The Scientific Tourist through Ireland in which the traveller is directed to the principal objects of antiquity, art, science & the picturesque — Key Ideas to Explore

rick was pulled down in 1790, whilst repairing the cathedral, its foundation being cleared away, another foundation was discovered under it, and running directly across the site of the tower, which appeared to be a continuation of the church wall, and which, at some period prior to the building of that tower, seemed to have extended considerably beyond it. Further, that these towers, sometimes at least, had a connexion with Christianity, is evident from the fact of some of them being built upon vaults belonging to the churches; and on more than one, in the north of Ireland, may be traced the figure of the cross. One instance of this may be seen on the keystone of the door of the tower at Donoghmore. On the other hand, in regard to the tower at Drumbo, it is evident that at some former time, very strong fires have been burned within that building, and the inside surface, towards the bottom, has the appearance of vitrification. Indeed it is a fact recorded in the _Down Survey_, p. 290, that the ground floors of many towers have been opened, where the ashes of burnt wood have been found, supposed by some antiquaries to be the remains of the perpetual fire once kept burning there in honour of the Sun. It is also recorded by Pennant, in his _View of Hindostan_, that the Pagodas, in the Circars, resembled the Round Towers, with tops pointed or truncated, and ornamented with a round ball to represent the Sun as an emblem of the deity of that temple. The idea of their being Christian penitentiaries seems at first sight to be whimsical; yet it is said that there are manuscripts in existence which prove it with respect to some of them. One of these manuscripts records the building of a tower at Kinath, in Cork County, in the year 1015; whilst the tower at Ardmore in Waterford has evidently been used as a belfry.

An idea is started in the _Kilkenny Survey_, p. 632, that they are connected with pilgrimages; a pilgrimage being called _Turrish_ in Irish, as if in allusion to their Latin appellation of _Turris_.

Of other facts connected with them, it may be recorded that at Tulloher in Kilkenny, where the tower is only 8 feet from the church, yet that edifice is of limestone, whilst the tower itself is of siliceous breccia.

That some of them are comparatively of recent erection is evident from the fact that at Roscrea in Tipperary, the tower has a pointed or Gothic arch, 38 feet from the ground. Now the 12th century is generally allowed to be the era of the introduction of the Gothic architecture into this country; and from this a curious question arises. It is moreover a curious fact, not hitherto noticed by any writer upon this subject, that the isolated tower, probably of Moorish origin, which stands on the neutral ground at Gibraltar, bears a very striking resemblance, in all points, to the Irish round towers in general. This tower has been seen and examined by the editor, who was much struck by the similarity at the time, and has since endeavoured to procure all possible information upon the subject. It is well known that Gibraltar was not inhabited by the Phœnicians, Carthaginians, nor Romans, nor even by the Visigoths, but was first taken possession of by the Saracens in 711; fourteen years after which the Moorish castle was built, followed by other edifices, with the pointed Saracenic arch, until the rock returned to the dominion of Spain in 1462. It may be added here, that the Irish towers have a strong resemblance to the Oriental minarets, especially in their supposed use as places for calling the people to worship. Where there are so many and so discordant opinions it is difficult to decide; but the tourist may avail himself of these hints in his further researches.

Of the precise antiquity of the

or Danish Mounts, few doubts exist. These are circular mounts of earth, from 40 to 150 feet in diameter at the base, and conically diminishing towards the top. Common tradition gives them to the DANES; and no doubt a great proportion of them are not older than the occupation of the northern and eastern coasts by the Ostmen. But some must be of the earliest Scandinavian date; particularly the _Giant's Ring_ near Belfast, and the _Rough Fort_ near Templepatrick, which have Druidical remains incorporated with them, and in their very centre. Besides, though the term _Danish_ is universally applied to these works, yet some of them are also undoubtedly _Norwegian_, particularly one near Fore in Westmeath, called the "Fort of Turgesius," positively described by _Giraldus_ as the work of a Norwegian chieftain, and raised for a castle, using the word "Castella," and not _Castrum_.

Before quitting the subject of the _Raths_, it may be useful to notice Ledwich's observations on that subject. Quoting Giraldus, The Irish, says he, had no castles, their woods served them for camps, and their marshes for ditches. It was Turgesius and his Ostmen who formed that infinite number of earthen forts and castles made of lime and stone. It is then to those northern invaders that Giraldus ascribes the high round earthen forts with deep ditches and often triple entrenchments. This is certainly in opposition to Mr. Harris, who argues for their Celtic origin, reasoning principally on the name of _rath_ being of Celtic derivation. It has also been supposed that they may have been introduced by the Belgic colonists, as the name has some appearance of Teutonic origin. These raths are generally upon elevated spots, and of various dimensions, from 10 or 15 yards diameter, to an extent of 18 or 20 acres. Some of them have subterraneous chambers, with sally-ports; some are round, others square; the former supposed by Spencer to be Danish, the latter Saxon. They are sometimes called _Motes_, a Gothic word signifying the place of meeting; and indeed it has been supposed that many of them were intended rather for civil legislation, or judicial purposes, than as works of military defence. These Raths, together with the _Duns_, or inclosures upon insulated rocks, and the _Daingeans_, or inclosures formed by deep ditches with ramparts and pallisadoes, are supposed by Ledwich to have been the only forts amongst the Irish antecedent to the invasion by the Norman barons in the reign of Henry II. In many parts of the island, the Irish chiefs had an inveterate dislike to fixed fortifications--one cogent reason why scarcely any castles exist except of English erection; a fact well illustrated by an anecdote of the famous De Courcy, who constructed two castles in _Mac Mahon's_ country, a step which awed the latter into complaisance; and he having sworn fidelity, De Courcy bestowed on him the two castles with their appendant lands. But within a month Mac Mahon demolished both; and, on being asked his reason for doing so, replied that "he did not promise to hold stones but land; and that it was contrary to his nature to live within cold walls whilst the woods were so nigh."

It has often occurred to the writer of these sheets, from actual observation of some hundreds of these _mounds_, that the term "Rath," as generally applied, is often erroneous. Wolff in his Dictionary positively states the word "Raad" in the Danish language to signify a council; of course, by a common figure of rhetoric, putting the thing for the place, or the place for the thing, this term is properly applied to the larger eminences, some of which are as extensive as old Sarum, and therefore well adapted for assemblies of the people. But Lloyd, in his Dictionary of the Irish-English Language, considers the word even more figuratively, saying that it means a village, a prince's seat, also an artificial mount, or barrow. Now the fact is, that many of the smaller mounts, where placed singly, may be, and some of them by opening have been proved to be, _Tumuli_, or sepulchral monuments; but others, placed in lines of communication for miles together, for they are never found in groups as upon Salisbury plain, were evidently for exploratory purposes or chains of military posts, a most remarkable instance of which may be seen on the road from Belfast towards Templepatrick, where there is a line of them within sight of each other for several miles, leading through the valley of communication from Belfast Lough towards Lough Neagh, between the Cave Hill and Carnmoney mountain, and connected with the very curious mount at the Rough Fort, which looks down upon a bog called King's Moss at the foot of the Carrantoll mountains, in the centre of which is a most extensive Rath, about 10 yards high, and at least 60 in diameter, with a raised bank round its summit faced with rough stones towards the area. Part of one side having been broken into, it seemed as if the whole had been raised upon rough stone-work, the materials for which must have been brought from a considerable distance. These, both large and small, are sometimes called moats; and some, of the largest size, are designated by the appellation of Dun or Doon.

We now come to monuments of more recent date, of which the

RELIGIOUS ANTIQUITIES

deserve the first consideration; and of these some

CHURCHES may perhaps be as old as the 11th or 12th century, and not earlier; for although many were built immediately after the conversion by St. Patrick, about five centuries after CHRIST, yet all these were simply of wood or wattled, and therefore long extinct. Along with these we may class the

CELLS and HERMITAGES, rude and composed of upright stones with an impost, where saints led an eremitic life, perhaps sometimes adapting the older Druidical cromlechs to their more modern purposes, just in the same manner as several of the

CROSSES are supposed by Ledwich to have been carved upon the ancient upright pyramidal stones of pagan idolaters. These Crosses have neither that light and taper form nor elegant Gothic workmanship which distinguish our ancient specimens in England; but though simple in design they are yet rich in sculpture. Sir R. C. Hoare thinks them coeval with the Round Towers, about the 9th or 10th century.

This part of the subject must not be dismissed without some notice of the stone-roofed Chapels of the ancient Irish, which Ledwich considers as exhibiting, along with other remains, some ideas of the Egyptian and Grecian styles of architecture; in which opinion he is more than sanctioned both by O'Halloran and Archdall, who claim an early knowledge of architecture for the aboriginal Irish. Mr. Ledwich, however considers these as the first specimens of stone and mortar ever seen in the island; as raised by the Ostmen, and intended solely for the preservation of reliques. Several of these present themselves to the tourist as objects of curiosity. One may be seen near the cathedral of Killaloe, supposed to have been the depository of the reliques of St. Flannan. The tourist in Ireland cannot fail to be struck with the number of monastic remains, of which the churches or chapels are mostly standing, though unroofed and in ruins. These he will always find surrounded by crowded cemeteries; and Sir R. C. Hoare observes that he was informed the great frequency of the fact proceeds from the consolidation of parishes at a period when the Catholic predominated over the Protestant religion. He adds, in direct opposition to modern assertions, that the latter now begins to gain ground, as application has been made for the restoration of many of those dilapidated churches, and some have already been rebuilt. Of these ancient specimens, some few are of Saxon architecture, particularly Kilsheel church in Tipperary, having a Saxon doorway, once rich in sculpture, but now defaced. In general the Church ruins consist of little more than the shell of a small edifice with two gable ends and scarcely any windows, always enveloped in ivy: in some places they appear at distances of every 4 or 5 miles. But Sir R. C. Hoare remarks, that although monastic architecture may be inferior to that of the sister kingdoms, yet Ireland, in her stone-roofed Chapels, Round Towers, and rich Crosses, may justly boast of singularities unknown and unpossessed by either of them.

The _Church Monuments_ are by no means so numerous or so ancient as to afford the antiquary, the genealogist, or the heraldic tourist, that amusement and instruction so frequent in the ecclesiastical edifices of England. Few antique monuments remain, and the authenticity of the so much boasted one of Strongbow, in Christ-church in the metropolis, is very doubtful. Sir R. C. Hoare has stated, p. 13, 14, in a note, the evidence for and against it. There we have the authority of an inscription of the restored monument, by Sir H. Sydney in 1570; to which Sir Richard adds a positive assertion of his being buried there, from Giraldus, but setting against it the "Hic jacet" of a tomb in Gloucester cathedral, recorded by Leland. Sir Richard, himself, doubts the fact of Strongbow having been buried in Dublin, as we do also, but not precisely for the same reason. Sir Richard's doubt springs from the circumstance of the knight on the Christ-church monument bearing a shield argent, on a chief azure three cross crosslets fitchée; whilst the family coat of the _De Clares_, Earls of Pembroke, were Or, 3 chevrons gules. But the fact is, that at the time in question there was a great license in the assumption of coat armour, then just beginning to be hereditary; and indeed there are frequent instances at that period of individuals adopting new coats for particular purposes. The present case is an instance of it; for the coat with the crosses was actually assumed by Gilbert, father of Strongbow, on his return from the Holy Land.

The remaining objects of antiquarian research are the

which are of various dates. Some of these may be as old as the 11th or 12th century, perhaps older, as it is said that the Scandinavian chiefs introduced stone into their fortified places, and there are several Norwegian _round Castles_ still extant. Ledwich divides them into several eras; first, _old Danish forts_ surrounded with earthen works, to which was afterwards added a keep of stone and lime, and sometimes a circular wall; then piles of building encompassed by a rampart, afterwards called a _Bawn_, and imitated by later colonists; then houses with battlements and turrets, flankers, &c. Of all these there is a great variety, as well as number; and the author quoted is of opinion, that all the castles constructed by British settlers were by British architects.

The most remarkable of these will be found described in the following sheets.

If the MINERALOGIST does not find so great a variety of substances to repay his research as he may do in most parts of the sister-island of Great Britain, yet the geologist will discover many leading features upon a large scale that deserve his attention. Hitherto the little notice that has been taken on these two subjects, of the soil of Ireland, both superficial and fossil, has been in regard to agricultural purposes; but from casual discoveries hitherto made, there seems reason to hope that an accurate mineralogical research will be both interesting to science and beneficial in political and domestic economics. So far as general examination has yet gone, and in order to offer some leading hints to the scientific inquirer, it may be observed, that sandy soils, such as are frequent in England, are seldom seen except in maritime situations; but there are many inland beds of a red substance, too soft to be called stone, yet too compact to be called sand, though perfectly reducible to that state by the action of the sun or artificial heat. This however generally, if not always, lies below a thin stratum of soil more congenial to vegetation. Of argillaceous earths, clay is not uncommon, but seldom at the surface, and never so tenacious as in the eastern parts of England. Pipe-clay is also met with; and an indifferent kind of fuller's-earth. Calcareous matter is very frequent, as limestone; but chalk is unknown. Silex is found in limestone quarries; but the flints are generally in nodules. Loam is frequent, and now much attended to as a manure or top dressing. Marble and granite, also specimens of porphyry, exist in many districts; and the marble quarries in Kilkenny and Carlow in particular, will not fail to arrest the attention of the geologist, in consequence of the great deposition of sea-shells and marine exuviæ contained in them. Freestone is also often met with; presenting, when cut in particular directions, the semblance of fir-deal in the position of its strata. There is a geological observation made by the Rev. Mr. Townsend in his Survey of Cork, which deserves the investigation of the geological tourist, and may serve to lead him to valuable facts in the course of his research. That intelligent writer remarks, that in many of the southern districts, the limits of limestone tracts are generally marked by the course of a river; and this he illustrates by the fact that the Blackwater river, in its course from Fermoy to Mill-street, runs at the south side of the limestone; whilst, for the far greater part of the way between Castlemore and Cork, a distance of about eleven miles, the course of the limestone is distinctly marked, first by the river Bride, and after its junction with the Lee, by the latter river. During this space, he states that the limestone invariably adheres to one side of the channel, which it follows in all its windings, without ever crossing it. At Kinmare the same circumstances may be observed; and also in the county of Waterford, where, however, the Blackwater runs to the north of its limestone tract. The bogs are also worthy both of mineralogical and geological notice; not only on account of the immense number of fossil oak and yew-trees which they contain; but also from the fact that many of them which extend for miles in length, consist, even to a depth of many feet, of a congeries of branches and twigs of trees, which seem to have required even a succession of forests for ages to have supplied them. Of these, perhaps, there can be little doubt that a great portion are actually antediluvian.

Before entering on this part of the investigation, the scientific tourist will do well to read Mr. Aiton's pamphlet on Moss Earth, where he will meet with many interesting hints for research. Even the antiquary will not pass these immense tracts unnoticed, since much light has been thrown upon the earlier periods of Irish history by the discovery of curious antiques at considerable depths, by the peat cutters. Some iron heads of arms, wooden bowls, three sacks full of nuts, and a coat of ancient texture and construction, were in 1737 dug from under a moss fifteen feet deep; all of which were in a high state of perfection. Indeed Mr. Aiton observes, that the singular antiseptic qualities of moss extend to every thing buried under its surface. Wood, when exposed to the atmosphere, or buried under any other earth, will be totally decomposed or annihilated in a few years; but if it is enveloped in moss before putrefaction has made much progress upon it, it will remain but little impaired for many centuries. The underside of moss timber is generally found entire; and Mr. Aiton is of opinion, that the progress which corruption has made on the upper side of many specimens, must have taken place before the moss, in its progress of growth, rose above the trees. Facts of this kind may very properly lead to observations of the means of preventing the dry rot in timber; and the chemical tourist may devote an hour most usefully to the analysis of those substances which are found in the immediate vicinity of those fossil trees in the highest state of preservation.

Basaltes is another substance which deserves the notice of the tourist; for, though not peculiar to Ireland, it is perhaps more interesting here than in any other country, nature presenting it under the most awful forms; sometimes piled up in immense structures of stupendous height and extent, where its columns are arranged in various directions, as if deposited in regular series by the hand of men. It is principally however in the N.E. district that it is so found, extending from Carrickfergus-bay to Lough-Foyle, on the sea coast, and inland even to the southern shores of Lough-Neagh.

Granite forms the great bed of Ireland, and is seen bursting out in all the great ranges of mountains; not only in the central parts of the kingdom, but also in the basaltic district.