429 



MONDAY, DECEMBER 14, 1863. 



The Yeey Eev. Chakles Gkaves, D. D., President, in the Chair. 



Geoege Y. Dv N'oyee, M. E. I. A,, G. S. I., presented to the Library 

 of the Eoyal Irish Academy 95 Drawings of Architectural Antiquities, 

 from original sketches, to form Yol. Y. of similar donations ; of these the 

 following is the Catalogue : — 



IS'o. 1. — Yiew of St. Brendan's Cloghaun, or stone hut, on Innish- 

 tooskert {Anglice I^orthern Island), one of the Blasket Islands, oif the 

 coast of Kerry. This singular structure, which no doubt was erected 

 by, or for, the Saint whose name it bears, and which is therefore of the 

 sixth century, is partly constructed in the ground, and is of the bee- 

 hive form, each stone overlapping the one below it till the dome was 

 completed. Internally it measures about 16 feet in diameter, and the 

 walls are of great thickness. The doorway, which is flat-headed, is 

 placed over the lower portion of a flight of stone steps, which leads from 

 the surface of the ground to the chamber beneath. The general simi- 

 larity between this cloghaun and many of those which, in the summer 

 of 1856, I had the good fortune to discover along the northern coast of 

 Dingle Bay, at Pahan, west of Yentry, the detailed account of which is 

 published in the ''Journal of the Archaeological Institute," for March, 

 1858, is very apparent; at present the terminal stone of St. Brendan's 

 Cloghaun is wanting, thus leaving a convenient hole at the apex of 

 the roof for the escape of the smoke when a fire is lighted in the apart- 

 ment. 



The island of Innishtooskert occupies an area of 186 acres, and lies 

 in the Atlantic Ocean, at the distance of 5 miles due west of the village 

 of Dunquin, and, excepting during the finest weather, is quite inacces- 

 sible, as its entire coast is precipitous, attaining on the northern side of 

 the island a height of 573 feet. The so-called '' landing place" is on the 

 south side, up a cliff of about 50 feet in height, so steep, that occasion- 

 ally our dogs and hampers had to be passed up" from '' hand to hand." 

 There is no spring well on the island, but we encamped by the side of 

 a deep hole in the grassy soil, which receives and retains the drainage 

 of a large extent of surface. 



On the northern side of the island some nearly vertical beds of Old 

 Eed conglomerate rise up boldly from the sea, and form a sharp peak of 

 about 460 feet in height, which forms a striking feature when viewed 

 even from the mainland. 



In addition to St. Brendan's house there are some rude, and no 

 doubt equally ancient, ecclesiastical remains ; they consist of two beehive 

 huts, with rectangular buildings attached, having small walled enclosures 



* See my description of this island and that of Innisvickillane in the " Memoirs of the 

 Geological Survey, explanatory of the Geological Maps," Nos. 160, 161, 171, 172. 

 B. I. A. PEOC. VOL. VIII. 3 L 



