Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 5, 1894.djvu/167

 Remains at I nisrmirj'ay. - 159

Ireland which appeared to be connected in some way with fire worship" (p. 54). Sculptured stones have been removed to different positions (pp. 74, 103). " The cashel, for instance, has neither been restored x\or conserved, it has been transfonncd. . . The southern entrance, together with a large portion of the adjoining wall, have been erected z'u toto by the men commissioned by the Board of Works as con- servators (p. 19),. . The wall all round is now of a nearly uniform height. There has been much building up, and there has been no little throwing down of original work. Scores of witnesses to the fact are ready to testify to the demolition (to the extent of from three to four feet) of upper portions of the ancient work. Ancient top courses of stones were required as materials for new base work (p. 28). . . . The Board of Works 'conservers' appear to have mistaken certain spaces between the inclines for the bases of niches. The wall should not have been meddled with. It would have been enough just to clear its base of fallen stones and rubbish. As it is, in the ' restoration', certain niche-like recesses, for which there is no precedent or authority, extending from the ground to the summit of the wall, have been constructed. To add, if possible, to the absurdity of this modern design, within each recess has been deposited a cross-inscribed memorial stone, which should never have been removed from the grave over which it had stood or lain for perhaps a thousand years or more." To this Col. Wood-Martin adds a note (p. 26) : " Could the Board of Works ' restorer' have taken the recesses for
 * stations' — mistaken pagan for Christian architecture ?"

This indictment, made half a dozen years ago, has never been answered by the Board of Works, who still continue their ruthless work — witness their restorations in the Aran Islands, co. Galway, or the following paragraph from the Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland (5), ii, 1892, p. 284: — "We cannot conclude this account without protesting strongly against the way in which repairs are being carried on at Skellig Michael [co. Kerry]