Wakeman's handbook of Irish antiquities

by W. F. Wakeman

Killiney Church.​—​The Church of Killiney, situated near the village of the same name, at a distance of about nine miles from Dublin, will be found particularly interesting to the student of Irish church architecture. The length of the interior is 35 feet; the nave measures but 12 feet 8 inches, and the chancel 9 feet 6 inches in breadth. The church originally consisted of a simple nave and choir, lighted in the usual manner, and connected by a semicircular arch; but, at a period long subsequent to its original foundation, an addition, the architecture of which it will be well to compare with that of the more ancient building, has been made on the northern side. The original doorway, which, as usual, is placed in the centre of the west gable, is remarkable from having a cross sculptured on the under part of its lintel. It measures in height 6 feet and 1 inch; in breadth at the top 2 feet; and at the bottom 2 feet 4 inches. The next feature to be noticed is the choir arch. This, which may be looked upon as a most characteristic example of its class, measures in breadth, where the arch begins to spring, 4 feet 7 inches, and at the base 4 feet 10½ inches; its height is only 6½ feet. The chancel windows display the inclined sides so indicative of antiquity when found in Irish ecclesiastical remains; but, with the exception of that facing the east, they are in a state of great dilapidation. The east window is square-headed both within and without, and exhibits the usual splay. The comparatively modern addition on the north side of the nave, which appears to have been erected as a kind of aisle, is connected with the original church by several openings broken through the north side wall. It will be well to compare its architectural features with those of the older structure. The Pointed doorway offers a striking contrast to that in the west gable; and its east window is equally different from that in the ancient chancel, being larger, and chamfered upon the exterior. The fact of a semicircular arch-head being cut out of a single stone is of itself no proof of high antiquity, as it occurs in many comparatively late structures in Ireland; and in England there is to be seen in the Perpendicular church of Kirkthorpe, near Wakefield, a door-head that exhibits this mode of construction.

* * * * *

Kilternan Church.​—​The Church of Kilternan, situated near the little village of Golden Ball, about six miles from Dublin, on the Enniskerry road, presents several features of considerable interest. The south side-wall and the west gable are original, and of great antiquity. The latter contains a square-headed doorway, now stopped up with masonry; and to supply its place, a Pointed entrance has been inserted in the south side-wall. This alteration was made probably at the time of the re-erection of the east end, the style of which indicates a period not earlier than the close of the thirteenth century, about which time the custom of placing the doorway in the west end appears to have ceased. There are several other churches in the immediate neighbourhood of Dublin which contain very primitive features; but they have been altered and remodelled at various times, and are, upon the whole, characteristic of later periods. Some of these we shall notice when describing the Early Pointed style, as found in Irish churches.

* * * * *

St. Mac Dara’s Church.

The Church of St. Mac Dara.​—​The almost barren island containing the church dedicated to this saint lies off the coast of Connemara, due south of Roundstone Bay. The church is one of the most remarkable examples of the small stone-roofed churches now remaining. It measures 14 feet 8 inches by 11 feet 3 inches internally; and the walls are 2 feet 8 inches thick; the side-walls project about one foot beyond the gables, into which they are not bonded. It is lit by a round-headed and deeply-splayed window in the east wall, and by a rectangular one in the south wall. It is built of massive masonry, some of the blocks measuring from 4½ to 5 feet long, and several feet wide. It had a high-pitched stone roof resting upon the side-walls, portions of which still remain. The walls of several circular clochauns, now much defaced, lie north of the church near the shore. The island is still a great place of pilgrimage, and passing boats have long been accustomed to lower their sails three times in honour of the saint.

* * * * *

Glendalough.​—​In the lone and singularly picturesque valley of Glendalough (Co. Wicklow), surrounded by high, gloomy mountains, upon which clouds almost continually rest, a celebrated monastic establishment, round which a small city subsequently rose, was founded in the early part of the sixth century by St. Kevin. The ruins of many ecclesiastical structures yet remain; and ‘the long continuous shadow of the lofty and slender Round Tower moves slowly from morn till eve over wasted churches, crumbling oratories, shattered crosses, scathed yew-trees, and tombs​—​now undistinguishable​—​of bishops, abbots, and anchorites.’

St. Kevin was of the Royal House of Leinster, and died at a great age in 618. We are told in a ‘Life’ of him that ‘on the northern shore of the lake his dwelling was a hollow tree; on the southern he dwelt in a very narrow cave, to which there was no access except by a boat, for a perpendicular rock of great height overhangs it from above.’ He attracted numbers of disciples to the place, and erected a monastery. This was repeatedly devastated by fire and sword in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, St. Kevin’s House being consumed in 1163, and the city is described as having lain waste for forty years, and as being a veritable den of robbers, ‘spelunca latronum.’ It suffered at the hands of Dermot Mac Morrough, and was destroyed again in 1398.