Owing to the disturbed state of Britain after the withdrawal of the Romans in the beginning of the fifth century, and the eruptions of the Goths in Gaul, many Christian refugees found their way to Ireland. Christianity was thus introduced, and, during the fifth century, spread rapidly under the instructions of St. Palladius, a reputed emissary of Rome, and St. Patrick, the patron Saint of Ireland. At first the Church seems to have assumed a peculiar collegiate form, consisting of groups of seven bishops placed together in one church; but in the sixth century the monastic rules were introduced, and at once took root and spread with wonderful rapidity amongst the various tribes. Under St. Finnian, after a short time, there are said to have been three thousand monks in the monastic school of Clonard. Columba, one of his twelve disciples, born in 521, founded several monasteries in Ireland, amongst others those of Derry and Kells, Raphoe in Donegal, and Durrow in Meath.
In 558 the great monastery of Bangor was founded by St. Comgall, one of Columba’s companions, and is said to have contained thousands of monks.[8]
These monasteries were tribal institutions, and were well suited to the social relations of the country. The abbots were connected with the leading families of the tribes, and succeeded one another according to the rules of succession which prevailed amongst the chiefs. Many of the monasteries were established with the consent of the chiefs, and it frequently happened that on such occasions a “rath,” or native fortress, was presented to the founder by the head of the tribe, as a place of security in which his monastic dwellings might be erected.[9] These structures were generally of a slight and simple nature, consisting of huts made of branches or wattles, covered with turf or clay. The churches or oratories were also constructed with wood. The whole establishment seems to have resembled the primitive fortresses of the Celts, consisting of a great enclosing wall or rampart, with temporary erections within. At a later time wooden boards were substituted for wattles, and the roofs were covered with thatch. Dr. Reeves states that St. Palladius erected three churches of oak, while St. Patrick is said to have built one with stone, because no wood was to be found in the locality.[10]
The practice of building with wood was the favourite one amongst the “Scots”[11] in Ireland, and we shall find further examples amongst their disciples both in Scotland and England. Dr. Reeves states that the “Scotic” attachment to wooden churches continued in Ireland till the twelfth century, and that although stone churches existed, they were regarded as of foreign introduction. These wooden structures, it is needless to remark, have all long since disappeared, having been replaced by more permanent edifices.
Although building with wattles and wood was the usual form of construction in Ireland in the early centuries, it was not the only one. When monasteries were established (as above mentioned) within the “raths” or fortresses by the chiefs, certain native forms of building in stone were found to exist in connection with these structures.[12] The rath was invariably surrounded with a lofty wall of great thickness, composed of unhewn stones mingled with earth. The exterior face of the wall was carefully built with “headers,” and in many instances chambers were constructed in the thickness of the wall, and roofed with overlapping stones in the form of an arch, but without the radiating structure of a true arch.[13] Chambers of similar construction are also often found in the walls of the brochs, and in the Eirde houses and other Celtic structures in Scotland.
Fig. 2.—Beehive Cell on Skellig Mhichel. (From Scotland in Early Christian Times.)
Besides the great “cashel” or enclosing rampart, other stone buildings existed within the rath. These consisted of circular or oval huts, built with unhewn stones without mortar. They are generally about 6 to 10 feet in diameter, and the interior has sometimes square angles. The walls are 3 to 4 feet in thickness, and rise perpendicularly to about 6 feet in height, when they begin to converge towards the centre, the stones overlapping as they rise with a curve till they nearly meet, when the aperture is covered in on top with flagstones. The external appearance of these primitive abodes presents a domed form like that of a beehive, from which circumstance they are called “beehive huts” ([Fig. 2]). There is invariably a small doorway about 4 feet high, with a straight lintel on top, and the jambs are always built, not perpendicularly, but with an inclination inwards as they rise. A small square opening in the roof, greatly splayed towards the interior, forms the window of the hut. Stone structures of this description were common in certain parts of Ireland in Pagan times.[14] These were the native originals from which the Irish monks derived the style of stone building which was afterwards adopted by them in certain localities, with modifications as time progressed.
The Celtic monks of the early centuries showed a strong predilection for islands as the sites of their monasteries. Almost every loch and river show evidence of this choice in the ruins scattered over the country, and some small detached and rocky islands situated a few miles from the West Coast of Ireland (where they have been little exposed to disturbance) yet contain specimens of the above primitive structures. The great enclosing cashels and the singular beehive huts have been beautifully illustrated and described in the splendid work of the late Lord Dunraven on Ancient Irish Architecture, edited by Miss Stokes.