Fig. 193.—Stone House, Arran.
The cells of the monks differed but little from this, excepting in being quadrangular within, though round or oval without. It would appear that some of the Irish monasteries had whole towns of such insulated cells, and it was from the great number of these erected by St. Columba that his name received the affix of “Kill,” and which caused his famous foundation in Iona to be called “I Colmkill.”
The earlier oratories seem frequently to have been a development of the construction of these cells, “built of uncemented stones admirably fitted to each other, and their lateral walls converging from the base to their apex in curved lines.”
Fig. 194.—Oratory of St. Gallerus.
These pristine oratories are surrounded by the cells and the graves of their founders and occupants, the latter inscribed with the cross. I give, from Mr. Petrie, a sketch of the oratory of St. Gallerus (Fig. [194]), which he describes as, externally, 23 feet long by 10 feet broad, and 16 feet high to the external apex. It has a small doorway in the west end, and is lighted by a single window in the east end, which east gable was finished by a cross. Of very similar construction are several in Scotland and the Western Isles. Of these I have been enabled to give some illustrations, which are, in one respect, more complete than Mr. Petrie’s drawings, inasmuch as they are furnished with plans (Figs. [195], [196], [197]).
Fig. 195.—Elevation of south side, and Plan of Teampull Sula Sgeir, Scotland.