Interesting little thing

cfuserkildare

Can anybody shed some light on the quality of the blocks used in the first 2-3 courses in St. Kevins church in Glendalough?

Each block must weigh upwards of a ton and is very nicely dressed.

cfuserkildare

Anyone?

cfuserkildare

Would appear to me that the church had once been a much grander style of building, but then fell to ruin, then was rebuilt using rougher local stone.

Any opinions?

Arsemageddon

The lower courses of block work with the huge dressed stones are what is known as Cyclopean masonry. This rather cool name came about because of stories in Greece that the huge stones used at Mycenae where placed their by a Cyclops or Cyclopses, Cyclopii, eh, more than one Cyclops. It's a bit like how the Giant's Causeway got its name.

Antiquarian types back in the nineteenth century applied the term in Ireland to very large stonework. It is most common in churches dating from the Early Medieval period. Using massive blocks in the lower courses has the advantage of providing a very stable base on which to build the upper courses, this is particularly useful in building dry-stone walls.

I think the blocks in St Kevins are possibly reused from an earlier church building, but I'm not 100% sure.

If you google cyclopean masonry Ireland - you'll see plenty of other examples.

Coles

If you look around the main cathedral you will see a number of perfectly round stones located within the walls. I would guess that have been reused from an older building, and while they are usually fairly high up the wall, they appear to be well below any 19th-20th century restoration works.

By far the most interesting stone is located in the left hand side corner at the top of the cathedral. If you look just above floor level you will see a very obvious ballaun or font stone that has been built into the wall. It is definitely part of the original cathedral construction, but it's very odd because it's placement in so obvious, and such a stone could have been reused for more useful purposes. I suspect it was placed there, on it's edge, to show that the ballaun stone could never be used again for whatever purpose it might have once had, perhaps as a deliberate desecration.

Here's a picture of it.
http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/post/56546/st_kevins_cathedral.html

Coles

Here's a good read:

Ó Carragáin (2005) - 'Habitual masonry styles and the local organisation of church building in early medieval Ireland'.