INISHMORE, ARANMORE, or THE NORTH ISLAND

In dealing with " Aran of the Saints" for an Archaeological Guide, one is confronted at once by two difficulties--first, to keep from the temptation of adding another to the many exhaustive accounts of the place; secondly, to avoid flying into the opposite extreme and saying too little, leaving those who trust to your description uninformed, and letting them pass by objects of interest. Therefore, referring those who seek for a thorough knowledge to a long list of works on the subject, I will briefly describe what there is to be seen in these the most interesting islands off our coast.

It may avoid confusion to describe the buildings in their position from west to east rather than on the lines of supposed excursions.

If the sea is calm and the wind favorable, visitors should land at Glenachán, and not at Kilmurvey, and thus save two miles of road and also of sea. Glenachán is a small beach, a few hundred yards seaward or north-east of the Seven Churches (Temple Brecan). Northward, beyond the Seven Churches, there are no antiquarian remains. On the way, on the right-hand side of the bohereen (a little road), is a square fort of very good masonry, of which no tradition exists. After this, the “Seven Churches " are reached.

TEMPLE BRECAN

This interesting church, with its monastic houses and later neighbor, Teampull-a-Phoill, is often absurdly called "the Seven Churches," a name which originated in Ireland among non-archaeologists in the eighteenth century, and conveys an absurdly erroneous idea of the motives for building groups of churches so conspicuous among the early Irish monks. It is extremely improbable that any group of seven churches " was ever erected at one time.' Those stated in the "Tripartite Life " to have been built by St. Patrick were not together, but were scattered about each district. Certainly the popular idea that the Irish deliberately built them in imitation of the churches of the Apocalypse, has, I think, no shred of ancient fact or tradition in its favor.

In a grassy field, fenced in to the south and west by steep crags, and with a fine view across the bay to the Twelve Pins of Benbeola and Golden Head, stand the churches. Temple Brecan is a large building, much tampered with in late times, for the east end has evidently been rebuilt, a round-headed, but comparatively late, door in the south wall, and an end room, probably for a priest, partitioned off at the west end. Inside its west gable is the little slab inscribed "Pray for the two canons." A recess appears in the thickness of the partition wall, probably for the concealment of valuables. The north and west walls are of very massive masonry.

The rest of the building consists of a nave (52 feet by 18 feet) and chancel (20 feet 6 inches by 18 feet) of equal breadth, an unusual feature, divided by an early semicircular chancel arch. The north wall of the nave has one of those primitive windows, of which we see two other examples in Teampull Choemhain and Kilcananagh, the head formed of two slabs leaning together. The east window is slightly pointed, while the south window of the chancel is coeval with the choir arch, and probably of the tenth century at the latest. Three stones, with crosses, stand to the south-east of the church, one with "VII Romani " (an important testimony to the fame of our schools, bringing alumni even from Rome itself) ; others have said to have been dug up by a Don Pedro, and carried away before 1839 by an antiquary; the graves are divided by kerb slabs set in the ground. Though the stone had been so long concealed, the burial-place was traditionally called after Brecan, Bishop of Aran. Under the slab was found a water-worn stone inscribed-

Pray for Brana the Pilgrim." It is in the Petrie collection.

Another stone, with a neat incised cross, has the legend

('' Thomas, Apostle.")

The illustrations of this group of crosses are from rubbings by Dr. Griffith Davies.

LEABA BRECAIN

LEABA BRECAIN--(Brecan's Bed or Grave), filled with loose stones and overgrown with ivy and wild garlic, stands west of the church. At the west end is set the shaft of a richly-carved cross covered on both sides with interlacings; it has also part of a figure of our Lord on the west face.

The broken fragments of another ornate cross lie prostrate on the rocks above the church. The fret in the upper part is very similar to that on the capitals on the Nuns' Church at Clonmacnoise, and other carvings of the later twelfth century. The curious late-looking crucifix, and the surrounding guilloche ornament, seem to have been afterthoughts. It possesses the singular characteristic that the existing segments of the ring belong to a circle whose centre is much below the intersection of the arms. When sketched for Miss Stokes's " Early Architecture in Ireland," one of the upper segments of the ring seems to have remained.

The monadic buildings are of little interest; they form an enclosure north of the church. There was a well (or stone basin) in the middle of the court in 187 8. The houses to the north (34 feet by 16 feet) and east have nearly perished ; that to the west has two doors to the east and west, and is 36 feet by 12 feet 6 inches. Near the west gable of the church are remains of a wall, with an arch, the head formed of two huge stones; another fragment of wall, with a door, lies farther to the west. Some other foundations to the south, near the grave of the Romans, have been cleared out and restored by the Board of Works ; they are mostly late fifteenth-century Gothic houses.

TEAMPULL-A-PHOILL

TEAMPULL-A-PHOILL--probably "the Church of the hollow," standing in a cleft of the rock, is an uninteresting fifteenth-century building, 26 feet by 13 feet 7 inches. North of the churches ia Sean Caislean, the base of a strong tower, 33 feet by 29 feet; walls 9 feet thick.

Dun Onaght, Inishmore, Aran

stone house called clougchan-na-carraige

DUN ONAGHT

DUN ONAGHT (Eoghanacht)--The village of Onacht runs along the crags; south of it can be seen this fine stone fort. O'Donovan suggests that the name is connected with Engus, King of Cashel, and head of the Eoghanachtas, who gave the island to Enda; or, as in the days of that saint, Aran was peopled with '' pagans from Corcomroe," and the northern part of that district was also called Eoghanacht Ninuis; the settlers from the mainland may have so named it. It is a nearly circular cashel (enclosing wall of rough stone ), 91 feet north and south, 90 feet east and west. The wall consists of three sections, 4 feet, 4 feet, and 8 feet thick, 12 feet to 16 feet high. The door is nearly destroyed; it faced S.E. and the wall near it of large stones; it has no outworks. Half a mile west are two cloghauns (areas of stony ground),, and half way between the churches and Kilmurvey, to the north of the road, near Sruffaun, is a more accessible and perfect one, oral, with doors facing east and west, and a south window. Petrie figures and describes this in his "Round Towers,” as Clochan-na-Carraige; but neither O'Donovan nor the 6-inch Ordnance Surrey Map of 1839 notices it. It measures 19 feet by 7 feet 6 inches, and is 8 feet high. Kilcholan lies close to the east of Dun Onaght.

DUN AENGHUS

DUN AENGHUS--the central point of interest in the islands, and one of the finest pre-historic forts of western Europe, stands on the very edge of a cliff, nearly 300 feet high, above the village of Kilmurvey; much of it has fallen with the solid rocks on which it stood, undermined by the sapping of the "gnawing white-toothed waves." But we cannot be so sure as some have been that it originally consisted of three entire rings; for among the forts of County Clare is Cahercommaun, wonderfully similar to Dun Aenghus and Caherlismacsheedy,' a horse-shoe wall. both standing on inland cliffs over valleys, while similar semicircular enclosures are found inland in Great Britain, and even in Hungary.

Dun Aenghus

The great fort of Aenghus, son of Huamore, was in 1839 generally known by the natives as Dunmore; one old man of Cromwellian descent alone knew it as Dun Innees; but the vague though striking description of Roderic O'Flaherty would have sufficed to identify it:--

“On the south side stands Dun Enghus, a large fortified place on the brim of a high cliff, a hundred fathoms deep, being a great wall of bare stones, without any mortar, in compass as big as a large castle bawn, with several long stones on the outside, erected slopewise against any assault. It is named of Engus mac Anathmor of the reliques of the Belg men in Ireland, there living about the birth-time of Christ. On the east side thereof the island is somewhat low, so that about the year 1640, upon an extraordinary inundation, the sea, overflowing that bank, went across over the island to the north-west."

This fearful wave was traditionally remembered, at any rate, in 1878. The view is singularly fine; the desolate-looking island, "the mil almost pared with stones," rising to Dun Oghil and the lighthouse, the sheer descent of the cliffs, " the trouble of the sea that cannot rest," and, beyond, the cliffs of Moher and hills of Clare and Kerry, even to Mount Brandon, if the air is clear, and north to the Twelve Pins.

The fort has three ramparts, and the remains of a fourth. The inner cashel is 150 feet north and south, and 140 feet east and west along the cliff; in the middle is a natural square platform. The rampart is 18 feet high on the west, and 12 feet 9 inches thick; it is of three sections, like Dun Onaght; the inner section was only 14 feet high-the centre of the wall being thus lower than the faces. This feature has unfortunately disappeared; it and the two terraces have been much rebuilt. They communicate with each other and the ground by straight or sloped flights of steps such as occur in the forts of Clare. The V or X arrangement of steps does not occur in Aran. The door is to the north-east ; its sides only slope from 3 feet 5 inches to 3 feet 4 inches, and are 4 feet 8 inches high; the lintel 5 feet 10 inches long. The four lint& are raised like reversed steps to keep the passage of even height as it leads up a slope. In the north-west side a passage leads into the thickness of the wall. The second rampart is not concentric; its wall is of two sections, and enclosed a space about 400 feet long and 300 feet deep. One gateway remains perfect, but the other gateways are defaced. Outside it is a broad band of pillar-stones, forming a chevaux de frise 30 feet wide; many of the stones to the east are removed; their worn and furrowed appearance seems to support the tradition of the vast age of the building. Inside these stones to the west is a fragment of wall, 7 feet 9 inches high and 6 feet thick, which forms an annexe, but is really part of the older third wall, demolished when the fourth and outer rampart was built, and the second wall modified.

The outer rampart, nearly demolished, runs round the fort, 129 to 634 feet from inner wall, enclosing 11 acres. It has n gateway, well preserved, and is ruder, with larger blocks than the inner rings. O'Flaherty says the fort could hold 200 cows; O'Donovan Says 1050. We leave this question to farmers. Perhaps the old writer thought only of the inner fort. A bronze hook, now in the Royal Irish Academy collection, was found in 1839 by boys digging out a rabbit. Dr. March, in a valuable paper on the age of this fort, read before the Society of Antiquaries, London, states he found a hinged ring of bronze, with a cable decoration of a kind assigned to the fifth century; but he also found chert flakes or arrowheads, which inclined him to accept the prehistoric origin of this noble fort. The ancient legend attributed this fort to a Firbolg prince. This tradition receives some support from the statement of Ptolemy that the Ganganoi lived north of the Shannon; while Irish authorities mention Firbolg tribes with the cognate names Gann, Genann, though the old theory that all these forts were built by the Huamorian Firbolgs rests on no stronger basis than "thus they dwelt in fortresses" in an eleventh century poem, and breaks down hopelessly in presence of the occurrence of similar ring-walls in non-Huamorian districts of Ireland, besides in Great Britain and in all Central Europe to Thessaly, Bosnia, Hungary, and even to the Russian and Swedish Islands. Bearing those facts in 6ew, we must at least form no hasty judgment, as some have done, that the fort was of monastic origin. At least ten stone forts in these islands, and several hundred in Clare, surround no church, while we hare record of some eight churches in Aran, surrounded by no such cashel.

Near Mr. Johnson's house at Kilmurvey is another interesting group of ruins. Chief of these is:

TEMPLE MAC DUACH

TEMPLE MAC DUACH--a very fine specimen of massive masonry and early type, is named after the famous Colman mac Duach, founder of .Kilmacduach in the seventh century. It consists of nave and chancel, the former 18 feet 6 inches long by 14 feet 6 inches wide, the latter 15 feet 9 inches long by 11 feet 9 inches wide, or, as in Dunraven, 18 feet 8 inches by 14 feet 6 inches, and 15 feet 4 inches by 11 feet 2 inches. The chancel arch and east window have semicircular heads; the south window head is formed of two slabs leaning together. It has a remarkable doorway, with inclined jambs, 5) feet by 1 foot 3 inches at top, and 1 foot 11 inches at bottom ; the lintel is a granite dab, 5) feet long ; whilst the rest of the building is of limestone. The rude figure of an animal is cut on the largest stone near the outer west end of the north wall. Outside and west from the church is a large standing stone, inscribed with a cross. South-east of Mr. Johnson's house are the remains of a nameless oratory, 15 feet 5 inches by 11 feet 5 inches, and a bullaun (a deep hemispherical cup hollowed out of a rock), named after some unknown Maolodhair. Half a mile east are the foundations of Kilmurvey church, now an " aharla," or cemetery. Two cyclopean walls exist not far from the house.

DUN OGHIL

DUN OGHIL--(Dun .Eochla)--O'Donovan denies that eochoill means yew grove, and says “eo” is an old word for oak. It is hard to realize any trees on this exposed upland; but there was early in the late century a thicket of stunted oak and hazel near the ruins. O'Donovan fancifully suggests the name Dun Kima for the fort. The place is called Leamchoill in the "Life of St. Enda," 1390. The fort stands less than two miles west of Kilronan, and was more perfect than Dun Aenghus. It has two walls; the inner cashel measures 75 feet 6 inches east and wed; the walls are in three sections, 16 feet high, and 10 feet to 11 feet 3 inches thick. The ancient part of the door is of enormous stones 9 feet 6 inches by 1 foot 3 inches by 1 foot 3 inches; it faces north-east. There are flights of steps leading up the wall to the terrace and rampart. There are traces of two cloghauns inside. The outer wall is of two sections, 6 feet 7 inches thick and 12 feet high; it is not concentric.

TEAMPULL AN CHRATHRAIR ALUINN

TEAMPULL AN CHRATHRAIR ALUINN--Westward, near the village of Cowroogh, is the fifteenth-century church of the Four Comely Saints (Fursey, Brendan of Birr (570), Conall, and Berchan); it is 28 feet long by 12 feet 6 inches wide, and has a large corbel in the east gable, and remains of the altar. The ogee-headed east window and pointed north door have been rebuilt. There were formerly two windows in the south wall. The graves are plain stone slabs, lying west of the church, and beyond them are two pillar-stones. South of the church is a holy well, still in much repute, to judge from the numerous small offerings

The church of the four beautiful ones

BAILE NA SEAN

BAILE NA SEAN--continuing southward along the bohereen we find , a ruined cashel, 60 feet in diameter, but, as some think, Later than the other forts. West from it lies a larger fort, "the Doon," 220 feet by 110 feet, and oval. The whole district from it to Dun Oghil, and far to the south, is strewn broadcast with the remains of nearly forty primitive houses; among them another small fort, and a chambered mound. All of these have been much defaced by rabbit- hunters. Near Oghil village is a fragment of another dun on the edge of a rock, 20 feet high; it is of fine masonry, and 7 feet high A cromlech (remains of prehistoric stone chamber tombs) stood in 1839 at Farran a Curka (Fearan a choirchè), not far from Oghil.

MONASTER KIERAN

MONASTER KIERAN--Quelaeus (1645) has an interesting note on this church, stating that it was first called Monaster Connachtach, and rebuilt as a church of St. Kieran. Its church is nearly perfect; but the low, broken walls of the monastic building tell little of its arrangements. Colgan (17th century Irish Franciscan Friar and scholar) states that St. Kieran, the carpenter's son, coming to St. Enda about 536, dwelt with him for seven years; and being set by him to thresh corn for the community, threshed it so thoroughly that he threshed all the straw into grain, which (it is quaintly suggested) accounts for the scarcity of thatched houses on the islands. The church is a simple oblong, 37 feet 9 inches by 18 feet 6 inches. An ancient-looking door, with lintel and inclined jambs chamfered (perhaps in later days), is built up in the west wall, which has slight projections ; the north door is late medieval. The east window has a handsome wide splay, and is neatly molded, both outside and inside; it is similar to the late Romanesque churches of the twelfth century. Another similar light occurs in the south wall, and opposite it is a square north window, now built up. Two stones, with incised crosses, stand east and south-west of the church; the east has a hole through which, a fisherman told me in 1878, cloths were drawn for curing sore limbs. A mound used for burial is noticeable north of the Kilronan road, near the sea.

TEMPLESOORNEY

TEMPLESOORNEY--(Teampull Assurnidhe)--A very ancient defaced little oratory, described in Dunraven's Notes. (Lord Dunraven, archaeologist) It lies westward of the last. It measures 16 feet by 12 feet, has a projecting "handle stone” at one corner, and the remains of an altar. The name possibly means “Church of the Vigils," though some refer it to Essernius, who was sent to Ireland in 458, according to the " Chronicum Scotorurn." Local tradition makes Assurnidhe a nun, from Drum-a-cooge, on Galway Bay.

KILRONAN

KILRONAN--Only an " aharla," or burial-place, and well, remain near the village which bears the name.

KILNAMANAGH

KILNAMANAGH--This church has been destroyed and forgotten. Quelaeus says it was called after the monk, Caradoc Garbh,, from whom Cowroogh is named. It may be a church site noted by O'Donovan as lying near a cross and a pool in the middle of the island, called Kilchorna on the maps. In the list of Quelmus it lies between Monaster Kieran and Teampull Assurnidhe. But if not Kilchorna, no other site is at present discoverable.

DOO CAHER or DUBH CATHAIR

DOO CAHER or DUBH CATHAIR--( Black Fort)--Going westward, from Killeany, but along the south coast of the island, we reach a rude but very remarkable fortification, built across a headland. The wall is 220 feet long, 20 feet high, and 18 to 16 feet thick. It has three terraces and seven flights of steps, two being straight. O'Donoran boldly dates it 1000 years older than Dun Aenghus. Inside were two rows of stone houses, one along the wall, the other extending 170 feet along the cliff, now nearly destroyed by the great waves which break across the headland in storms, and have destroyed the end of thc wall and a gateway, which Petrie saw and described. Outside is a chevaux de frise, and the remains of several buildings; one had a midden of shells and bones. The fort is called "Doon-doo-haar " by the natives. It is marked on the l-inch Ordnance Map as Doonaghard.

To the north-west lay a second and similar fort, nearly destroyed.This had a cloghaun, 18 feet 6 inches across, and its rampart was 6 feet 7 inches thick.

KILLEANY

KILLEANY--But for the vandalism of the Cromwellian garrison, we should be able to explore an unusually extensive and interesting group of ruins at this place. The ancient list of churches gives--(1) Killenda, the pariah church; (2) Teglach Enda, with the tomb of St. Enda; 3 Teampull mac Longa; (4) Teampull mic Canonn; (5) St. Mary's; and (6) Temple Benan. Of these only Teglach Enda and Temple Benan remain. The 3rd, 4th, and 5th stood with Kil Enda between the castle and round tower. The four churches were demolished about 1651, and used for the building of Arkin Castle. Dr. O'Donovan found here a beautiful fragment of a cross, of which there is a sketch by Mr. Wakeman in the Ordnance Survey Notes, 1840. It has been reset in the original base.

THE ROUND TOWER

THE ROUND TOWER--now a mere fragment, and much repaired, but showing fine masonry in the lower courses, stands in the fields south of the castle. Early in the late century it was 5 stories high, a beautiful slender structure. Petrie says it was formerly 80 feet high. It fell in a storm. The two upper stories were used for building the castle. It is 48 feet 9 inches in circumference, and was 4 feet 10 inches high in 1840; but it was then much embedded in rubbish. Lord Dunraven found it was 8 feet high, and it is now nearly 13 feet high, the apparent growth being cauaed by the removal of the fallen debris. The Friary well, Dabhach Einne, remains to the right of the tower, near Arkin; near it tradition states that “the sweet bell of the tower" was buried. Not far away appear the foundations of the Franciscan Convent, built in 1485, presumably by the O'Briens. The base of a large stone frets, and fantastic animals, the whole of unusual design. Kil Enda stood in the hollow near the tower, on the north. It is noteworthy that hops grow freely in the fences; they were probably introduced by the monks, those indefatigable cultivators.

ARKIN CASTLE, or CROMWELL'S FORT

ARKIN CASTLE, or CROMWELL'S FORT--A low, unpicturesque edifice, on the shore of the bay. Near it, on a flat rock, is cut a series of squares, suggesting a chess-board, and supposed to have been used for games by the garrison. A decorated cross base has been removed from the walls to Mr. O'Malley's house. The sand of the bay in parts abounds in foraminifera--beautiful microscopic objects.

TEMPLE BENEN

TEMPLE BENEN--On the ridge between Killeany and Glassan stands the diminutive and unique oratory of St. Benen, its unusually steep gables forming a conspicuous land-mark. It faces N.N.E. and S.S.W., and measures 15 feet 1 inch by 11 feet 3 inches externally, and 10 feet 9 inches by 7 feet internally, the gables being 15 feet high. The window, its head and splay cut out of a single stone, is set in the east wall. This strange arrangement was not altogether unprecedented, occurring in the Dubh Regles of St. Columba at Derry, as described by Manus O'Donnel about 1520. The north door has inclined jambs, and is 5 1/2 feet high, 1 3/4 feet wide at bottom, and 1 1/4 feet at top; the lintel is 6 feet long; the central block of the west wall is square, and of unusual size. Near the church are a group of monastic cloghauns with traces of a cashel.

TEGLACH ENDA

TEGLACH ENDA--(Tighlagheany on Ordnance Survey)--The remains of an early church. The east and north walls are ancient, of large masonry, with little cement. The east window has a round head, cut out of one block of stone. There are antae to this face of the church. The north window and door are later, and the west gable has been rebuilt. The building is a simple oblong, 24 feet by 15 feet.' Sir Morogh O'Flaherty, of Bunowen, was buried in it in 1666. Its cemetery contained, in the seventeenth the graves of 120 saints, including St. Enda. The latter saint, the patron of the island, was son of Conall Dearg, of a noble family of Oriel, which had settled in Ulster. His sister married Aenghus, king of Cashel. Enda was abbot first in Italy, and then getting a grant of Aran from his rayal brother-in-law, about 480, he removed thither, and lived for fifty-eight years in his new monastery. He was visited by Brendan befor that saint set out on his adventurous voyage, and reckoned Kieran of Clonmacnois among his monks for nine years. In the wall of the church will be found a slab with the words, “Pray for Scandlan”.

LARANA CLOGHAUNS

LARANA CLOGHAUNS--Going round the Tramore of intake in the sand, beyond Teglach Enda, we meet (if still uncovered) the Leaba or grave enclosure, 9 feet by 3 feet 6 inches, long buried in deep sand. Near it is, or.was, a structure resembling a cromlech; and westward are a number of ancient enclosures, running down below high water. Finally, near the north-east point of the island, Captain Rowan, of Tralee, uncovered two curious cloghauns. The remains consisted of an oval ring of loose stonea, 72 feet in diameter, within which were two cloghauns, one oval and nearly defaced, the other oblong, 8 feet 2 inches by 6 feet 8 inches, entered by a side paaeage with steps. Human remains were found in the oval cloghaun; they were the bones of foreign sailors drowned at Cala-na-luinge; the natives buried them in the sand, digging down on the cloghaun by chance, when its roof fell in. These remains rest on the solid rock.

East of Iararna is Port Deha (Daibche), where the barrel of corn, set afloat from Clare by Corbanus, the pagan king of Aran, to test the divine mission of St. Enda, was washed on shore. At the south-east corner of the island lie the Glassan rocks, " Aile-na-glassog," or “pollock rocks." Here one calm day, in 1852, a huge mountain of water suddenly rose up the cliff, and swept away seven or more fishermen (see Dublin University Magazine, April, 1853). Not far from it is a round tower of dry stones, 12 feet high and 40 feet circumference, called Turmartin, and reputed to be St. Gregory's grave. Sailors strike sail to it on occasions as a mark of respect to the saint.

OTHER REMAINS

OTHER REMAINS--There are some slight remains of a fort one and a half miles south-west of Kilronan, 72 feet diameter, the walla being 7 feet ,thick. , Toberronan, a holy well, in the village of Kilronan; two cloghauns, one mile to south-west, not far north of which is Kilchorna, an aharla. There were three cromlechs-one at Cowroogh, one near Kilmurvey, and one at Fearann a choirce, near Cowroogh.

The straits round and between the islands are--to the north, the North Sound, or Bealach locha Lurgain ; east of Aranmore, Gregory's Sound, or Bealach na haite; east of Inismaan, Bealach na Fearboy, from " Fearbad," a district in the island, between Aran and Clare; South Sound, or Bealuch na finnis.

The information on this site is taken from the pamphlet: Illustrated Guide to the Northern, Western, and Southern Islands and Coast of Ireland, 1905, The Royal Society of Antiquarians, London

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