Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 3.djvu/201

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ECCLESIASTICAL ARCHITECTURE OF IRELAND.
173

work, one, of which the evidence appears very complete, is "the house of St. Finan Cam, who flourished in the sixth century, and is situated on Church Island in Lough Lee or Curraun Lough, on the boundary of the baronies of Iveragh and Dunkerrin, in the county of Kerry, and four miles to the north of Derrynane Abbey, which derives its name from that saint. This structure, though nearly circular on the outside, is quadrangular on the inside, and measures sixteen feet six inches in length, from north to south, and fifteen feet one inch from east to west, and the wall is seven feet thick at the base, and at present but nine feet nine inches in height; the doorway is on the north side, and measures on the outside four feet three inches in height, and in width two feet nine inches at top, and three feet at bottom. There are three stones forming the covering of this doorway, of which the external one is five feet eight inches in length, one foot four inches in height, and one foot eight inches in breadth; and the internal one is five feet two inches in length, and two feet nine inches in breadth." pp. 127—8.

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HOUSE OF ST. FINAN CAM, circa A.D. 560.

"In the remote barony of Kerry called Corcaguiny, and particularly in the neighbourhood of Smerwick Harbour, where the remains of stone fortresses and circular stone houses are most numerously spread through the valleys and on the mountains, we meet with several ancient oratories, exhibiting only an imperfect development of the Roman mode of construction, being built of uncemented stones admirably fitted to each other, and their lateral walls converging from the base to their apex in curved lines;—indeed their end walls, though in a much lesser degree, converge also. Another feature in these edifices worthy of notice, as exhibiting a characteristic which they have in common with the pagan monuments, is, that none of them evince an acquaintance with the principle of the arch, and