110 Proceedings of the Royal Irkh Acadennj. 



been the Castilian Vara; and the dimensions carefully taken and 

 herewith given, in the accompanying plan, support the conclusion 

 arrived at, in this respect, in my Paper on Dalhey Island church, 

 already referred to. As shown in the plan (fig. 1), the breadth of the 

 nave is eight varas, 16' 11"; and the length, twelve varas, 24' 6^". The 

 style of the masonry, in conjunction with these characters as just 

 detailed, would tend to show that the building dates back to a period 

 probably as early as that of Dalkey Island church. Time, the 

 luxuriant vegetation which the nature of the soil and the shelter 

 favour, the ever-invading ivy, and the rude and thoughtless hand of 

 man, are all together helping to hasten its complete ruin, unless, 

 indeed, some counteracting influence be brought to bear in time 

 to save from utter destruction this most interesting archseological 

 remainder. The orientation was determined to be about 4° 8' south 

 of due east, and can be accounted for as the error naturally arising 

 from the position of the site, which, by reason of the impediments 

 presented, either in the form of vegetation and trees, or of undulating 

 ground, hindered a clear view on to the eastern horizon, so that the 

 rising sun at equinox was not visible fi'om the site until after it was 

 already some degrees above the horizon, and consequently some 

 degrees to the south of due east. 



The church of Killiney is also mentioned in Mr. Wakeman's 

 Paper already cited ; and he particularly calls attention to the Roman 

 cross which is cut in relief on the under-face of the lintel of the 

 western doorway. This old church is remarkable in the respect of 

 having no history to speak of, and yet as showing manifest evidence 

 of much use and continued frequentation, both by its extent, the 

 changes which it seems to have undergone, and the vicissitudes that it 

 furnishes clear indications of. Mr. F. E. Ball, in his excellent and care- 

 fully-detailed " History of the County Dublin," thus speaks of it : — 

 " The ruined church of Killiney has been pronounced by Dr. Petrie 

 to be coeval with the oldest of the buildings of Glendalough, and to 

 date from the sixth century. The original structure consisted of the 

 nave and chancel ; and to it were added, many centuiies later, an 

 aisle on the northern side. The primitive doorway in the western 

 end, which bears on the soffit of its lintel a cross, the choir arch, and 

 the east window are all very characteristic of early Irish church 

 architecture (Petrie's essay on the ' Eound Towers,' p. 170). The 

 name of Cill-inghen-Leinin, the early form of ^Killiney,'' indicates 

 that the church was founded by Leinin's daughters, five holy women, 

 whose names, according to the ' Martyrology of Donegal,' were 



