Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 2.djvu/430

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402
PROCEEDINGS OF THE COMMITTEE.

of Argyle might be directed to the desecrated state of these remains, and that the people of the island might no longer be permitted to make interments, by which the resting place of the kings of Scotland, Norway, and Ireland, has constantly been disturbed.

Mr. Way read a letter from the Rev. J. Graves, of Borris-in-Ossory, Local Secretary, in reference to the paper in the 7th number of the Archæological Journal on "The ancient Oratories of Cornwall" by the Rev. W. Haslam. Mr. Graves observed that it was "a subject most interesting to an Irishman, as it shewed the identity of the ancient ecclesiastical architecture of Ireland, and of the countries converted by her missionary sons. At page 229 there is a trifling error which I am sure the author will allow me to correct; in observing on the analogy between the sculptures of St. Piran's in the sands, and those of Clonmacnoise, he states that the latter is 'supposed to have been founded by St. Piran.' Now Clonmacnoise was founded by a St. Ciaran or Kyran, but not the Saint of Saiger or Seir Kyran, the founder of St. Piran's. The founder of Clonmacnoise is termed in the Irish annals "the son of the carpenter" to distinguish him from his elder namesake of Seir Kyran. Kyran of Clonmacnoise was simply an abbot, Kyran of Seir Kyran was a bishop as well as abbot. The monastery of Clonmacnoise was founded in the middle of the sixth century, Kyran of Saiger by the latest accounts died in the middle of the fifth century. I think it probable that Mr. Haslam is right in assigning the date of the oratory of St. Piran in the sands, to the fifth century; but as it is a disputed point among Irish hagiologists, whether St. Kyran died at Saiger or in Cornwall, it would be interesting to know on what day his festival is celebrated at St. Piran's, as, if it coincided with the day observed at Seir Kyran's, (5th of March,) such a fact, together with the tradition of his tomb being there, would go far to prove that Kyran of Saiger died at St. Piran's."

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Mr. Whincopp, of Woodbridge, Suffolk, sent for exhibition three silver ear-rings, discovered in Norfolk. Two of these, forming a pair, are almost precisely similar to some golden ear-rings preserved amongst the Egyptian antiquities in the British Museum. The third, which is apparently the least ancient of these ornaments, was found at Thetford, it is in the form of a serpent, the weight is 72 gr., and the weight of each of the smaller rings is 72 gr. The annexed woodcuts, representing these singular ornaments, shew the precise dimensions of the originals.


BOOKS, PRINTS, AND ANTIQUITIES PRESENTED TO THE INSTITUTE.

By Mr. Richard Gale, of Winchester, a plan of the city of Winchester. By Mr. Albert Way, Sepulchral Monuments, &c.; by the Rev. C. H. Harts-