116 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



In the Galician Dictionary of Juan Cuveiro Pinol (Barcelona, 1876), 

 under the word "vara," it is stated: "Vara Gallega : 100 varas de 

 Santiago hacen 103 varas de Castilla " ; i.e., 100 varas of Santiago 

 (ancient capital of Galicia) make 103 varas of Castile; hence the 

 Galician foot = 278-3 mm. x 1-03 = 286-6 mm. (11-28"), and the 

 Galician "vara" = 859-95 mm., or practically 860 mm. (2' 9-86"). 

 This fact of itself would not perhaps be of immediate significance 

 were it not that the dimension of 86 cm. presents itself more than 

 once in the measurements of the churches examined by me, and, on 

 account of the relative closeness of approximation to the Castilian 

 vara = 835 mm., could hardly be distinguished from it with certainty. 

 Moreover, bearing in mind the Irish traditions of a former connexion 

 of this country with Spain, and in particular with Galicia as the point 

 of contact, and that all the old churches of that country are in the 

 Romanesque style, that is, the style developed in the churches of 

 Ireland of the ninth, tenth, and eleventh centuries, there is a question 

 whether some of these churches were or were not constructed with a 

 Galician vara unit of measurement. The verification of this point would 

 involve a careful measurement of a great number of them — a work 

 deserving to be undertaken in so far as the actual known data may 

 not be considered trustworthy or sufficient for such a purpose. 



