CHAPTER V.IRELAND.

CONTENTS.

Oratories—Round Towers—Domical Dwellings—Domestic Architecture—Runic Cross Decoration.

Thehistory of architecture in Ireland forms as distinct a contrast to that of Scotland as it is possible to conceive. At a very early period the Irish showed themselves not only capable of inventing a style for themselves, but perfectly competent to carry it to a successful issue, had an opportunity ever been afforded them. But this has not yet happened. Before the English conquest (1169) the country seems to have been divided into a number of small states, whose chieftains occupied the scant leisure left them between the incursions of the Danes and other Northmen, in little wars among themselves. These were never of such importance as to yield glory to either party, though amply sufficient to retard the increase of population and to banish that peace and sense of security which are indispensable for the cultivation of the softer arts. Yet during that period the Irish built round towers and oratories of a beauty of form and with an elegance of detail that charm even at the present day. Their metal work showed a true appreciation of the nature of the material, and an artistic feeling equal in kind, if not in degree, to anything in the best ages of Greece or Italy; and their manuscripts and paintings exhibit an amount of taste which was evidently capable of anything.

After the conquest, the English introduced their own pointed architecture, and built two churches in Dublin which, in dimensions and detail, differ very little from English parish churches. But beyond the Pale their influence was hardly felt. Whatever was done was stamped with a character so distinctly Irish as to show how strong the feeling of the people was; and sufficient to prove, with our knowledge of their antecedents, how earnestly and how successfully they would have laboured in the field of art had circumstances been favourable to its development. For seven centuries, however, the two races have lived together, hating and hated, and neither capable of comprehending the motives or appreciating the feelings of the other. It was not thatthe Saxon was tyrannical or unjust, but that he was prosaic among a people whose imagination too often supplied the place of reason, and that he was strong among those who could not combine for any steady purpose. His real crime was that, like the leopard, he could not change his spots. He belonged to a different race, and the Irish have always chosen to cherish the idea of vengeance and suffer the derangement consequent on it, rather than enjoy peace and prosperity under those they hated. Art is a plant too tender to flourish in the garden of hatred, and it has consequently been long banished from Irish soil, though, under gentler influences, it is probable that it might be more easily revived and more successfully cultivated there than in any other part of the British Isles.

Whatever may be the fate of art in Ireland for the future, the history of the past is sufficiently discouraging.

The cathedral of Dublin must always have been a second-class edifice for a metropolitan church, and those of Cashel and Kildare, which are as celebrated and as important as any in Ireland, are neither so large nor so richly ornamented as many English parish churches. The cathedral of Lismore has entirely disappeared; and generally it may be asserted that, throughout the country, there is not one cathedral church remarkable for architectural beauty or magnificence, though many are interesting from their associations, and picturesque from the state of ivy-clad ruin in which they appear.

The same is true with regard to the monasteries—they are numerous; and many, though small, are rich in detail. One of the most elaborate is that of the Holy Cross near Cashel, erected in the 15th century. This, like every other building of the Gothic period in Ireland, shows a strong affinity to the styles of the Continent, and a clearly marked difference from those of this country.

Some of the monasteries still retain their cloisters, which, in all instances, have so foreign an aspect as to be quite startling. That at Muckross (Killarney) retains the round arch on two sides with the details of the 15th century. That at Kilconnel (Woodcut No.662)[121]looks more like a cloister in Sicily or Spain than anything in the British Islands. None of them seem large. The last named is only 48 ft. square, though, if more extensive, it would be out of place compared with the rest of the establishment.

There is scarcely a single parish church of any importance which was built in Ireland beyond the limits of the Pale during the Middle Ages, nor, indeed, could it be expected that there should be. The parochial system is singularly unsuited to the Celtic mind at all times, and, during the Gothic period, the state of Ireland was especially unfavourable to its development, even if any desire for it had existed.What the Celt desiderates is a hierarchy who will take the trouble of his spiritual cares off his hands, and a retreat to which he can retire for repose when the excitement of imagination no longer suffices to supply his daily intellectual wants. These may lead to a considerable development of cathedral and monastic establishments, but not to that self-governing parish system which is so congenial to the Saxon mind.

View it as we will, the study of the Mediæval architecture of Ireland is a melancholy one, and only too truly confirms what we know from other sources. It does not even help us to answer the question whether or not Ireland could successfully have governed herself if left alone. All it does tell us is that, from the accidental juxtaposition of two antagonistic races, one of them has certainly failed hitherto in fulfilling the artistic mission which, under favourable circumstances, it seems eminently qualified to perform.

898. Cloister, Kilconnel Abbey.

From these causes, the Mediæval antiquities of Ireland would not deserve much notice in a work not specially devoted to that one subject, were it not that, besides these, Ireland possesses what may properly be called a Celtic style of architecture, which is as interesting in itself as any of the minor local styles of any part of the world, and, so far as at present known, is quite peculiar to the island. None of the buildings of this style are large, though the ornaments on many of them are of great beauty and elegance. Their chief interest lies in their singularly local character, and in their age, which probably extends from the 5th or 6th century[122]to the time of the English conquest in 1169. They consist principally of churches and round towers,together with crosses and a number of other antiquities hardly coming within the scope of this work.

No Irish church of that period now remaining is perhaps even 60 ft. in length, and generally they are very much smaller, the most common dimensions being from 20 to 40 ft. long. Increase of magnificence was sought to be attained more by extending the number of churches than by augmenting their size. The favourite number for a complete ecclesiastical establishment was 7, as in Greece and Asia Minor, this number being identical with that of the 7 Apocalyptic Churches of Asia. Thus, there are 7 at Glendalough and 7 at Cashel; the same sacred number is found in several other places,[123]and generally two or three at least are found grouped together.

As in Greece, too, the smallness of the churches is remarkable. They were not places for the assembly of large congregations of worshippers, but were oratories, where the priests could celebrate the divine mysteries for the benefit of the laity. In fact, no church is known to have existed in Ireland before the Norman Conquest that can be called a basilica, none of them being divided into aisles either by stone or wooden pillars, or possessing an apse, and no circular church has yet been found—nothing, in short, that would lead us to believe that Ireland obtained her architecture direct from Rome; while everything, on the contrary, tends to confirm the belief of an intimate connection with the farther East, and that her earlier Christianity and religious forms were derived from the East, by some of the more southerly commercial routes which at that period seem to have touched on Ireland.

A good deal of uncertainty and even of ridicule has been thrown on the subject of the Eastern origin of the Irish Church by the extreme enthusiasm of its advocates, but there seems to be no reasonable ground for doubting the fact.[124]At all events, it may safely be asserted thatthe Christian religion did not reach Ireland across Great Britain, or by any of the ordinary channels through the Continent. As a corollary to this, we must not look for the origin of her architectural styles either in England or in France, but in some more remote locality whose antiquities have not yet been so investigated as to enable us to point it out as the source whence they were derived.

The Irish Celtic churches are generally rectangular apartments, a little longer than they are broad, like the small one on the island of Innisfallen on the lake of Killarney (Woodcut No.663). To the larger churches a smaller apartment of the same proportions is added to the eastward, forming a chancel, with an ornamental arch between the two.

The most remarkable of these now existing is that known as Cormac’s Chapel, on the rock at Cashel (Woodcut No.900), which was consecrated in the year 1134. It is a small building, 55 ft. long over all externally. The chancel is 12 ft. square internally, covered with an intersecting vault; the nave is 18 ft. by 29, and covered by a tunnel-vault with transverse ribs, very like those found in the South of France. Externally, as shown in the view, it has two square towers attached to it at the juncture of the nave and chancel, while the church itself is richly ornamented by a panelling of small arches.

899. Oratory, Innisfallen, Killarney.

In almost all cases the principal entrance to these churches is fromthe west, opposite to the altar. The chapel at Cashel is, however, an exception, since it has both a north and a south entrance. That on the north is the principal, and very richly ornamented. The same is the case at Ardmore, where the whole of the west end is taken up by a bas-relief rudely representing scenes from the Bible, and the entrance is on the north side of the nave. On these principal entrances all the resources of art were brought to bear, the windows generally being very small, and apparently never glazed. There is a doorway at Freshford in Kilkenny, and another at Aghadoe near Killarney, which for elegance of detail will bear comparison with anything in England or on the Continent of the same age.

900. Cormac’s Chapel, Cashel.

901. Section of Chapel, Killaloe.

One of the peculiarities of these churches is, that they were nearly all designed to have stone roofs, no wood being used in their construction. The annexed section (Woodcut No.901) of the old church at Killaloe, belonging probably to the 10th century, will explain how this was generally managed. The nave was roofed with a tunnel-vault of the ordinary form; over this is a chamber formed by a pointed arch, and on the outside of these two,the roofing slabs were laid. Sometimes, instead of being continuous, the upper vault was cut into ribs, and the roof built up straight externally, with horizontal courses resting on these ribs. This mode of double roofing was, perhaps, a complication, and no improvement on that adopted in the South of France in the same age (Woodcuts Nos. 312, 319), but it enabled the Irish to make the roof steeper than could be effected with a single vault, and in so rainy a climate this may have been of the first importance.

The roof of the Cashel Chapel is of this double construction; so is the building called “St. Kevin’s Kitchen” at Glendalough (Woodcut No.902), which apparently belongs to the 10th century. There is another very similar at Kells, and several others in various parts of Ireland, all displaying the same peculiarity.

902. St. Kevin’s Kitchen, Glendalough.

Had the Irish been allowed to persevere in the elaboration of their own style, they would probably have applied this expedient to the roofing of larger buildings than they ever attempted, and might, in so doing, have avoided the greatest fault of Gothic architecture. Without more experience, it is impossible to pronounce to what extent the method might have been carried with safety, or to say whether the Irish double vault is a better constructive form than the single Romance pointed arch. It was certainly an improvement on the wooden roof of the true Gothic style, and its early abandonment is consequently much to be regretted.

Round Towers and Oratories.

The round towers which accompany these ancient churches have long proved a stumbling-block to antiquaries, not only in Ireland but in this country; and more has been written about them, and more theories proposed to account for their peculiarities, than about any other objects of their class in Europe.

The controversy has been, to a considerable extent, set at rest by the late Mr. George Petrie.[125]He has proved beyond all cavil that the greater number of the towers now existing were built by Christians, and for Christian purposes, between the 5th and 13th centuries; and has shown that there is no reasonable ground for supposing the remainder to be either of a different age or erected for different uses.

Another step has recently been made by Mr. Hodder Westropp, who has pointed out their similarity with the Fanal de Cimetière so frequently found in France,[126]and even in Austria (Woodcut No.765).

To any one who is familiar with the Eastern practice of lighting lamps at night in cemeteries or in the tombs of saints, this suggestion seems singularly plausible when coupled with the knowledge that the custom did prevail on the Continent in the Middle Ages. It is, however, far from being a complete explanation, since many of these towers have only one or two very small openings in their upper storey; and there is also the staggering fact that this use is not mentioned in any legendary or written account of them which has come down to our time. On the other hand, they are frequently described as bell-towers, and also as treasuries and places of refuge, and seem even better adapted to these purposes than to that of displaying lights.

That they may have been applied to all these purposes seems clear, but a knowledge of their use does not explain their origin; it only removes the difficulty a step farther back. No attempt has been made to show whence the Irish obtained this very remarkable form of tower, or why they persevered so long in its use, with peculiarities not found either in the contemporary churches or in any other of their buildings. No one imagines it to have been invented by the rude builders of the early churches, and no theory yet proposed accounts for the perseverance of the Irish in its employment, at a time when the practice of all the other nations of Europe was so widely different. It must have been a sacred and time-honoured form somewhere, and with some people,previous to its current adoption in Ireland; but the place and the time at which it was so, still remain to be determined.[127]

Although, therefore, Mr. Petrie’s writings and recent investigations have considerably narrowed the grounds of the inquiry, they cannot be said to have set the question at rest, and anyone who has seen the towers must feel that there is still room for any amount of speculation regarding such peculiar monuments.

In nine cases out of ten they are placed unsymmetrically at some little distance from the churches to which they belong, and are generally of a different age and different style of masonry. Their openings, from the oldest to the most modern, generally have sloping jambs, which are very rare in the churches, being only found in the earliest examples. Their doorways are always at a height of 7, 10, or 13 ft. from the ground, while the church doors are, it need hardly be said, always on the ground level. But more than all this, there is sometimes an unfamiliar aspect in the detail of the towers which is not always observed in the churches. The latter may be rude, or may be highly finished, but they rarely have the strange and foreign appearance which the towers always present.

Notwithstanding this, the proof of their Christian origin is in most cases easy. Woodcut No.902, for instance, shows a round tower placeduponwhat is, undoubtedly, a Christian chapel, and which must consequently be either coeval with the tower or more ancient. At Clonmacnoise (Woodcut No.904) the masonry of the tower is bonded with the walls of the church, and evidently coeval therewith, thechancel arch being undoubtedly Christian round Gothic of the 10th or 11th century. At Kildare the doorway of the tower (Woodcut No.905) is likewise of unquestionable Christian art, and an integral part of the design, though it may be somewhat earlier than the foregoing; and at Timahoe the doorway of the tower is richer and more elaborate, but at the same time of a style so closely resembling that of Cormac’s Chapel as to leave no doubt of their being nearly of the same age. The only remarkable difference is that the jambs of the doorway of the tower slope considerably inwards, while all those of the chapel are perfectly perpendicular. Another proof of their age is, that many of the doorways have Christian emblems carvedin reliefon their lintels, as in the example from the tower at Donoughmore (Woodcut No.906), or that from Antrim (Woodcut No.907), or on the round tower at Brechin in Scotland,—emblems which, from their position, and the fact of their being in relief, cannot have been added, and must therefore be considered as original. When we find that the towers which have not these indications differ in no other respect from those that have, it is impossible to resist the conclusion that they too are of Christian origin; the positive evidence of a few being sufficient to overbalance the mere absence of a proof in a far greater number.

904. Round Tower and Chancel Arch of Fineens Church, Clonmacnoise.

905. Doorway in Tower, Kildare.

Antiquaries have enumerated 118 of these monuments as still to befound in Ireland; of these some twenty are perfect, or nearly so, varying in height from about 60 ft. to 130 ft., which is the height of the imperfect one at Old Kilcullen. They all taper upwards towards the summit, and are generally crowned with a conical cap like that at Clonmacnoise (Woodcut No.904), though not often constructed in the herring-bone masonry there shown.

906. Doorway in Tower, Donoughmore, Meath.907. Doorway in Tower, Antrim.

906. Doorway in Tower, Donoughmore, Meath.

907. Doorway in Tower, Antrim.

908. Tower, Devenish.Tower, Kilree, Kilkenny.

908. Tower, Devenish.

Tower, Kilree, Kilkenny.

The tower of Devenish (Woodcut No.908) may be taken as atypical example of the class. It is 82 ft. high, with a conical cap, and its doorway and windows are all of the form and in the position most usually found in monuments of this class. The conical cap is sometimes omitted, and its place supplied by a battlemented crown, though this is probably of later date; this is the case at Kildare, and also at Kilree (Woodcut No.909). In one instance, and, I believe, one only, the base of the tower is octagonal. This is found at Kinneh, county Cork (Woodcut No.910).[128]

One of the most beautiful and most perfect is that of Ardmore (Woodcut No.911). It is of excellent ashlar masonry throughout, and is divided externally into 4 storeys by string-courses, which do not, however, mark the position of the floors inside. Its mouldings and details lead to the presumption that it is nearly coeval with Cormac’s Chapel, Cashel, and that consequently it must belong to the 12th century. It stands within the precincts of the rude old church mentioned above, and when explored not long ago the skeletons of two persons were found below its foundations, placed in such a manner as to lead to the inevitable conclusion that it was a place of Christian burial before the foundations of the tower were laid.

910. Tower, Kinneh, Cork.911. Tower, Ardmore.

910. Tower, Kinneh, Cork.

911. Tower, Ardmore.

The floors which divide the tower into storeys are generally of wood,but sometimes of masonry, constructed as that at Kinneh (Woodcut No.912). There are no stairs, but ladders are used to pass from one storey to the next.

Several instances of doorways have been quoted above. Of these no two are exactly alike, though all show the same general characteristics. That at Monasterboice, for instance (Woodcut No.913), has an arch cut out of a horizontal lintel extending the whole way across, while that at Kilcullen (Woodcut No.914) has the arch cut out of two stones, which is by far the most usual arrangement.

912. Floor in Tower, Kinneh.

The windows are generally headed with two stones meeting at the apex, as in the three examples given below (Woodcut No.915); but sometimes the window-head is either a flat lintel or a single stone cut into the form of an arch, as at Glendalough (Woodcut No.916).

913. Doorway, Monasterboice.914. Doorway, Kilcullen, Kildare.

913. Doorway, Monasterboice.

914. Doorway, Kilcullen, Kildare.

915. Windows in Round Towers.916. Window, Glendalough.

915. Windows in Round Towers.

916. Window, Glendalough.

Though these remarkable towers are of extremely various forms, differing according to their age and locality, almost all exhibit that peculiar Cyclopean character of masonry which has led to such strange,though often plausible, speculations; for though neither their details, nor their masonry would excite remark if found at Norba in Latium or at Æniade in Acarnaniæ, yet here they stand alone and exceptional to everything around them.

Whatever may have been their origin, there can be no doubt as to the uses to which they were applied by the Christians—they were symbols of power and marks of dignity. They were also bell-towers, and lamps were possibly lighted in them in honour of the dead. But perhaps their most important use was that of keeps or fortalices; to which, in troubled times, the church plate and other articles of value could be removed and kept in safety till danger was past.

As architectural objects these towers are singularly pleasing. Their outline is always graceful, and the simplicity of their form is such as to give the utmost value to their dimensions. Few can believe that they are hardly larger than the pillars of many porticoes, and that it is to their design alone that they owe that appearance of size they all present. No one can see them without admiring them for these qualities, though the peculiar fascination they possess is no doubt in great measure owing to the mystery which still hangs round their origin, and to the association of locality. In almost every instance the tower stands alone and erect beside the ruins of an ancient but deserted church, and among the mouldering tombstones of a neglected or desecrated graveyard. In a town or amid the busy haunts of men, they would lose half their charm; situated as they are, they are among the most interesting of the antiquities of Europe.

There is still another class of antiquities in Ireland, older perhaps than even these round towers, and certainly older than the churches to which the towers are attached. These are the circular domical dwellings found in the west of the island, constructed of loose stones in horizontal layers approaching one another till they meet at the apex, like the old so-called treasuries of the Greeks, or the domes of the Jains in India. Numbers of these are still to be found in remote parts, sometimes accompanied by what are properly called oratories, like that shown in Woodcut No.917, taken from Mr. Petrie’s valuable work. It is certainly one of the oldest places of worship in these islands, belonging probably to the age of St. Patrick; and it is also one of the smallest, being externally only 23 ft. by 10. It shows the strange Cyclopean masonry, the sloping doorway, the stone roof, and many of the elements of the subsequent style, and it is at the same time so like some things in Lycia and in India, and so unlike almost any other building in Europe, that it is not to be wondered at that antiquaries should indulge in somewhat speculative fancies in endeavouring to account for such remarkable phenomena.

917. Oratory of Gallerus. (From Petrie’s ‘Ancient Architecture of Ireland.’)

Ireland is not rich in specimens of domestic architecture of the Middle Ages, but such fragments as do exist show marked variations from the contemporary style in England. Such battlements, for instance, as those which crown the tower of Jerpoint Abbey are identical with many found in the North of Italy, but very unlike anything either in England or Scotland, and give a foreign look to the whole building which is very striking.

918. Tower, Jerpoint Abbey.

The same may be said of the next example (Woodcut No.919) from a house in Galway. Its architecture might be Spanish, but its ornamental details look like a reminiscence of the entwined decorationof a Runic cross, and reminds one more of the interlaced work of the Byzantine style than of any other.[129]

919. House, Galway.

920. Ballyromney Court, Cork.

Ballyromney Court, illustrated in Woodcut No.920, is perhaps the most usual form of an Irish mansion in the last age of Gothic. After its time the Elizabethan became the prevalent style. All individuality vanished with the more complete subjection of the country in the reign of that queen. This is, no doubt, to be regretted; but, as beforeremarked, Ireland is interesting, not for her Gothic so much as for her Celtic antiquities, the epoch of which closed as nearly as may be with the English conquest in 1169.

921. Cross at Kells.

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