Bourke Ulick J. Aryan Origin of the Gaelic Race and Language
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THEIR ARCHITECTURAL FEATURES.
aperture
to
light
it.
In
the second
story
the wall is
usually
perforated
by
the
entrance
doorway,
which
is
generally
from
eight
to
thirty
feet from the
ground,
and
only large
enough
to admit a
single person
at a
time.
The
intermediate
stories are
each
lighted by
a
single
aper-
ture,
placed
variously,
and
usually
very
small
size,
though
in
several
instances,
that
directly
over the
doorway
is
of
a
size
little
less
than that of the
doorway,
and would
appear
to
be
intended as
a
second entrance.
In their
masonic
construction
they present
a
considerable
variety,
but
the
generality
of
them
are built
in
that
kind of
careful
masonry
called
spauled
rubble,
in which small
stones,
shaped
by
the hammer
in
default
of suitable
stones
at
hand,
are
placed
in
every
interstice of the
larger
stones,
so
that
very
little
mortar
appears
to
be intermixed
in the
body
of
the
wall
;
and thus
the
outside
of
spauled
masonry,
especially,
present
an
almost
uninterupted
sur-
face
of
stone,
supplementary splinters being carefully
inserted
in
the
joints
of
the undried
wall. Such also
is
the
style
of
masonry
in
the most ancient churches
;
but
it should
be
added,
that
in the interior of the
walls of
both,
grouting
is
abundantly
used.
In
some
instances,
however,
the
towers
present
a
surface
of
ashlar
masonry
(but
rarely
laid
in
courses
perfectly regular),
both exter-
nally
and
internally, though
more
usually
on
the
exterior
only
;
and
in
a
few
instances,
the
lower
portions
of the
towers
exhibit
less
of
regularity
than
the
upper
parts.
"
In
their
architectural
features
an
equal
diversity
of
style
is
observable,
and of these the
doorway
is the
most
remarkable.
When
the tower
is of
rubble
masonry,
the
doorways
seldom
present
any
decorations,
and
are either
quadrangular
and covered
with
a
lintel
of a
single
stone
of
great
size,
or
semicircular-headed
either
by
the con-
struction
of a
regular
arch,
or the
cutting
of
a
single
WHEN BUILT ?
351
stone,
There
are,
however,
two instances
of
very
ri
chly
decorated
doorways
in
towers
of this
description,
namely,
those
of
Kildare
and
Timahoe. In the more
regularly
constructed
towers
the
doorways
are
always
arched
semi-
circularly,
and are
usually
ornamented
with
archieves
or
bands
on
their external
faces.
The
upper apertures
but
rarely
present
any
decorations,
and are most
usually
of
a
quadrangular
form.
They
are, however,
sometimes semi-
circular
headed,
and
still oftener
present
the
triangular
or
straight-sided
arch.
I should further
add,
that in the
construction
of
these
apertures,
very
frequent
examples
occur
of that
kind of
masonry,
consisting
of
long
and
short
stones
alternately,
now
generally
considered
by
antiquaries
as
a
characteristic
of Saxon architecture
in
England."
Page
355.
As
to
the
doorways
of
Irish
Eound
Towers
of the
sixty-six
towers
which
remain,
only forty-six
have
got
doorways
;
the others
are reduced to their
foundations,
or
else
have lost
their
original
entrances.
"
Of
these
forty-six
doorways
thirty-four
are
round-
headed : The
remaining
twelve
doorways
are
square-
headed. Bound-headed
doorways generally
exhibit a
better
style
of
workmanship
and materials than are
found
in the
quadrangular
specimens."
Towers
and
Ttm^les
of
Ancient
Irdctnd,
Keane,
p,p.
392,
322.
WHEN
BUILT
?
At what
period
were
the Round Towers
first built ?
For the
past
three
centuries,
as is
known,
and
perhaps
for
many
a
century
previous
to that
period,
the
question
was
asked,
and has never been
solved.
It
is not
likely
that it
can be
fully
and
clearly
answered on the
present
occasion.
All
the
present
writer undertakes to
do,
is to
put
before
the
reader
all
those
opinions
worth
knoyving,
352 FOUB
OPINIONS.
entertained
by
learned
men in
the
present
and in
the
past,
and the
reasons on which
these
respective
opinions
rest,
and then to
give
that
view
which,
to
his
own
think-
ing,
is
the
best authenticated
and
supported.
There
are
three
commonly
received
opinions
amongst
Irish
anti-
quaries
regarding
the
Bound
Towers :
First,
that
they
are
the
work
of Danish hands
;
second,
of
early
Christian
times
; third,
of
Pagan
origin.
To which
the
writer adds a
fourth,
his own
;
that the
Round Towers
were first
tuilt
in the
early
Pagan period
by
those of the
Aryan
race
who had settled in
this
island
of
destiny
;
but that after
the
Gospel
had
been
preached
in
Ireland,
St. Patrick
turned
the
Hound
Towers,
as
he
did
the
Pagan
fountains,
to the
service
of
Christian
rites,
and
hallowed
them
by
Christian
practices
and
religious
associations.
This
fourth
opinion
is that
which
seems
to
his
Grace
the
Most Rev. Dr.
MacIIale,
the
most
con-
vincing
and the
best
supported
by
reason and
authority.
The first
theory
is,
that the
Towers had
been
built
by
the Danes while
they
e
i
joyed
a
footirg
in this
island.
This view
was first
published
by
the
Very
Rev.
John
Lynch,
Archdeacon
of
Tuam,
one
of the
most
zealous
advocates of
the ancient
glory
of
Ireland,
author
of
C-im'jreti&is E
versus,
and
cotemporary
with
Rothe, Ussher,
Fleming, Colgan, Keating, MacFirbis,
Ward,
Wadding,
W
r
are,
Stephen
White,
O'Flaherty.
In
publishing
this
opinion
he
wished
simply
to
contra-
dict
the
expression
of
Giraldus,
that the
Round
Towers
those,
for
instance,
buried
in
the
waters
of
Lough
X
agh,
were built
(more
pairice)
in
the
Irish
fashion.
This
idea
of the
Towers,
said
to
be sunk
beneath
the
Llllows of
Lough
Neagh,
has been wedded to
song
by
our
national
poet,
Moore
:
EARLIEST
SETTLERS
NOT
BARBARIANS.
353
On
Lough
Xeagh's banks,
as the
fisherman
strays,
When
the
clear,
cold
eve's
declining,
He sees
the
round towers of other
days
In
the
waves
beneath him
shining.
The
learned
Father
Lynch
had no
reason
in
support
of
his
opinion,
except
the
hearsay
tradition of
the
peasantry,
who attribute
everything
of
an
extraordinary
character
in
the
building
line
to the Danes. This view
put
forward
by
the Archdeacon
in
the
spirit
of
contradiction,
and as
mere
hearsa}
r
,
was
subsequently
maintained
as
a
certainty
by
Peter
Walsh,
in his
work,
the
Pi\sp:d <fl.'tl
nl.
Molyneux adopted
the
same
opinion,
not
because
he
had
any
s did reason in
support
of this
view,
but
because
the liound Towers
being
a
reality, they
must
have
been
built
by
some
skilled
people.
To him
it
app
ared
an
axiom
that the
early
inhabitants
of Ireland
had
been
bar-
barians.
He did
not think to doubt it. On
this
hypo-
thesis
they
could
not,
he
argued,
have built
the
Round
Towers.
Hence,
as
these
edifices
area
reality,
ihe
l>
for no
others are
named must have been
the archi-
tects.
This mode
of
reasoning
was,
of
course,
false-
grossly
false.
His
opinion,
and
that of Ledwich
(1739-
1823)
in
regard
to the
ancient
Irish,
that
they
had
been
'savages,
is
opposed
to the
truth of authentic
history
;
opposed
to the
teaching
of
the
science
of
comparative
philology
;
opposed
to
Catholic truth
;
opposed
to the
tes-
timony
furnished
by
the
yet
abiding
architectural monu-
ments in
the
Ease
from
which our
race
emigrated.
His-
torians,
like
Livy
amongst
the
ancients,
and a
vast
number
of
writers
of
history
in the;
early
part
of
the
pre-
sent
century,
start
with
I
ho
notion thai
in
the
countries of
Europe
and
AMM
had
'
and
ignorant,
degree
v,
civilizatio -.
above
i
:
view
is
founded
on
the
tiuo.
354 LEDWICH JUSTLY REPROVED.
intellectually,
is
continuously progressing. Molyneux,
then,
was,
in
his
time,
convinced
that the
pagan
Irish
had
been
savages
; and,
as
he knew
that the
English
settlers-
had not
builfc
the
Eound
Towers,
therefore
he
argued
the
Danes must
have built
them.
Ledwich carried
this
erroneous
opinion
farther
still.
He
was convinced
(hat it was
an
absurdity
to
suppose
tha
the
early
inhabitants
of Ireland
not alone the
pagan
but
the Christian
natives had been civilized.
Henc?,
they
could
not,
as he
thought,
have
built the Round
Towers,
The
early
Christian
Irish
were,
to his
thinking,
not
much
superior
to the
pagan
;
therefore
the
Christian Irish
did
not build
them.
The
Danes
alone,
of all
those
known
to
have been
in
Ireland,
were
enlightened
and
civilized
;
and
hence,
they
alone,
as lie
supposed,
must have
erected
those
mystic
and
majestic
piles.
Well,
indeed,
and with
masterly literary courage,
does
Doctor
Petrie
express
his
own
opinion
regarding
this
ignorant,
insolent
writer,
and
of what
that
writer,
in
his
bias and vain
flippancy,
has left on
record. The
follow-
ing
are
Dr. Petrie's words
:
''Nothing
but
its
artfulness
can
exceed
the
mendacity
of
Ledvvich's
writing."
Inquiry
into
the
Oiijin
of
the Bound
Toners,
p.
10,
secrtid
eKim.
Dr. Petrie is
open
and candid in
all
he
writes. He
gives
his
views
clearly
and
fairly,
and
the
reasons,
too,
on
which
they
rest. One has
a
pleasure
in
reading
the
words
of such
a writer
;
but,
with men
like Ledwich
and
there are
many
of his
class,
who
write
to
deceive
others
it is
hard
01-
honest
thinkers
like Dr.
Petrie
or
Sir
William
Wilde
men
of
his own
creed
to
have
patience.
The
opinion
of the
Venerable
Archdeacon
of
Tuam,
John
Lynch,
and
the
views of
Peter
Walsh,
of
Molyneux
and
of
Ledwich
are
not
supported
by
authentic
facts.
FIRST
THEORY
REJECTED.
355
This
first
theory
is,
then,
at
present
rejected
by
all.
The
reasons
are
:
1.
The
Danes
have
never
been
fully
established
in
Ireland.
2.
Their
strongest
and firmest settlement
had been
made
in
Waterford,
Wexford,
Limerick. Ono should
naturally,
then,
expect
to find
in those counties
many
Pillar
Towers
;
and
conversely
few
or no
Pillar
Towers in
the counties
in which the
Danes
had
made
no
permanent
settlement.
But
such is
not the case.
Pillar
towers
raise
their
heads,
to this
hour,
in counties where the
Danes
never
had
obtained
a settled
footing.
And
in the
counties
of
Limerick,
Waterford
and
Wextord,
the
fewest,
and
those
most wasted
by
the hand
of
time,
are found
to
exist.
The Bound
Tower built
in
ashlar
at
Ardmoie,
in
Waterford,
with
its circular
arch,
and Irish
style
mani-
fested
in the
moulding,
in the
working
of the
arch,
in
the
mason
work
to
be
seen under the
sill and all
round,
is,
perhaps,
the
best,
and
is found
yet
in a fair
stata of
pre-
servation
;
so
are
those
which raise
their
heads to
the
clouds
at
Cluaincaoin
and
Dysart,
county
Limerick
1
;
while the
few
atLismore
andDungarvan,
at
Killmallock,
St.
Mungret's,
at
Ardladhran, Ferns,
and
Wexford,
are
fast
crumbling
to
decay.
3.
If those
northmen from
Denmark and
Scandinavia
had built
these
Towers
in
Ireland,
why
did
they
not
erect
Bound
Towers
m
England,
where
they
once held
regal
power
?
Why
did
they
not build
those
pillar
piles, signs
of
sovereign
sway,
in
Normandy,
in
Belgium
?
Nay,
why
had
they
not
built them in their
own
land,
in
Jutland,
or
Denmark,
or
Scandinavia
?
It
is as clear as can
be,,
that
had the
Northmen built the
Irish
Bound
Towers
they
would,
at
some
period
and in
some
other
place,
have
erected
similar
edifices
to
commemorate
their
supreme
skill
and
35(5
THE
BOUND
TOWERS NOT
BUILT
BY
THE DANES.
their
sovereign
sway.
But
no
monument
of
the
kind
is
to
be
found
any
where
in
England,
Normandy, Belgium,
or
Denmark.
It is
manifest,
therefore,
that
the Lanes
never built
those
perennial
piles
of architectural
art.
In
addition
to all that
has been
here
proven,
it
must be said
that the
supporters
of
this
first view
cannot
show
that
the
Danes
had,
at
the
time,
any
adequate
idea
of
that
advanced archi;ectural skill
of which
the erection
of the
Towers is
a
proof.
(357)
CHAPTER
XIII.
Bound
Towers
second
theory.
The
first
theory
is that
the
Danes
built
the
Towers
;
tho
second,
that these con-
querors
of
time are
the
work of Irish
C
hristian
hands,
and
had been
built
at
different
periods
between
the
fifth
century
and
the
thirteenth.
That
is Dr.
Petrie's
opinion.
It is
held
by
many
scholars
at
present
ia
Ireland,
especially
by
ecclesiastics.
Dr
I'etrie's
Proofs;
Positive
Pi oofs
;
Negative
Proofs.
The
writer's
duty.
His
views.
Refutation
of
Petrie.
An anecdote the
Archbishop
and the
peasant
boy
on
the
subject
of
the
tides.
Illogical
Scholarship.
Literary
bores.
Silence
is not
of itself
an
argument
against
the truth
of
an
alleged
fact.
Third
theory
that the
Round Towers
are
of
pagan
origin.
Those
who
support
this view.
Fourth
theory
1 he
Round
Towers
were built
in the
early pagan
period
by
the children
of
the
Aryan
race
who
had
landed
in
Ireland
;
that
after
the
Gospel
had
been
preached
by
St.
Patrick,
the
Eound
Towers were
turned
to the
service of
Christian
rites,
and hallowed
by
Christian
practices. They
are
pagan
in
origin
;
in use
Christian.
The
great
reason
Dr.
Petrie did not
admit
the
pagan
origin
of the Towers
is,
(1)
because he
could
not be
certain
that the Irish
race,
before the
Christian
era,
had
been
skilled
in science and
arts.
Philology
proves
to
a
certainty
that
Kelts
were
Aryan;
iheir
language
shows
it
;
therefore,
they
were learned.
Hence,
the
Irish
language
has
be,en
useful
in elucidat-
ing
and
settling
this vexed
subject
of
the Pillar-towers.
This
argument
is
strengthened
by (2)
the character
and
style
of the architecture
of tho towers.
The
style
is
Cyclopian,
like
that
found
in
Etruria,
Mycenee,
Thebes,
Persepolis.
(3)
Corroborative
Proofs
:
Shape
of
Doors,
Arches.
Slanting
or
tapering
superstructures
like the
Pyramidal piles
along
the Nile,
or
those found
in
Eastern
climes,
are of the
earliest
architectural
types.
SECOND
THEORY.
The second
theory
regarding
the Round
Towers:
358 SECOND
THEORY.
These
rotund,
cylindrical
structures,
which
vary
in
height
from
fifty
to one
hundred
and
fifty
feet,
is
that
they
are
the
work of
early
Irish
Christian
hands
;
that
they
had
been
built
by
Irish
Catholics
at
different
periods
between
the fifth
century
and
the
thirteenth,
and that
the
object
intended
by
their
use
was to
serve
as
appendages
to
ecclesiastical
establishments,
as
belfries,
as
monastic
castles,
as homes
of
safety
in
the
hour of
danger
or of
surprise,
as
towers of
defence for
ministers of
religion,
as safes
for vessels and
vestments
used
at the
holy
altar.
This
opinion,
which
appears
so
natural,
was
put
forward
by
Dr.
Petrie
himself a
Protestant
and
has been
ably
defended
by
him
in a
large
volume
of 450
pp.
impor.
ociavo,
entitled The
E.desi.istical Avcli'.t.curQ
of
Ireland
ant rior
to thz
Anr/lo-N^rman
Invasion,
comprising
an
Essay
on
the
Origin
and Efce?
ofthi
liouni Towers
of
Ireland. Dub-
lin,
Hedges
and
Smith,
1845.
The
opinion
is,
at
present,
held
commonly by nearly
all
the
ecclesiastics
in
Ireland
who have
read Petrie's work
;
it
is the view
of a
great
many
scholars who have
in
a
passing
way
paid
any
atten-
tion
to the
su'
ject.
The
learned
Very
Rev. Dr. Mathew
Kelly,
Professor
of Belles
Lettres,
M'aynooth,
defended
this
opinion.
He was
a
great
admirer of Dr Petrie. That
learned and
gentle
ecclesiastic
and
savant
has
(Dublin
Review,
July,
1845)
declared,
and
deservedly,
of Dr.
Petrie's
book,
"that
it
is
a
work for
which a savant
in
France
would
be entitled to
a
place
amongst
the
nobility.'*
Irishmen
cannot
hope
for
honours so
great
; for,
if
so,
Petrie
ought,
certainly,
to have
been raised to a
baronetcy.
If
respect
for
the
opinion
of one under whom the
pre-
sent
writer
had
been
a
pupil
for
three
years
Very
Rev.
Dr.
Kelly
;
if
early
impressions
alone
were
the
lights
that
led to conviction
;
if a desire
to
see the name of
the
early
Irish
Christian
Church hold
a
distinguished
place,
as
she
PROOFS.
O0
certainly
deserves,
not
alone
for
the
piety
and
sanctity
of
her
sons,
but for
their
great
learning
and wonderful
knowledge
in
past
times,
lie
who
pens
these
lines would
naturally
hold the
opinion propounded
so
ably by
Dr.
Petrie,
and
approved
and
supported
by
the most
erudite
antiquarian
of
the
period
Professor
Kelly
of
Maynooth.
Impressions
received in the
days
of
youth
exercise their
influence
;
and so
they certainly
have done
on the mind of
the
present
writer. Dr. Petrie's
work
came,
through
the
kindness of Mr.
Hardiman,
who lived
at Errew
monastery
in
the
year
1845,
into the
hands
of the
present
writer,
then
in
his
sixteenth
year.
Petrie's
views became
his
views.
But
time
and fuller
knowledge
have
changed
the
conviction
then
arrived
at
regarding
the
origin
of the
Pillar
Towers of
his
native land.
DR.
PETRIE'S PROOFS.
In
order
to convince
students of
Irish
history
and Irish
antiquities,
"
that the
Bound Towers
are
of Christian and
ecclesiastical
origin,
and were
erected
at
various
periods
between
the fifth and
thirteenth
centuries,"
the
learned
Dr.
Petrie
has been
obliged
to
disprove, according
to
his
knowledge
ard
ability,
the
arguments
brought
forward
by
those
who
maintain that
the Towers
had
been
planned
by
Irish
heads,
and
erected
by
Irish
hands,
at a
period
of
pagan
power
in
Ireland.
The
proofs
put
forward to
support
the
position
which
he
ably upholds
and defends
are
derived from two
sources
the
one,
positive
;
the
other
negative.
The
positive
proofs
are
:
(1)
That
the Towers
are
never
found
unconnected with ancient
ecclesiastical
foun-
dations.
(2)
That
tlie
uses
to
which the
Eound Towers
are known
by
a
uniform
and concurrent tradition of
the
country
to