Wakeman's handbook of Irish antiquities

by W. F. Wakeman

That several of the existing churches formed part of the original foundation, their style of architecture sufficiently indicates. A cashel, or wall, appears usually to have enclosed most of the ancient Irish monastic establishments. That such a work at one time existed at Glendalough is certain, though scarcely a vestige of it at present remains above ground. One of the gateways, however, stood until Petrie’s time, which he compares to the Roman-built Newport Gate at Lincoln; and his prophecy, that for want of care this monument, unique of its kind, would soon cease to exist, was shortly after partially fulfilled, upon the fall of the principal arch. The stones, however, have been re-set, and the work possesses much of its pristine appearance. It is 11 feet high, 9½ feet wide, and 16 feet deep; it has external and internal arches, between which rose the tower.

The Church of Our Lady (a modern name) is believed to have been the first erected in this part of the valley by St. Kevin, ‘qui ibi duxit vitam eremiticam,’ and here he was buried. It consists of a nave 32 feet by 20½ feet, and a chancel 21 feet 4 inches by 19½ feet: but the arch has fallen. The doorway is perhaps the finest of the kind remaining, and exhibits in a striking degree that early Greek form which is so very commonly found in the doorways of the most ancient churches, of the round towers, and, though more rudely developed, in the cahers of the pagan era. It is 5 feet 10 inches high, 2 feet 8 inches wide at the top, and 3 feet at the bottom, being formed of seven stones of the thickness of the wall; the lintel, 5 feet 1 inch long, has a cross on its soffit somewhat similar to that of Killiney.

Doorway of the Church of our Lady, Glendalough.

The Cathedral, standing within the enclosure, is considered to have been erected about the commencement of the seventh century, and appears, from its name, dimensions, and position, to have been originally the Domhnach-mór, or Daimhliag-mór, or chief church of the place. Notwithstanding its present state of dilapidation, there are in Ireland few structures of the same antiquity and extent that retain so many original features. The nave is 48 feet 6 inches by 30 feet; the chancel​—​25 feet by 21½ feet​—​appears to be of later date; the fallen arch has been restored to about eight courses above the piers. It is entered by a square-headed doorway, 6 feet 9 inches high, in which the weight upon the lintel is taken off by a semicircular arch. The masonry of the chancel is much less massive than that in the body of the church, and, moreover, is not bonded into the nave, thus showing its more modern erection. The east window was remarkable for its ornamental character, possessing a chevron moulding and a sculptured frieze running on either side from the spring of the arch.

The most interesting building in the enclosure is St. Kevin’s House or ‘Kitchen.’ This has been to all intents and purposes changed into a church by the subsequent addition of a chancel and bell-turret, neither of which, in all probability, belonged to the original building; the chancel has been destroyed, but it will be seen on close examination that the walls of the adjoining sacristy are not bonded into those of the main building. ‘It will be observed also that the chancel arch is of subsequent formation; for its semicircular head is not formed on the principle of the arch, but by the cutting away of the horizontally laid stones of the original wall, in which operation a portion of the original window placed in this wall was destroyed, and the remaining portion of the aperture built up with solid masonry.’[123] The arch is 9 feet high by 5 feet wide. St. Kevin’s House was thus originally an oblong building, 23 feet by 15 feet, with a very high-pitched stone roof, a barrel-vaulted room below, and a small croft between. It was entered by a door on the west side, which is now blocked up; it was square-headed, with the weight taken off the lintel by a semicircular arch, as in the cathedral door. Above the west gable is the addition of a small round-towered belfry, rising 9 feet from the roof. The sacristy was apparently similar to the chancel, being stone-roofed and ornamented with a rude string-course similar to that of the main building. It is considered by Petrie that these additions took place after the death of St. Kevin, whose name was held in such reverence that naturally it was sought to convert his residence into a church.

Trinity Church, perhaps in a greater degree than any coeval structure in Leinster, retains the original character of its various parts. It is near the entrance to the glen, and possesses a fine specimen of the square-headed doorway, and a choir arch, of its class one of the finest in Ireland. The east window of the chancel has a semicircular head, and the arch is cut out of a single stone; there is also a triangular-headed window in the south wall; in fact, the building has almost every characteristic of the more ancient style of church architecture in Ireland, and each perfect in its way. There was formerly a round tower belfry attached to the western end, which fell in 1818.

St. Saviour’s Monastery, on the opposite side of the river, near Derrybawn, is a singularly interesting ruin. It consists of a nave and chancel, measuring together about 60 feet by 30 feet. The fine chancel arch, which had fallen, has been restored; it is of three orders resting upon clustered piers; the capitals are highly ornamented with fantastic sculptured heads of animals, and the arch displays a variety of zigzag or chevron moulding, showing work many centuries later than the most primitive of the buildings.

Chancel Arch, Trinity Church, Glendalough.