DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.47496#0167
BUILDING AND ARCHITECTURE.
147
3. That they are giants’ graves.
4. That they mark the grave or bed of a mythical cow, Gias
Gavlin.
5. That the dolmen is the tomb of a wild huntsman.
6. That the dolmen is the grave of a famous hound.
7. Circles of stones are a group of fairy pipers turned to stone.*
The most common tradition in Ireland, and particularly in
the county of Galway, is that the dolmen or cromlech sheltered
the lovers Dermod and Grania, who, ssying before the Avenger’s
face, rested in caves and grottoes, on beds of fern and moss, or
within the chambers beneath the roofing stone of the cromlech.
Among the drawings of dolmens in the Petrie Collection, we
find one which looks like a transition from a primitive type. It
is the dolmen of Gleneask, at Tyreragh, in the county of Sligo.
In this instance the roofing stone does not rest simply on its
three upright pillars; relieving stones have been inserted, one of
which measures 8 ft. in length.
This is a remarkable indication of an early effort at building
proper, a link between the tomb formed of one great roofing
stone raised on pillars and the domed roof of the cave tomb; such
a link as we might expect to find if the dolmens of Ireland are of
a later date than elsewhere in Europe, since it is because of the
more recent date of consecutive styles in this country that such
links are discoverable, indications of transition that have been
lost in the vaster tracts of time covered by the archaeology of
other races.
Among the various designs which compose the decoration of
the walls of these tumuli, such as New Grange, are many which,
though inferior in execution, ruder in design, yet seem but
repetitions of similar decorations in the cave tombs of Malta
and other islands in the Mediterranean. It is worthy of note that
the one design by which the bronzes of the late Celtic period are
* See Transactions of the Ossianic Society, vol. iii. p. 185. Joyce, “Old
Celtic Romances,” p. 25. Sir T. Ferguson, “ Lays of the Western Gael,” p. 57.
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147
3. That they are giants’ graves.
4. That they mark the grave or bed of a mythical cow, Gias
Gavlin.
5. That the dolmen is the tomb of a wild huntsman.
6. That the dolmen is the grave of a famous hound.
7. Circles of stones are a group of fairy pipers turned to stone.*
The most common tradition in Ireland, and particularly in
the county of Galway, is that the dolmen or cromlech sheltered
the lovers Dermod and Grania, who, ssying before the Avenger’s
face, rested in caves and grottoes, on beds of fern and moss, or
within the chambers beneath the roofing stone of the cromlech.
Among the drawings of dolmens in the Petrie Collection, we
find one which looks like a transition from a primitive type. It
is the dolmen of Gleneask, at Tyreragh, in the county of Sligo.
In this instance the roofing stone does not rest simply on its
three upright pillars; relieving stones have been inserted, one of
which measures 8 ft. in length.
This is a remarkable indication of an early effort at building
proper, a link between the tomb formed of one great roofing
stone raised on pillars and the domed roof of the cave tomb; such
a link as we might expect to find if the dolmens of Ireland are of
a later date than elsewhere in Europe, since it is because of the
more recent date of consecutive styles in this country that such
links are discoverable, indications of transition that have been
lost in the vaster tracts of time covered by the archaeology of
other races.
Among the various designs which compose the decoration of
the walls of these tumuli, such as New Grange, are many which,
though inferior in execution, ruder in design, yet seem but
repetitions of similar decorations in the cave tombs of Malta
and other islands in the Mediterranean. It is worthy of note that
the one design by which the bronzes of the late Celtic period are
* See Transactions of the Ossianic Society, vol. iii. p. 185. Joyce, “Old
Celtic Romances,” p. 25. Sir T. Ferguson, “ Lays of the Western Gael,” p. 57.
L 2