larged and considerably altered by Archbishop Luke in 1235, when the prebendal church—dating from the sixth century—was removed from Ireland's Eye (Inis-Ereann) to the mainland. The style—pointed Gothic—is rare in County Dublin.
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RUINS AT KILBARRACK.
"It had in its perfect state a double roof, supported at each end by pointed gables and each division of the church had an eastern window. The larger one consists of three compartments divided by mullions, the two extreme ones are trefoiled at the top and the center division rises in the pointed form above an archway which seems to have been a later addition. The window of the back aisle is also divided into three compartments, the center one rising the highest though all their tops are circular. There are two entrances by Gothic pointed arches—one at the south side which had formerly been a porch, into the body of the church, and the other at the west end into the back aisle. A flat embattled belfry with pointed arches for three bells springs from the gable at the western extremity opposite the great window. These bells are still preserved at Howth Castle.
Further west on the other side of the Hill are the ruins of a little oratory known as St. Fintan's church. It is extremely small—only twelve feet in length by about eight in breadth, with a disproportionately sized belfry at one end over a pointed arch entrance. The eastern window forms a rude cinque-foiled arch. Within its shadow now rest the remains of Miss Margaret Stokes, who in her life did so much to systematize the study of Irish architecture.
The Cromleac is situated about one-fourth mile from St Fintan's, In the demesne of Lord Howth, at the base of the cliff called Muck Rock, from which the Immense quartzite blocks forming it had become detached. The table or roofing-stone lies east by west and measures seventeen feet in length by twelve in breadth and is six feet thick. Its circumference from point to point round the edge is 56 feet and its girth 45. This enormous weight estimated at 70 tons, has forced the supporting stones to give way to some extent, inclining them in an eastward direction and breaking one of them in two. The roofing-stone did not come to the ground, however, being arrested by the fractured stump.[1] The cromleac is traditionally known as "Aideen's Grave," who after dying for grief at the loss of her husband, Oscar, son of Oisin, who was slain at the Battle of Gavra, is said to have been buried at Howth by the Fenian heroes near the mansion of her father, Angus of Ben-Edar.
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THE CROMLEAC AT HOWTH, AIDEEN'S GRAVE.
They heaved the stone, they heaped
the cairn.
Said Oisian, "In a queenly grave
We leave her 'mong her fields of fern
Between the cliff and wave."
The cliff behind stands clean and bare
And bare above the heathery steep
Scales the clear heavens' expanse to
where
The Danaan Druids sleep.
And all the sands that left and right
The grassy isthmus-ridge confine
In yellow bars lie bare and bright
Among the sparkling brine.
A clear pure air pervades the scene
In loneliness and awe secure
Meet spot to sepulchre a queen
Who in her life was pure.
Here far from camp and chase re-
moved
Apart in nature's quiet room
The music that alive she loved
Shall cheer her in her tomb.
That while from circling year to year
The Ogham-lettered stone is seen
The Gael shall say our Fenians here
Entombed their loved Aideen.
*******
The humming of the noon-tide bees,
The lark's loud carol all day long,
And borne on evening's salted breeze
The clanking sea-birds song
- ↑ The measurements are those of the Rev. Maxwell Close taken from Borlases "Dolmens of Ireland."
