

 erections : near them they resided, and took refuge in them with their 

 most valuable effects ; thus following the injunction of Pope Gregory to 

 Augustine of Canterbury, in the sixth century, to adopt any thing good 

 from the Pagan places of worship, for Christian purposes ; making such 

 additions, as were necessary or convenient. They accordingly not only 

 occupied such as already existed, but partially built some of these useful 

 erections. These latter may be known by their more modern construc- 

 tion, and by their rounded doorways being cut into a series of recesses, 

 the angles of which are slightly rounded off : also by the addition of a 

 moulding, a mere incision upon the face and soffit of the arch. Other 

 of these modern doorways are decorated with the chevron and bead 

 ornament, as in the gold ornaments found in Irish bogs and in some 

 very antique cinerary urns, dug up from old Pagan and Etruscan cairns 

 and tumuli. In some of the Towers, the pediments, and the repeated 

 columns, and successive arches and various mouldings of the doorway 



* In the annals of Munster, still in MS., this Tower is said to have been 

 built in 1015, soon after the battle of ClantariF. 



