V 
 
 BL460 .P534 ^^^ and remains; 
 
 Phallic objects, mouam 
 
PHALLIC OBJECTS, 
 
 Monuments and Remains. 
 
Kound Tovjer, Central Araencn. 
 
 otone of ConstdnUm.Corn-wdlL 
 
(p^&mc O&jute, 
 (tUottttinen(0 anii (Retnaine 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE 
 
 Rise and Development of the 
 Phallic Idea 
 
 (sex ^vorship) 
 
 And its Embodiment in Works of 
 Nature and Art. 
 
 PRIVATELY PRINTED. 
 1889. 
 
PREFACE . 
 
 "/ ^IIE following volume, describing a number of the most 
 
 celebrated monuments, consisting of towers, pi/Zar*^ ayid 
 
 stones connected with Phallism, exhibits and illustrates many 
 
 of the jyeculiar features of that singular worshi}^, and the wide 
 
 extent of territory over which it prevailed. 
 
 A large share of it has been devoted to a description of 
 Phallic remains iri the kingdom of Ii'eland, jyarticulai^y of 
 those mysterious towers, the solutioii of whose origin and uses 
 has exercised the minds of the learned arid ingenious for 
 centuries. The same objects have been traced in various other 
 parts of the world, and many of their kindred monuments in 
 the shajje of the holed stones and jnllars have been, shown to 
 exist even in our own land. 
 
 The reader who has consulted our volumes, ^^ Phallism^'' 
 and " Ophiolatreia,^' will find hi these pages an interesting 
 companion to those treatises, and be enabled in his travels to 
 identify certain singular objects tvhich will from time to time 
 present themselves to his notice, and tvhose meayihig is supposed 
 to have been lost in the oblivion of bygone days. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGR. 
 
 Chapter 1 1 
 
 The Question raised — Numbers of Round Towers in Ireland — 
 Tower of Devenish — Swords— Kildare — Monasterboice— Antrim 
 — Clondalkin — Trummery — Ardmore — Clones —Exploration of the 
 Tower at Clones — Clonmacnoise — Glendalough— The Rock of 
 Cashel and its Tower — Torry— Kinneigh — Kilmacduagh — Saint 
 Canice — Timaboe — Roscrea — Armoy. 
 
 Chapter II 20 
 
 Similarity of Round Towers — Large number of Towers in 
 Ireland — Hellenic Towers in various islands — Letter of Captain 
 Graves — Towers in Central America — Persian Towers— Indian 
 Towers— Indian and Irish names — A Bulgarian Tower — Round 
 Tower at Patna — Round Towers of Switzerland — Dixon's 
 Account of various Towers — Internal structure of Towers — 
 Scotch Towers. 
 
 Chapter III 32 
 
 A difficult Problem — Suggested uses of the Round Towers — 
 Prize Essays— Petrie's theory — Petrie's inaccuracies— Great Age 
 of the Towers — Petrie's theory objected to — Belfries — Faber 
 on Petrie's fallacies of reasoning— Extravagant conclusions of 
 theorists — Materials used by ancient Irish in building. 
 
 Chapter IV 44 
 
 M. Violette le Due on "Light Towers" — Suggestion respecting 
 Irish Towers — Early architecture of Ireland— The Stone Age- 
 Early Saints — Preservation of the Towers — The Cuthites — Davis 
 on Irish building materials — Parker on the same — Phallic 
 worship among the Cuthites— Wanderings and wars of the 
 Cuthites— Ireland and the Cuthites — Diffusion and degeneration 
 of Phallic worship. 
 
 Chapter V 55 
 
 Pillar Stones of Central America — Pillar Stones of Britain — 
 Pillar Stones of India — Superstitions connected with Pillar 
 Stones — Phallic Associations — Stone worship forbidden by the 
 Councils — Sexual distinctions indicated by Stones — Persian 
 customs— Extravagant application of the Phallic idea. 
 
 Chapter VI 62 
 
 Variation of forms in objects of Stone worship— Holed Stone 
 at Aghade — Story of Eochiad— Holed Stone at Ballyveruish — 
 Holed Stone at Kilquare -~ Holed Stones at Lackendarragh, 
 Kilmalkedar, and Castledermott— Large Holed Stone at Bally- 
 ferriter — Stones at Dingle, Killaloe, and Moytura — Holed Stone 
 in Circassia — Holed Stones of Cornwall— Ceremonies connected 
 with Holed Stones — The Stone of Odin— Account of a game 
 played as a religious ceremony with Holed Stones — The 
 Phallic idea connected with Holed Stones. 
 
AUTHORITI ES 
 
 Ulster Journal of Arcluoology. 
 
 O'Neill's Fine Arts of Ancient Ireland. 
 
 O'Neill's Sculptured Crosses of Ancient Ireland. 
 
 Petrie's Hound Towers of Ireland. 
 
 Stephens' Travels in Yucatan. 
 
 lloyal Asiatic Society's Transactions. 
 
 Sinclair's Statist, Ace, vol. 17. 
 
 Eyrbiggia Saga. 
 
 ArcliKologia Scotica. 
 
 O'Brien's Round Towers of Ireland. 
 
 Newenham's Antiquities of Ireland. 
 
 Maurice's Ancient History of Hindostan. 
 
 Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of Ireland. 
 
 Ledwich's Antiquities of Ireland. 
 
 Kennedy's Legendary Fictions of the Irish Celts. 
 
 Wakeman's Archajologia Hibernica. 
 
 Dublin University Magazine. 
 
 Smiddy on the Druids and Irish Towers. 
 
 Notes and Queries. 
 
 Annals of Ireland by the Four Masters. 
 
 Cusack's Irish Nation. 
 
 Dublin Penny Journal. 
 
 Inman's Ancient Faiths. 
 
 Wake's Serpent Worship. 
 
 Inman's Pagan and Christian Symbols. 
 
 Kilkenny Archaeological Journal. 
 
 Maundrel's Journal. 
 
 Sir J. Ware's Antiquities of Ireland. 
 
 Keane's Towers and Antiquities of Ireland. 
 
 Royal Irish Academy's Transactions. 
 
 Etruria Celtica, Sir W. Betham. 
 
 Collectanea de Rebus llibernicis. 
 
 Royal Soc. Literature Transac. 
 
 Wilson's Pre-historic Anuals of Scotland. 
 
 Royal Institution of Cornwall— Transac. 
 
 Colmun's Mythology of the Hindus. 
 
 Dodwell's ("yclo})ean, or Pelasgic Remains in Greece and Italy. 
 
 Faber's Origin uf Pagan Idolatry. 
 
 Furguson's Hist, of Architecture. 
 
 Ilarcoun's Doctrine of the Deluge. 
 
PHALLIC OBJECTS. MONUMENTS. 
 AND REMAINS. 
 
 CHAFER I. 
 
 The Question raised— Numbers of Round Toivers in Ireland 
 — Tower of Devenish—Sivords—Kildare—Monasterhoice— Antrim 
 —Clondalkin—Trummery—Ardmore — Clones —Exploration of 
 the Tower at Clones— Clonmacnoise—Glendalough— The Rock of 
 Cashel^ amd its Tower— Torry—Kinneigh—Kihnacduagh— Saint 
 Canice — Timahoe — Roscrea — Armoy. 
 
 IN the Duhlin Fenny Journal of July 7th, 1832, a contributor 
 signing himself "Terence O'Toole," (said by O'Brien to be 
 the Rev. Ca3sar Otway, a member of the council of the Royal 
 Irish Academy) wrote resiDecting the woodcut at the head of the 
 journal :— " The round tower to the right, is a prodigious puzzle 
 to antiquarians. Quires of paper, as tall as a tower, have 
 been covered with as much ink as might form a Liffey, in account- 
 ing for their origin and use. They have been assigned to 
 tJie obscene rights of Paganism— to the mystic arcana of 
 Druidism— said to be temples of the fire worshippers— standincrg 
 of the pillar worshippers— Christian belfries— military towels 
 of the Danish invaders— defensive retreats for the native clero-y 
 from the sudden inroads of the ruthless Norman Sixty- 
 live of these extraordinary constructions have been discovered 
 and described m our island ; of these the highest and most perfect 
 are at Dronuskin, Fertagh, Kilmacduagh, Kildare, and Kells 
 Ihere are generally the marks of live or six stories in each tower 
 The doors are from thirteen to twenty feet from the ground, and 
 so low that none can enter without stooping. The one nearest 
 to Dublin, is at Clondalkin, four miles from town, thouo-ji 
 formerly there was one in a court, off Ship street. The one mo'Lt 
 interesting, both to the antiquarian and the lover of mountain 
 scenery, is the one at the seven churches of Glendalourdi within 
 a day's drive of Dublin." 
 
2 PHALLIC REMAINS. 
 
 With regard to the number of tliese towers in Ireland, 
 which the above writer gives as sixty-tive discovered, we may 
 observe that others have informed us that lists^ have been 
 made to the number of one hundred and twenty, and that of 
 these the remains of about sixty-six are traceable. 
 
 Keane, in his "Towers and Temples of Ancient Ireland," 
 calls that of Devenish, the best specimen at present existent 
 in Ireland, and he is cordially supported in this, by Mr. J. H. 
 Parker, in the Gentleman's Magazine, for the year 1864, who 
 says it is the most perfect in Ireland, though not one of the 
 earliest. 
 
 The island of Devenish lies nearly two miles below Ennis- 
 killen, and contains nearly two hundred acn^s, of what was once 
 the richest land in the country. Long ago, it was described as 
 remarkable, for possessing one of the completest round towers of 
 Ireland. " A tower built of black stone, cut into blocks, which 
 seemed united independent of cement." This tower was built — 
 no one knew Avhen, except that it must have been in a time 
 far remote. Said a writer, in the Dublin Journal, of 1833, 
 "It is indeed, one of the most beautiful, perhaps the most 
 beautiful, in Ireland. Its stonework is complete, even to the top- 
 stone, and that, we may say, without any thanks to the pro- 
 prietor. The stone is now, and has been for many years, toppling 
 to its fall." 
 
 " Some seeds of the elder have been borne to the summit of 
 the tower by the wind, there they took root and flourished. The 
 effect on the stones has been, to displace them veiy much, and, if 
 some steps be not taken to preserve this interesting structure, it 
 will in a few years be added to the numerous rains that in 
 in this country surround us, as memorials of our recklessness and 
 insipidity. " 
 
 " The outline of the tower is beautiful. The stones of which it 
 is built, were accurately cut in the external and internal end 
 to the curve, according to which the tower was constructed. 
 The summit, or cap, is built of accurately cut stones, laid on 
 in diminishing series, till it is crowned by a single stone 
 fashioned to a cone. The stones of the structure are cemented 
 with mortar, but the (quantity of cement laid in it, is so small, 
 that an accurate and close inspection is necessary to discern it. 
 Tlie stones are not black, as described by another writer, they 
 are a light brown sandstone, found in the neighbourhood, 
 and mostexcellently adapted for building, as it can be cut to any 
 scantling, and it hardens with tiie weather. 
 
PHALLIC REMAINS. 3 
 
 ^ 'I The cornice is divided into four parts, and the j^oints of 
 division marked by four carved heads, which look to the cardinal 
 points." These are clearly and beautifully delineated on page 
 305, of Kane's "Towers of Ancient Ireland." "Each division 
 is neatly wrought with a carving peculiar to itself. There 
 are several windows or openings in the tower, four close under 
 the cornice, and their places marked by the carved heads, 
 and others at different distances below them. Within, about 
 seven feet from the ground, there is an opening, evidently 
 intended for a doorway, it is about four feet high, and has 
 on the inner jamb on the left-hand side, an iron hinge, strongly 
 fastened to the stone. At a small distance above, there* is 
 a fractured spot, indicating the place where the corresponding*- 
 hinge lias been." ^ 
 
 The height of the tower is about ninety feet, the circumference 
 at the base, forty-eight feet. 
 
 IMr. Parker, in the article already quoted, states, that an 
 ash tree had sprung up and grown on the top of the tower, 
 and was causing the mischief described. Anyhow, ash or elder, 
 the damage was becoming so serious, that two years after 
 the publication of the account in the Dublin Journal, viz., 
 in 1835, the tower was repaired, the greatest care being taken 
 to secure the proper readjustment of the stones, by marking each 
 before its removal. When it is stated that the tower is cylin- 
 drical, with a conical summit, its form will readily present itself 
 to the eye, even without the aid of a diagram. 
 
 Swords, is an ancient town, of the barony of Cavlock, about 
 seven miles north of Dublin ; it has long, however, been little 
 more than an insigniticaut village, remarkable for its picturesque 
 features, pleasant and romantic situation, and historical recollec- 
 tions. Like many other ancient Irish towns, it appears to be of 
 ecclesiastical origin. A splendid monastery was founded tliere 
 in the year 512, by the great St. Colomb, who appointed 
 St. Finian Loljair, or the leper, as its abbot, and to whom 
 he gave a missal or copy of the gospels, written by himself. 
 St. Finian died before the close of the sixth century. In tlie 
 course of time, this monastery became possessed of considerable 
 wealth, and the town rose into much importance. It contained 
 withm its precints, in addition to St. Colomb's church, four 
 other chapels, and nine exterior chapels subservient to the 
 mother church. Hence on the institution of the collegiate 
 church of St. Patrick, it ranked as the first of the thirteen 
 
$ PHALLIC REMAINS. 
 
 canonries attached to that cathedral by Archbishop Comin, 
 and was subsequently kno^vn by the appellation of " the golden 
 prebend." 
 
 Swords was burnt and plundered frequently, as well by 
 the native princes as the Danes, who set the example. By 
 the latter it was reduced to ashes, in the years 1012, and 1016, 
 and by the former in the years 1035 and 1135. On this last 
 occasion, the aggressor, Conor O'Melaghlin, king of Meath, 
 was slain by the "men of Lusk. Its final calamity of this kind 
 occurred in the year 1166. 
 
 Of the numerous ecclesiastical edifices for which Swords was 
 anciently distinguished, the only remains now existing, are a fine 
 and lofty round tower and the abbey belfry, a square building of 
 the fourteeeth or fifteenth century. The tower is seventy- 
 three feet high, fifty-two feet in circumference, and the walls 
 four feet thick. It contained five stories, or floors. Its present 
 entrance which is level with the ground, is of modern construc- 
 tion, as well as the roof and upper story ; what appears to 
 have been the original doorway is twenty feet from the ground, 
 and but four feet high. 
 
 At Kildare, 30 miles W. by S. from Dublin, is one of 
 the finest specimens of round towers extant. It seems to have 
 been built of two kinds of stone ; from the foundation to about 
 twelve or thirteen feet, it is composed of a kind of Avhite granite ; 
 the remainder is of a common kind of stone of a dark colour. 
 The entrance or door, is placed about fourteen feet from the 
 ground, and it is quite a hundred feet in height. The tower 
 is highly ornamented and is in excellent preservation. 
 
 The ruins of the ancient abbey and round tower of IMonastei'- 
 boice situated between Drogheda and Dunleer, and about 
 three miles and a half S. W. of the latter place, form altogether 
 a singular and interesting group — the enclosure of a small 
 cliurchyard, containing the shell of two chapels, two perfect 
 stone crosses, and a broken one, by far the finest specimens 
 of this kind to be met with, and a round tower of great 
 height, in good preservation. Its height is indeed, a hundred 
 and ten feet, and its circumference at the base fifty-one feet. 
 The walls are three feet six inches thick, and the door is five 
 feet six inclies in heiglit, twenty-two inches in width, and 
 s-ix feet from the level of the ground. The diameter of the 
 tower, on the inside is nine feet, and above the door, it i& 
 divided into five stories by rings of stone, slightly projecting. 
 
PHALLIC REMAINS, 5 
 
 On a spacious plain, about half a mile from the town of 
 Antrim, stands another of these round towers, ninety-five feet 
 in height, and tifty-three feet in circumference a yard from 
 the ground. It is divided into three stories, with holes in 
 the walls for joists to snpport lofts, and loopholes for the admis- 
 sion of air and light. Those near the top correspond with the 
 four cardinal points, and near them a beam of oak extends across 
 the tower, as if for the purpose of supporting a bell. A little 
 above these, the tower tapers in the form of a sugar-loaf, and 
 was formerly surmounted by a conical covering of granite, 
 resembling in shape a cap or bonnet. At the base are two rows 
 of stones projecting about eight inches, and nine feet above these 
 is the door, fronting the north; it is four feet three inches in 
 height, by two feet wide; the wall at the sill is two feet nine 
 inches in thickness. The outside lintel of the door consists of 
 one large stone, as does that inside; and between those is a 
 beam of oak across the door, which it is said must have been 
 placed there at the erection of the tower, as it appears impossible 
 to have been fixed there since. 
 
 Clondalkin, is an interesting and picturesque village, about 
 four miles from Dublin, at the Naas road. It was originally 
 a camp or settlement of the Danish invaders, who, we are 
 informed, erected a palace in it, named Dun Awley, from 
 the name of its founder, Awlifie. This place was burned by the 
 Irish, about the year 832, when one hundred of the principal 
 Danes were slain. In revenge, the Danish chief surprised by 
 ambuscade a body of two thousand men, most of whom were 
 either slain or taken prisoners. Here, in close proximity to 
 an abbey, stood one of the towers we are describing. It was 
 eighty-four feet high, and fifteen feet in diameter, the doorway 
 being twelve feet from the grround. 
 
 At Trummery, county of Antrim, close to the church, stood a 
 tower about sixty feet in height, a cylinder of most graceful 
 proportions, tastefully crowned with a cupola, curiously raised on 
 a frame of basket-work, the rim of which had titted the circum- 
 ference, the diameter being nearly five feet ; over the frame was 
 spread a deep covering of mortar, in which were closely laid thin 
 flags of limestone, regularly decreasing in breadth from the wall 
 up to the centre, forming a light and firm arch ; over this 
 was a covering of mortar, well paved with coarse limestone 
 gravel ; lastly, a coat of strong cement completed the crown. 
 There were two great entrances into the tower — the first, a low, 
 
6 PHALLIC REMAINS. 
 
 narrow, strong archway of red freestone, opening on the south, 
 through which you first enter the church ; at the east gable 
 a door led to a small apartment, and from thence into the tower. 
 The second entrance or doorway was right over the archway, 
 about five feet high by three wide, handsomely cased with yellow 
 and red freestone, at the height of six feet from the floor. 
 To the right of the arch, as you entered, several stones connected 
 with the wall inside, led up to the door. A few feet from 
 the ground were two loopholes, one due east, the other north- 
 west, well cased with freestone, for the purpose of preventing the 
 rain that fell on the crown trickling down and injuring the ends 
 of an oak beam that crossed the towei". About the middle of the 
 tower, inside, were some square holes, but from their scattered 
 situations they could not have served the purpose of joists. The 
 outer-work of the tower was of undressed but well-chosen land 
 stones — " that rule by masons, called breaking the joint, quite 
 neglected," says a writer in the Dubli7i Journal — yet the inside 
 wrought with the strictest order, and a considerable quantity 
 of freestone used ; perhaps this has led some into an error, 
 who have asserted the tower was composed of a double wall, but 
 it was no more than the common thickness of such works, 
 scarcely three feet. 
 
 This tower fell in the year 1828, in consequence it is supposed, 
 of the ivy by which it was partially covered, having been cut 
 away, and in 18:1:2, its ruins were excavated and examined by a 
 party of gentlemen, consisting of the Rev. Robert Kitt, minister 
 of the parish; Mr. Goodwin, C.E.; Mr. Rogan, a contributor 
 to the Dublin Penny Journal, and others. 
 
 Ardniore, interpreted by Keane " The high palace of the great 
 God," on the south coast of the county of Waterford, possesses 
 one of the most perfect and beautiful of the Irish towers, built 
 of a hard sandstone brought from the mountains of Slievegrian, 
 about four miles distant. The tower is described by jNlr. 
 Hayman as of about fifteen feet in diameter at the base, whence 
 it gradually tapers to the apex, ninty-seven feet above the 
 surface of the ground, and terminates in a conical roof now half 
 thrown over by lightning. Four string courses divide the 
 exterior into five stories. Tlie entrance is in the east side at the 
 distance of thirteen feet from the ground. It is circular headed 
 and tapers from one foot eleven inches at springing of the 
 arch to two feet seven inches at base. The full height of 
 this fine doorway is five feet nine inches. Around the outer 
 
PHALLIC REMAINS. / 
 
 edges is cut a bold Norman head ; and inside are bar-holes, 
 two at each side of the entrances, for securing the door. Access 
 to the interior is now rendered easy by means of the ladders 
 and floors provided by INlr. Odell, the lord of the soil. The 
 lower stories are lighted by splaying spike-holes, some square, 
 some with circular heads ; and as the visitor asends, he meets 
 grotesque corbels at intervals, staring at him from the concave 
 walls. The highest story has four tapered windows, facing 
 the cardinal points. Each of these presents on the exterior a 
 triangular arcli, and on the interior a trefoil head. In height 
 they are respectively three feet nine inches. The stone lintels 
 remain over the opes, where the beam for the bell rested, 
 which tradition says was of so deep and powerful a tone 
 that it was heard at Glaun-mor, or the "Great Glen," eight 
 miles distant. 
 
 Clones, county Monaghan, celebrated as the residence of 
 St. Tighernach, who here founded a monastery in the early part 
 of the sixth century, has one of the oldest and most roughly 
 constructed towers of the country. It is built of the hard 
 mountain limestone, chiefly in natural boulders, but partly 
 in hammer dressed stones, in irregular courses, "that is to say," 
 remarks Mr. Parker, " not always level, but some sloping ; 
 the joints between the stones are very wide, being what is termed, 
 'spawled masonry.' It was built with mortar-, but much of 
 it has disappeared from the outside of the wall." 
 
 The Ulster Journal of Arclut^oloyy, says, " The tower, when 
 perfect, must have been of considerable elevation, and an 
 imposing example of this kind of architecture. As far as could 
 be ascertained by several calculations, made from the shadow 
 at different periods of the day, the remaining portion is about 
 seventy-feet high above the foundation, or sixty-eight feet and a 
 half above the level of the burying ground. At about five 
 feet above the first offset, the circumference measures fifty-one 
 feet, and the thickness of the wall is three feet six inches to three 
 feet seven inches. The interior diameter is nine feet, which 
 is considerably more than tiie average of other towers. The 
 door, which is quadrangular-headed, stands due east, and is eight 
 feet above the level of the first offset, or three feet above 
 the present level of the surface on that side of the building. 
 
 This tower is considerably ofi' the perpendicular, with a 
 decided inclination towards the north, and has sufi'ered a diminu- 
 tion in height by the falling of a portion of the upper part, 
 
8 PHALLIC REMAINS. 
 
 where several stones, particularly on the west side, overhang 
 so much as to lead to the impression that unless some means 
 are taken to secure tliem, another portion will before long 
 be precipitated into the interior. 
 
 An interesting account is given of an examination of this 
 tower by a number of antiquarians, assisted by some labourers 
 employed upon the works of the Ulster canal : — 
 
 " The interior was tilled up to within three feet of the sill 
 of the door, that is, to the level of the burying-ground, or 
 tive feet above the first offset of the base, with remains of 
 jackdaws' nests, broken glass, human bones, probably thrown in 
 from the graveyard, horns of oxen, hair, leather, fragments 
 of coffins, and stones Avhich had formed part of the roof and 
 upper walls, when the tower was perfect ; these were mixed 
 throughout with a rich dark mould, formed from decomposed 
 organic matter. Having cleared this away to the depth of three 
 feet and a half, a well defined clay floor was uncovered, described 
 by Mr. Casebourne, as formed with puddled clay. This was 
 broken through in the centre, and the excavation continued 
 to the depth of eighteen inches farther, with no other result 
 than laying bare, a few inches beneath the clay floor, two 
 thin irregular-shaped flags, with traces of fire on the surface, and 
 near them some remains of charcoal, or perhaps burned bones. 
 In the earth thrown out, a few fragments of thi^h bones and 
 other human remains, were also remarked. A second floor 
 was now discov-ered, formed by a thin coat of lime ; it extended 
 across the tower, at the part where the first internal ofifset of the 
 base occurred, on the same horizontal line as the first external 
 one. 
 
 "Tlie removal of this lime floor was an operation of considerable 
 difficulty, and attended with some delay, in consequence of 
 the tenacity of the upper stratum of clay, and of the desire 
 to use as much care as possible. An opening was then made 
 in its centre, and on exca\ating to a depth of fifteen or 
 sixteen inches, the leg bones of an adult person were discovered. 
 In tlie hope of finding the skull and trunk lying towards the 
 west, a commencement of removing the clay in that direction 
 was made ; at the distance, however, of less than a foot from 
 the first opening, in a ratlier south-westerly direction, a skull 
 was unexpectedly discovered, but so cracked and broken tliat 
 it could not be saved entire. Tiie fragment preserved, was 
 sufficient to show, tliat the skull must iiave been that of a 
 
PHALLIC REMAINS. 9 
 
 chikl not exceeding eight years of age, the permanent incisor 
 teeth not having penetrated through the jaw. 
 
 " In consequence of the depth to which the operations extended, 
 it was found necessary to erect a scaffold or stage across the 
 eastern side ; and the western half was carefully examined from 
 its southern to its northern boundary. Considerable human 
 remains, in a state of very great decay, some of a child, some of 
 adults, were thus exposed, especially at the northern extremity, 
 where the bones of several lower limbs, a pelvis, feet, &c., were 
 crowded together within the curve formed by the wall, and in 
 close contact with the side, but without order or regularity. 
 Having carefully examined one half to the depth of three feet 
 without meeting anything further, the stage was removed and 
 the material upon which it had rested cautiously thrown 
 upon the part already explored. Upon the same level with the 
 child's skull and the other bones already detailed, and occupying 
 as nearly as possible the north-eastern quarter of the floor, 
 the remains of four skulls were reached, all greatly fractured, 
 either by walking over them before the removal of the soil, 
 or by the erection of the scaffold. They Averc so damaged 
 that the exact position they lay in could not be correctly 
 ascertained, although the relative position occupied by each 
 was sufficiently perceptible ; these positions were such as to 
 prove clearly that they were bo7ies and not bodies, that 
 had been thus deposited. To the south of the fourth 
 skull, and in close contact with it, lay a fifth, also broken 
 into fragments, but connected with a complete spinal column and 
 ribs, extending in the direction of tlie adult lower extremities, 
 found beside the child's skull, this had every appearance of 
 having been interred before the integuments had been removed 
 from the bones by decomposition. No pelvis, however, was 
 found, but the bones generally were in such a state of decay, 
 that it is quite possible that it may have crumbled away during 
 the search. If the body had been deposited in a perfect state as 
 supposed, the position was very different from that usually 
 adopted at the present day, having a direction nearly N. by E., 
 with the feet directed towards the south-west. One of the 
 skulls Avas overlaid by a projecting portion of the offset, the 
 interval between it and the others being in part tilled up 
 with moderate sized stones, as if so placed before the laying 
 on of the projecting offset during the progress of the building. 
 Indeed, there was no doubt on the part of the intelligent 
 
1 PHALLIC REMAINS. 
 
 observers of the proceedings, some of thein professional men, 
 that the remains discovered must have been deposited in the 
 position they occupied, before the building had been carried 
 up higlier than the first offset. Mr. G rattan, who gave great 
 attention to the inquiry throughout, was strongly impressed with 
 an opinion that the walls, having been carried up to the height 
 of the last otfest but one, the remains were then deposited, 
 the place filled in with clay to that level, the last ottset then set 
 on, the surface levelled and coated with lime, and the remainder 
 of the building then proceeded with. 
 
 " Along with the four skulls described, and under such circum- 
 stances as necessarily proved it to have i)een interred at the 
 same time, a portion of a pig's or boar's jaw was discovered. 
 It was in such a singular state of preservation that, when shown 
 to Dr. Scouler by Mr. Grattan, he declared his opinion that 
 it could not have remained long in the ground ; a conjecture 
 which is valuable as a proof of the difficulty of determining 
 their age from the mere inspection of such remains. Reference 
 has been already made to doubts expressed of the age of the 
 skull found at Drumbo tower, from its high state of preservation. 
 Now, indisputably, the pig's jaw must have been as long 
 here as the skull with which it was found deposited, and 
 they manifest all the characters of extreme antiquity ; con- 
 sequently, the difference in their present condition must be 
 the result of original difference of individual structure. It is 
 clear, therefore, that the fresh and sound condition of the 
 Drumbo skull by no means proves it to be recent ; no part 
 of the skeleton being subject to greater varieties in density, 
 solidity, and texture, than the skull, not merely in different 
 races, but also in different individuals of the same race. The 
 greater part of the fragments of the different skulls found on 
 the present occasion were preserved, though unfortunately not 
 all of them ; no idea being entertained at the time that they 
 could have been so satisfactorily put together as was afterwards 
 found piacticable." 
 
 Clonmacnoise, situate eight miles S. by W. from Athlone, has 
 two very tine specimens of round towers, one of which is incor- 
 porated with the temple called St. Finian's church. This tower 
 is faced with ashlar masonry inside and outside, and with 
 fine joints. "The chancel arcii is of two orders, the outer 
 one having only shallow rounds, and nari-ow angular mouldings 
 between ; but the inner arch has a rich, though shallow triple 
 
PHALLIC REMAINS. H 
 
 zigzag both on the vertical face and on the soffit, the salient 
 points of which meet on a large bowtel, which runs along 
 the angle. Under this is a modern plain arcli of black limestone. 
 The abacus is square, and of the common Norman form. The 
 capitals of the outer shafts are human heads with drapery 
 passing under the chin, but much mutilated and decayed. Those 
 of the inner one are an Irish variety of the usual scalloped form, 
 which did not come into use until the twelfth century, with 
 an extra moulding giving them a more finished appearance than 
 usual. On the jambs are heads, three on eacli jamb, and a 
 peculiar huckle-shaped ornament overlapping the shaft. One of 
 the heads, the central one, a grotesque human head, is large and 
 very remarkable." 
 
 " The material of this tower is the hard limestone of the country, 
 very well cut and squared, but the beds are not quite level, 
 although this is hardly perceived, and is much less marked than 
 at Cashel ; it is sufficient to show that the masons were accus- 
 tomed to the use of rough stone, and not of ashlar."* 
 
 The larger of the two towers at Clonmacnoise, is called by the 
 natives, the tower of O'Rourk, and is so named in the Register. 
 Long ago, it lost its roof, and the belfry storey has been re-built 
 of rough stone, with eight openings in it, all square-headed with 
 a single long stone forming tlie top ; the other windows 
 are of the same form. " The doorway is round-headed, with 
 a regular arch of ashlar, and sloping sides formed of six stones 
 on each side, part of the regular and nearly parallel courses 
 of masonry which continue all round the tower, which is con- 
 structed in the oldest parts of ashlar masonry, and tine jointed. 
 The material is the hard limestone, which is very difficult to cut, 
 and requires excellent tools for the purpose. The character 
 of the masonry and construction of this tower, is decidedly later 
 than that of the domestic buildings attached to the cathedral, or 
 than that of the castle built by the English in 1212, which 
 adjoins the south-west corner of the burial ground. It is 
 recorded in the CJironicon Scotorum, and in the " Annals of the 
 Four Masters," that the great Cloichteach of Clonmacnoise was 
 finished in the year 1124."t 
 
 Mr. Keane remarking on this, says :—" These remarks of 
 Mr. Parker's are most correct, and evince his sound judgment on 
 the subject of Norman Architecture. Yet we are asked to 
 
 * Gentleman's Miujazine, 1864, p. 149. 
 f Gentleman's Magazine, lfc66. 
 
12 PHALLIC REMAINS. 
 
 believe that this tower, with its superior masonry and ashlar 
 doorway, 'decidedly later in style than the castle built by 
 the English in 1212,' was built by the Celts in 1124, because 
 the annals inform us that it \\?i?> finished in that year." 
 
 The explanation before offered is the only one capable of 
 solving the difficulty, namely, that the tower was built by the 
 ^arly Cuthite inhabitants of Ireland ; that having been partially 
 broken down by time, the top was rebuilt for a belfry in 1121, 
 witli rouirh stone, and eight windows the better to emit sound, 
 when it became recorded a^s finished, that eleven years after, viz., 
 1135, the roof was struck by lightning, since which time it has 
 remained as it now is — a ruin."^ 
 
 We now turn to Glendalough, the most interesting spot in 
 Ireland to the antiquary who desires to examine relics of ancient 
 Irish architecture and sculpture. 
 
 This Glendalough is described in the " Acts of St. Kevin," 
 compiled as early as the beginning of the twelfth century, thus : — 
 
 " A solitary place enclosed by lofty mountains and watered 
 with fair streams, for there the waters of two lakes and of a 
 beautiful river flowing down from the mountains unite, and 
 in the upper part of the valley, where the mountains close in and 
 terminate it, the lake stretches from the roots of one mount lin 
 to the foot of the other, and that valley was formerly called 
 in Irish, Gleand De, but now Gleanndaloch, that is, the valley of 
 the two lakes." 
 
 Glendalough is situate in the midst of the Wicklow mountains, 
 nine miles from the Rathdrum Station, on the Wicklow and 
 Wexford Railway. There we find one of the best specimens of 
 the Irish round towers. It is ninety feet high, and is built 
 principally of mica slate and blocks of granite. The slate, 
 for the most part, is in blocks about three feet in length, and the 
 whole of the stones arc laid together as tiiey come to hand, 
 and simply liammer-dressed on the face to bring them into 
 the circular form of the tower. " The dressings of the doorway 
 are of granite, without moulding or ornament of any kind. The 
 tower has lost its conical capping, but in other respects is almost 
 perfect. Close to the top of the tower are four small quadri- 
 lateral ^vindows wliich face the cardinal points, and there are three 
 of similar form in the shaft, each lighting a story. All the 
 openings in the tower have inclined jambs, and, as usual with 
 
 * I'Ofrer.s of Ireland. 
 
PHALLIC REMAINS. 1^ 
 
 the windows of other round towers, they are the same in width 
 inside and outside.""^ 
 
 In the soutliern part of Tipperary stands the celebrated Rock 
 of Cashe], visible with its ruin-covered summit for many miles 
 across the surrounding country So immense and precipitous is, 
 the Eock, that it is inaccessible on all but one side, the south, 
 and this is protected by a gateway. Says Mr. Parker, "the grey, 
 hoary, solemn, and melancholy-looking ruins seem in their mute 
 eloquence like spirits of the past standing in the present, silent, 
 yet speaking. The ruined cathedral, the shattered castle, and 
 the weather-beaten cross, all raise thoughts which it is not 
 possible to express. And when all these are seen by the light of 
 a setting sun, shining from behind clouds over the distant 
 Galtees, "the efi"ect is beyond anything that can be conceived, and 
 must be seen in order to be felt." 
 
 The ruins consist of a cathedral, an archiepiscopal palace, 
 a round tower, and a Norman building known as Cormac's. 
 Chapel. 
 
 "The masonry of the tower," says Mr. Parker, "is different 
 from that of Cormac's chapel, and earlier. It consists (beginning 
 from the ground) of : I, a projecting plinth of sandstone, cut 
 into blocks of about eighteen inches to two feet long ; the depth 
 cannot be seen, as they are partly buried in the ground, but they 
 probably rest on the solid rock for a foundation ; 2, then live 
 courses of sandstone and limestone intermixed, in pieces of 
 irregular shape, not squared, and many of the vertical joints. 
 sloping ; the courses vary in depth from eight inches to a foot, 
 and the fifth course from the bottom is only six inches deep, the- 
 stones also vary very much in length, from six inches to two 
 feet. The sixth course is only six inches wide, the seventh about 
 nine inches ; then come nine courses of limestone, in long narrow 
 pieces, from four to eight inches thick ; then a narrow course of' 
 sandstone, then another of limestone ; and above that all the 
 rest seems to be of sandstone, in about eighty more courses. 
 The limestone is far more irregular than tiie sandstone, and 
 hammer-dressed only, with the interstices tilled up with the 
 chippings, as usual in this sort of construction. The sandstone- 
 is much more regular than the limestone, but still not in regular 
 square pieces like those of Cormac's chapel, and many of the 
 vertical joints in the sandstone are sloping ; the joints are not. 
 very wide, though not tine ; there is no thickness of mortar, and 
 
 Gentleman's Magazine, 1864, page 285. 
 
14 PHALLIC REMAINS. 
 
 none of it projects, as at Cjen." ^ The door of the tower is 
 twelve feet above the level of the base, and the summit is 
 ns usual, conical. 
 
 Tory, is an island, about nine miles from the coast of Donegal, 
 and belongs to the parish of Tullaghobegly, barony of Kilmacrenan. 
 It has two towns, (villages, the "Ulster Journal of Archieology,' 
 calls them) East and West Town, in the latter of which are 
 certain ecclesiastical remains, and a round tower. Mr. E. Getty 
 ■describes West Town, as quite a (quarry of remains of religious 
 edifices, but says that with the exception of the round tower and 
 eastern archway of the abbey enclosure, called Rath Finian, 
 they are nothing more than ruins. The building of the tower, 
 has been attributed by some to Saint Columba, that, however, is 
 of course mere speculation. 
 
 It is much smaller than many others in the country, being 
 only fifty-one feet high ; its diameter is seventeen feet two 
 inches, and its outer circumference, fifty-one feet six inches. 
 The door is eight feet six inches from the first offset of the base 
 outside ; it is arched with narrow flat stones, the key-stone 
 being wedge-shaped. The material of the tower is that common 
 to tlie ecclesiastical ruins, viz., red granite ; and the walls 
 four feet three inches in thickness. The summit was dome- 
 shaped instead of conical, as we usually find in these structures, 
 and within the outer one was a second dome, very much 
 lower down. ^\r. Getty, says, " This, which may, perhaps 
 be considered a stone floor, such as seen in some ancient buildings, 
 separated an upper apartment of considerable height, which was, 
 perhaps, intended for purposes of special security, or only 
 to contain a bell. If the former was the object, it may have 
 been thus planned with the intention that a person looking 
 up from below, should suppose he saw to the top, when in 
 reality his view only reached this lower dome. It is not possible 
 to ascertain what means of access was provided, but it must have 
 been by an aperture through the floor, or by a difficult ascent 
 from one window to anotlier. A man was induced by Mr. 
 Getty to climb up and examine this upper chamber ; he reached 
 to about six feet above the tower arch, and stated he could see 
 two offsets for floors upwards, and three downwards ; five in all. 
 According to this, the arch mentioned may be the only one 
 remaining of six stone floors, but there were reasons for believing 
 that any other floors Iiad been of wood." 
 
 * Gentlewan's Majazine, 1864. 
 
PHALLIC REMAINS. 15 
 
 Some of the inliabitants stated with great confidence, tliat 
 within their memory there had been a bell in the tower, but 
 that it fell down, and was then sold to a travelling tinker. 
 
 At Kinneigh, in the county of Cork, said in ancient times to 
 have been a bishopric, about one hundred feet to the south-west 
 of the present church, stands a tower of common brown stone, 
 between seventy and eighty feet in height. The tower is, as 
 usual, round, but at the basement for the space of fifteen feet, is 
 hexagonal, a figure found nowhere else. Twelve feet from the 
 ground is the door, an oblong opening five feet by three feet, 
 level with it is a stone floor, with an opening in the centre just 
 large enough to let a man down into a gloomy under-vault. 
 Four circular nests occur in the upper part of the structure for 
 floors, which have long disappeared, and these were lighted by as 
 many small square loops. The inside diameter of this tower is 
 nine feet two inches ; it is situated in a deep valley, and does 
 not command an extensive view on any side."^ 
 
 Kilmacduagh, Galway, has a tower 102 feet in height, and 
 nineteen feet in diameter at the base. There was once a famous 
 bishopric ; but now little else is to be seen but miserable huts 
 and ruins. St. Colman is said to have founded the see in the 
 seventh century, and the abbey was rebuilt by Bishop Maurice 
 in 1 280, and appropriated for Canons Regular of the Augustine 
 Order. Its style shows that it was again rebuilt in the six- 
 teenth century. The tower is what is called a leaning one, and 
 the most exaggerated stories have prevailed with regard to that 
 fact, it having been reported that the deviation from the 
 perpendicular was very much greater than that of the renowned 
 tower of Pisa. Accurate measurement, however, with instru- 
 ments has shown that the inclination is two and a half feet in 
 the entire height. 
 
 Saint Canice, in Kilkenny, so named from the saint of that 
 name, who is said to have had a cell upon the spot where the 
 cathedral was built, has a tower 108 feet in height and forty- 
 seven feet in circumference, one of the largest of this class of 
 structures. The doorway as usual, is considerably above the 
 ground — eight feet, facing the south-west. 
 
 The tower at Timahoe, Queen's County, seven miles from 
 jNlaryborough, is described by Keane, as in a very perfect state, 
 and exhibiting the most beautiful specimen of round tower 
 architecture to be found in Ireland. The abb ^y built by 
 
 * Xewhaven's Picturesque Ireland. 
 
16 PHALLIC REMAINS. 
 
 St. Moclioe, in 497, near the tower, was burned in 1142, 
 but rebuilt again the same year. It is now a ruin, but the 
 tower is still perfect, with the exception of the roof. The latter 
 has some features about it altogether different to most other 
 Irish towers. Its heiglit is eighty-four feet, and its diameter 
 eighteen feet, and it leans to the south-west five feet beyond the 
 perpendicular line. It has a most beautiful doorway, at a height 
 of seventeen feet, the workmanshij^ of which is said to be 
 most remarkable. Keane, calls it, " one of the richest sjDecimens 
 in Ireland." It is ornamented with chevrons, or zigzag mould- 
 ings beautifully carved in red sandstone. It appears to have 
 been divided into six separate stories, by projecting stones, 
 on which probably rested the beams that supported the stage or 
 floors. 
 
 Sereral notices respecting the abbots of Timahoe, during 
 the tenth and eleventh centuries, occur in the Annals ; but the 
 last record (by the Four Masters) mentions the burning of Tech- 
 Mochua, in the year 1142, from which time it seems to have had 
 no existence as a monastery. "When therefore " asks Keane, 
 " could this beautiful doorway have been erected ? The record 
 of this burning, and the subsequent silence of the Annals on the 
 subject of the monastery, are signiticant, and tend to disprove 
 the notion that Timahoe and other buildings of the same class 
 were erected at any time since the Christian era." 
 
 The tower is historically associated with a bittle which 
 was fought in its immediate vicinity, between General Monk and 
 General Preston, in which the former with six hundred foot and 
 two troops of horse, defeated the latter who had three thousand 
 men. 
 
 Another thing may appropriately be mentioned here, as it has 
 a connection with the question which must presently be faced, as 
 to the origin and object of the peculiar structures. Sir William 
 Betham says, "Some years since, ]Mr. Middleton, who lives in the 
 neighbourhood of Timahoe, in the Queen's County, told me that a 
 peasant having frequently dreamed that treasure was hid in the 
 round tower of that place, induced two others to join him, 
 and went at night, and having lemoved the earth came to 
 a flagstone, which they raised, and discovered an urn with bones 
 therein. Mr. Middleton assured me he had often conversed with 
 those men, and had no doubt whatever of the truth and 
 accuracy of the statement. I mentioned this fact to Mr. George 
 Petrie, but he repudiated the idea as utterly unworthy of belief. 
 
PHALLIC RExAIAINS. 17 
 
 Some years afterwards I became acquainted with Mr. Moore, 
 of Cremorgen, near Timahoe, and I requested him to inquire into 
 the facts. Shortly afterwards I received from that gentleman, a 
 letter, of which the following is a copy, fully bearing out 
 Mr. Middleton's statement : — 
 
 "My dear sir — When I was last in town, you expressed a 
 wish that I should make some inquiries respecting the round 
 tower of Timahoe, in the Queen's County, I have accordingly 
 done so, and find that about fifty years ago, some persons were 
 tempted to dig within the tower in search of money, when, 
 having gone as deep as three feet, they found a flag, and over it 
 a very large rib, which they supposed to be that of a horse, 
 on finding which, the search was discontinued till many years 
 after, wlien some persons again commenced digging in the tower, 
 when having gone down about three or four feet farther than the 
 former persons, they found a flag (stone), and under it an earthen 
 vessel filled with bones, having the appearance of being burned. 
 This circumstance caused no surprise in the persons searching, as 
 in almost every sand-hill in the neighbourhood (of which there 
 are a great number) similar earthen vessels, filled with bones, 
 have been found, at from four to eight feet down. I received 
 this account from eye-witnesses on whom I could depend. 
 Believe me to be yours very truly, 
 
 PIERCE MOORE." 
 
 This letter, in my mind demolishes the notion of these 
 buildings being belfries, or even Christian buildings. Cremation, 
 so far as history informs us, never obtained as a mode of 
 sepulture among Christians, therefore, urns and burned bones 
 being found buried within the tower of Timahoe, demonstrates 
 an earlier period for the erection of the round towers.^ 
 
 Roscrea, is a town of some importance in the county of 
 Tipperary, on the road from Limerick to Dublin, and at one 
 time possessed ecclesiastical establishments of a somewhat pro- 
 minent character. It has, close to the ruins of what was once 
 the gateway of a church, a good specimen of the ordinary round 
 towers. 
 
 Sir William Bethan, describes by th^. aid of several letters he 
 received from his friends, Mr. Hackett and Mr. Wall, the 
 discovery, in the tower, of various human remains. "All 
 through," says a letter of February 1862, " there were human 
 
 * Etruria Celtica. 
 
18 PHALLIC REMAINS. 
 
 bones sparingly interspersed ; I found three under jaw-bones of 
 aged persons, but one had the teeth in good preservation, with 
 several thigh-bones, and it is remarkable that they were all found 
 close to the walls. I should infer that the bodies were not 
 buried in the position we found them. Portions of skulls were 
 also found, and the rib of a child." And a letter in April of that 
 year says : — " We met many more bones than before in the same 
 space, but much decayed from the damp. We also found a 
 piece of oak about the size of a hand, about a quarter of an inch 
 thick, which had the appearance of having been charred on one 
 side; altogether, we penetrated fifteen feet from the doorway, 
 and the human bones increased as we descended." 
 
 " JNTr. Wall's description is very minute, and therefore, the more 
 important and valuable. The irregularity of the interior of the 
 wall downwards, while that upwards was so smooth and hnished, 
 clearly points out that the lower portion was intended for a 
 sepulchral deposit. It was found full of human bones at the 
 lowest portion, at iifteen feet from the doorway, and they 
 gradually diminished in the upper portion of tlie mould and 
 stones." 
 
 On the northern coast of Ireland, within about four miles 
 of Ballycastle, and one of Kenbaan Head, stands what is left of 
 the round tower of Armoy, viz., about forty-four feet. 
 
 Armoy, was once an important place in the ancient territory 
 of Dalriada. It is mentioned in the " Annals of the Four 
 Masters," as having been set on fire by Cumee O'Flynn, in 1177, 
 during an expedition of John De Courcy. In 1247, it is again 
 mentioned, in connection with a predatory excursion made by 
 Eachmarcach O'Kane,, Lord of Kianaghta and Firnacreeva, into 
 tlie territory of Manus O'Kane. 
 
 Near the church, stands what remains of the tower, of which a 
 careful exploration was made, by a party of antiquaries, in 
 the year 1843. 
 
 The walls are of mima slate, and during the excavation a part 
 of the original roof was discovered, formed on the plan precisely 
 as the stone preserved at Antrim. The door is semicircular- 
 headed, the arch being cut out of one block, and ornamented 
 by an architrave, also cut on the same lintel stone. It follows 
 the curve of the arch, and it is probable, that originally the side 
 of the doorway exhil)ited a continuation of the same projections. 
 The wall of the building is three feet live inches tliick. The 
 interior diameter is eight feet two inches, and it does not seem to 
 
PHALLIC REMAINS. 19 
 
 vary in this dimension. At the door is a projection of the walls 
 for the support of a floor, and another about ten feet higher up. 
 
 "In the course of the excavations, only loose debris, with small 
 portions of wood and stone, and jaws of animals, were thrown 
 out for several feet, but at length a skull and other human 
 remains were found, packed up against the wall on the north 
 side. These were evidently in the same position as at first placed. 
 Portions of horn were also found, and remains of the fallen part 
 of the tower. Anything observed hitherto was considered of 
 little importance, as all to this depth may have been disturbed 
 at some period posterior to the erection of the building. Tlie 
 skull, nevertheless, had an appearance of considerable antiquity 
 When the search was continued to a further depth of some feet, 
 another skull was found, imbedded like a fossil, lying on the 
 south-east side of the line of entrance, but without any other 
 bones of the skeleton with it. This skull lay with the upper 
 part towards the centre of the tower, and the lower jaw towards 
 the wall. The material it was imbedded in was stiff clay, and 
 there was this peculiarity attending it, that it was contained in a 
 hollow space in the wall, which appeared to have been con- 
 structed to contain it, in the manner of a rude niche. Mr. Benn 
 and Mr. Birnie, with the writer, examined it in situ, and were 
 all equally struck by the fossil-like appearance it presented, 
 an appearance previously described in similar instances. It is an 
 interesting circumstance to notice, that the three upper cervical 
 vertebras were found in connection with this skull, or in situ as 
 respects the cranium, and no other bones were found in the same 
 place that seemed to be parts of the same body. The inference 
 drawn by the parties present, was, that the head buried here 
 had been, when in a recent state, severed from the trunk. The 
 under jaw and vertebrae were nearly in the same horizontal line, 
 in fact, just so much of the vertebral column remained as 
 must have been severed with the head, if taken off while the 
 muscles and integuments were recent. 
 
 This relic was obtained, fortunately in a nearly perfect state. 
 In the place where it lay, a lire had been burned, and it had 
 been deposited on a bed of peat ashes and charcoal, before beiii"- 
 covered with the clay. 
 
 The discovery of a human head so distinctly interred separate 
 from the body, gives more than usual interest to the skull 
 exhumed from this tower. That such a practice was not witliout 
 precedent with the ancient Irish is proved by several facts.""^ 
 * Ulster Journal of Archceology, vol. 4. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 Similarity of Round Towers — Large number of Towers hi Ireland 
 
 Hellenic Towers in the Isles of Andros, Ceos, Cythnos, Seriphos, 
 
 Siphnos, Naxos and Faros — Letter of Capt. Graves — Toicers in 
 Central America — Persian Towers — Indian Toicers — Indian and 
 Irish names — A Bulgarian Tower — Bound Toiver at Patna — The 
 Pou7id Toivers of Switzerland — Mr Dixon's descriptio7i of Toivers 
 at Romont, Bex, Saiyit Saphorin, Lausanne, and Martigny — 
 Interud^l structure of Round Towers — Scotch Towers. 
 
 SO far as Ireland is concerned, we need attempt no further 
 description of her towers; there is so much similarity 
 between them that an account of one serv^es for live or six ;. 
 variations of detail in certain specimens we have already 
 mentioned. Many of them have conical roofs of stone, a few 
 have low roofs as that of Kilkenny, and one, as that at Ivilmal- 
 lock, has a conical roof, which is concealed by a battlemented 
 parapet. Their height varies from fifty or sixty feet as with 
 the two at Clonmacnoise, to a hundred and eight feet as in the 
 case of St. Canice ; ninety feet may perhaps be taken as a 
 fair average, and their general diameter as fifteen or sixteen feet 
 at the base. Apart from the mystery surrounding their orgin 
 and purpose, the principal thing connected with them which 
 strikes the observer, is the remarkable manner, in which, notwith- 
 standiufi- their great age, they have weathered the attacks of 
 wind, sunshine, rain and tempest. Plain looking as tliey are 
 too, they are not without a beauty of their own, the sides of the 
 doors and windows have been sloped, to harmonise with the 
 diminishing lines of the walls, and true artistic taste has thus 
 Ijeen shown to have prevailed in the minds of the builders, even 
 in the remotest ages. 
 
 It is difficult to say now how many of these towers once- 
 existed in Ireland alone, some say 120, others fix the number 
 as much higher; the country seems in fact fairly to have bristled 
 with them,\nd in addition to those we have just been describing, 
 they are still to be found at Downpatiick, Ram's Island, 
 Maf^hera, Nendrum, Drumbo, Donaghmore, Raal, Castlcdermotte^ 
 
PHALLIC REMAINS. 21 
 
 Arranmore, Dysart, DrumclifF, Kells, Ballagh, Ferbane, Kil- 
 •cuUen, Kilree, Lusk, Oiighterhard, Rattoo, Scattery, West 
 Carbury, and numerous other localities. 
 
 We must now call attention to the existence of the round 
 towers in other parts of the world besides Ireland. 
 
 In the " Transactions of the Royal Society of Literature," for 
 the year 1854, we find some very interesting allusions to certain 
 towers in the islands of the Grecian Archipelago. Colonel 
 Leake, in a letter to W. S. W. Vaugh, Esq., says : " Inclosed 
 herewith I have the pleasure of transmitting to you, for the 
 purpose of being submitted to the Royal Society of Literature, 
 drawings of twelve ruined Hellenic round towers, existing in the 
 islands of Andros, Ceos, Cythnos, Seriphos, Siphnos, Naxos, and 
 Paros. In a letter addressed to me by Captain Graves, R. N., 
 dated, Malta, February, 1853, he says, ' The twelve drawings of 
 round towers, which I send yon, are from sketches made at 
 my request by the zealous officers, with whom I was so long 
 associated in the survey of the archipelago, and who in Her 
 Majesty's Ship, ' Spitfire ' (Captain Spratt) are at present em- 
 ployed in bringing the survey to a conclusion. Capt. Graves 
 notices the resemblance of these towers to the round towers 
 of Ireland, &c. The Irish towers, he adds, when jDerfect, 
 are generally from seventy to one hundred feet in height, 
 and from fifty to sixty in circumference. The Pyrgi of the 
 Greek islands, those of Andros and Naxos for example, are about 
 sixty feet high, and generally exceed the Irish towers in circum- 
 ference, by about forty feet.' " 
 
 The first tower mentioned, is that of Andros, situate about 
 half-an-hour's journey from Port Gavrio. It is about sixty feet 
 in height, that is, what remains of it, for it is in a state of ruin, 
 and has been so for some years. The entrance in this case, 
 unlike those of the Irish towers, is level with the ground, 
 and leads into an apartment about twenty feet in diameter, and 
 sixteen feet high ; the wall of the tower is six feet thick, and the 
 material, limestone from the adjacent rock, with the exception of 
 the door-posts, the sills of the windows, and some projecting 
 stones on the outside, which are of white marble. 
 
 Of the tower of Ceos, or Lia, a structure of great antiquity, 
 and built of stones of immense size, very little remains ; its 
 diameter is twenty-seven feet. 
 
 Of Cythnos, only eleven feet of its height now remain ; it was 
 built of large blocks of slate, and was twenty-eight feet in 
 diameter. 
 
22 PHALLIC REMAINS. 
 
 The tower of Seriphos is built of blocks of white marble ; its 
 joints are so close and its exterior so smooth, that it appears to 
 be but one block. 
 
 Of Siphnos, we learn from Herodotus, that it was an Ionian 
 colony, noted for its great wealth, derived chiefly from its silver 
 mines. These were in full work, and of considerable renown in 
 the sixth century before the Christian era, when a treasury 
 Tv^as erected by the inhabitants at Delphi, for the reception 
 of a tithe of the mining produce, for the service of Apollo ; 
 the rest they shared amongst themselves. 
 
 There is a small church on the summit of a mountain ridge, 
 2280 feet high, the church is dedicated to St. Elias, most of 
 whose places of worship are in lofty altitudes ; there is also 
 on the mountain, a monastery bearing the same name. Near it, 
 890 feet above the sea, is the village of Stavro, and about a mile 
 from Stavro, is the monastery of Sti-Vrysi. Above the latter, 
 and close to the village of Hexambelia, are the remains of 
 the Hellenic tower, now used for threshing corn. 
 
 On the island of Naxos, is another tower, described in an 
 old and scarce work, supposed to have been written by Pere 
 Sanger, a Jesuit, and published at Paris, in 1698, entitled, 
 " Histoire nouvelle des anciens dues et autres souverains de 
 I'Archipel." 
 
 At Paros, are a few remaining courses of a tower, Avhich must 
 have been very similar to those found in other parts. 
 
 Passing now to Central America, we meet with other specimens 
 of the round towers, somewhat similar in form to those we have 
 already described, but differing considerably in height. Stevens, 
 in vol. 1, of his "Travels in Yucatan," says: — "The mounds 
 were all of the same general character, and the buildings had 
 entirely disappeared on all except one, but tliis was different from 
 any we had at that time seen, though we afterwards found 
 others like it. It stood on a ruined mound, about thirty 
 feet high .... the exterior is of plain stone, ten feet high 
 to the top of the lower cornice, and fourteen more to that of the 
 upper one. The door faces the west, and over it is a lintel 
 of stone. The outer wall is five feet thick ; the door opens into 
 a circular passage, three feet wide, and in the centre is a cylin- 
 diical solid mass of stone, without any doorway or opening 
 of any kind. The whole diameter of the building is twenty-tive 
 feet, so that, deducting the double width of the wall and passage, 
 tliis centre mass must be nine feet in thickness." 
 
PHALLIC REMAINS. 23 
 
 Turning to a second tower, he says, "It is circular in form, 
 and is known by the name of the Caracol, or winding staircase, 
 on account of its interior arrangements. It stands on the upper 
 of two terraces .... a grand staircase of forty-five feet 
 wide, and containing twenty steps, rises to the platform of 
 the terrace. On each side of the staircase, forming a sort of 
 balustrade, were the entwined bodies of two gigantic serpents, 
 three feet wide, portions of which are still in place ; and among 
 the ruins of the staircase, we saw a gigantic head, which had 
 terminated at one side the foot of the steps .... On the plat- 
 form, fifteen feet from the last step, stands the building. It is 
 twenty-two feet in diameter, and has four small doorways facing 
 the cardinal points. A great portion of the upper part, and one 
 of the sides have fallen. Above the cornice, the roof sloped so as 
 almost to form an apex. The height, including the terraces, 
 is little short of sixty feet, and when entire, even among the great 
 buildings around, this structure must have presented a striking 
 appearance. The doorways give entrance to a circular corridor, 
 five feet wide. The inner wall has also four doorways, smaller 
 than the others, and standing at intermediate points of the 
 compass, facing north east, north-west, south-west, and south- 
 east. These doors give entrance to a second circular corridor, 
 four feet wide, and in the centre is a circular mass, apparently of 
 solid stone, seven feet six inches in diameter ; but in one place, 
 at the height of eight feet from the ground, was a small square 
 opening choked up with stones, which I endeavoured to clear 
 out, but the stones falling into the narrow corridor made it 
 dangerous to continue. The roof was so tottering, that I could 
 not discover to what this opening led. It was about large 
 enough to admit the tigure of a man in a standing position, to 
 look out from the top. The walls of both corridors were plastered 
 and ornamented with paintings, and both were covered with the 
 triangular arch — the plan of the building was new ; but instead 
 of unfolding secrets, it drew closer the curtain that already 
 shrouded wtih almost impenetrable folds these mysterious 
 structures." 
 
 Persia, likewise, has its round towers. Hanway, describes one 
 found at the ruins of Jorjan, near Asterabad, which had a 
 conical top, and was altogether remarkably like the tower we 
 have described as at Antrim. 
 
 Turning to India, we also find similar structures, and Lord 
 Valentine says, " It is singular that tiiere is no tradition con- 
 cerning them, nor are they held in any respect by the Hindoos of 
 
-:4 PHALLIC REMAINS. 
 
 this country." And Keane adds. "In this hitter particular, 
 as well as in their general form, and their having the doorway 
 not on the ground level, they resemble our Irish round towers." 
 There is another at Coel, near Allyghur, described, says 
 Becham in his " Etruria Celtica," by Captain Smith, late 44th 
 Regiment. Mr. Keane says, he would ask the reader's attention 
 to the name Coel, that of the place where this round tower is 
 found, a name frequently occuring in association with Irish 
 topography and legends. "The coincidence," he says, "is 
 singular and worthy of attention." 
 
 Markham, in his "Travels in Peru," describes a tower found 
 on the borders of the lake of Umayu, of just such a character as 
 those found in different parts of Ireland, cylindical, with a 
 circular top. This is thirty-six feet high, and built of well cut 
 masonry, with a cornice and vaulted roof. 
 
 In order to form a proper judgment respecting the origin and 
 uses of these towers, it is important to notice their wonderful 
 similarity in all parts of the world, where they happen to exist. 
 Any one who has the opportunity of inspecting the plates in 
 Keane's " Towers and Temples of Ancient Ireland," will at once 
 be forcibly impressed with tins, especially by the drawings 
 delineated on page 317, representing towers at Antrim, in 
 Persia, Peru, and the East Indies. Of the three latter, Mr. 
 Keane remarks, " The intelligent observer will lind no ditiiculty 
 in perceiving certain features of peculiarity which identify them 
 with Irish round towers. In one we have a succession of rings 
 or offsets, such as appear on some of the Irish towers, Ardmore 
 and Dysert for instance. In another we have the conical top 
 exactly the same as that of all round towers throughout Ireland 
 which remain perfect. And in the masonry of the Peruvian 
 specimen we have several instances of what has been elsewjiere 
 noticed as jointing peculiar to Cuthite masonry. The names of 
 these places are also worthy of note as bearing reseuiblance to, 
 and connection with, Irish topography. Titi-caca, Aster-abad, 
 and Coel have all their counterparts in Ireland ; where Caca is 
 only anotlier reading for Cocca, the nurse of St. Kieran ; 
 Asthore (love, in Irish), becomes Aster for euphony when used as 
 a compound ; and Coel is literally represented, as before observed, 
 in Coole Abbey, county Cork, and Kilmacoole alias Kilmac- 
 duagh, county Galway, etc." 
 
 Sir William Betham says, " We find round towers in every 
 
PHALLIC REMAINS. 25 
 
 respect similar to our own, nay, some of them almost identical, 
 similar is not a sufficiently strong term, scattered over the whole 
 surface of the peninsulas of India." * 
 
 In the " Histoire de decouvertes dans la Russie et la Perse," 
 printed at Berlin in 1779, we find an account of a town of which 
 mention does not appear elsewhere. " The village of Bulgari 
 was the famous city of Brjtechinof, the ancient capital of 
 Bulgaria; as no description had been given of this place, Messrs. 
 Pallas and Lepuchin were induced to visit it." 
 
 The village of Bulgari is built on the ruins of the ancient 
 city ; it is situated on an eminence, bordering on a marshy 
 ground overgrown with bushes and thickets. It is surprising 
 that so considerable and well populated a city as this must once 
 have been, should be constructed in a situation which could not 
 be supplied with water ; they are now obliged to sink wells or 
 pits in the marsh, and this is their only resource. 
 
 The village contains about one hundred good houses ; it was 
 seized by the crown with other church-lands. On the south is a 
 plain surrounded with resinous trees or evergreens, interspersed 
 with birch. This plain, at present covered with fertile fields, was 
 once the esplanade of the city ; it is yet surrounded with a 
 rampart and ditch, which once formed an irregular half oval, at 
 least six versts in circumference. 
 
 Most of the vestiges of the ancient buildings are within the 
 rampart ; among others are the ruins of a convent with an 
 inclosed area, which at present contains a handsome stone-built 
 church and some wooden houses. The most remarkable of these 
 ancient buildings is a tower, Misgir or Midsgir, constructed of 
 stone, extremely well wrought ; it is a little more than twelve 
 toises high (about seventy-five feet). It is well preserved, and is 
 ascended by a circular staircase of seventy-tsvo steps, each 
 measuring exactly twelve inches, French measure, in the rise ; 
 the staircase is in perfect repair, and the roof is covered with 
 wood, with inside is an inscription in modern Arabic. 
 
 The tower stands in the north east angle of a wall of an 
 irregular square form, which appears by its great thickness to 
 have been part of a fortress, or probably of a grand mosque. On 
 the west side of the tower is the ruin of a Tartarian oratory, 
 which is entirely vaulted ; it has been repaired, and is now a 
 chapel dedicated to Saint Nicholas. 
 
 * Etruria Celtica, vol. 2, p. 190. 
 
26 PHALLIC REMAINS. 
 
 From this description, and from the drawing, it is evident the 
 oratory is in the foundation of the tower, and that the entrance 
 to the upper part of the tower must be over the vault of the 
 oratory, which makes the likeness to our towers much stronger ; 
 it is to be wished these curious travellers had copied the Arabic 
 inscription. 
 
 It is to be observed, the name given to these towers is misgir 
 or midsgir, a word I translate tire-circle or fire-tower, hence the 
 Persian word onudskir, one who continually praises God ; 
 viuzki, making the holy fire burn bright ; in Arabic, iiiedkyn is 
 smoking incense, perfuming with burning odours ; and mudakis 
 is the dance of the Magi round the holy fire. 
 
 It may be added that in the drawing of this tower it presents 
 a very similar appearance to the principal of those found in 
 Ireland, being a gradually diminishing cylinder topped with a 
 conical roof. 
 
 " On the Giriyek hill, south of Patra, in Behar, is a round 
 tower ascribed by the natives to Jarasandhu, a king who, they 
 say, lived and reigned here five or six centuries before Buddha's 
 time. He is a favourite popular hero, like the five Pandus, 
 whose names are connected by the natives with most of their 
 antiquities. There is no doubt it is a Buddhist monument. In 
 the fort of Chittoor stand two Jain towers. One was built by 
 Khumbo Rana to commemorate a victory gained over Mahmoud, 
 of Malwa, in the year 1439. It consists of nine stories, and a 
 stair in the centre communicates with each. It is one hundred 
 and twenty feet high, the \vhole being covered with architectural 
 ornaments and sculptures. The Chinese nine-storied pagodas 
 are imitations of the Jaina or Buddhist nine-storied towers of 
 India. There are two lats or pillars commemorative of a 
 victory, or marking the burial place of a Buddhist relic among 
 the topes of Cabul. They are erroneously ascribed by the 
 natives to Alexander the Great. Their upper members are 
 copied from the Persepolitan pillars. ' They also,' says INIr. 
 Fergusson, ' resemble the chapiters which form so important a 
 part of the two pillars which Solomon set up before his temple at 
 at Jerusalem.'" 
 
 The names of towns and hills near the Irish round towers are 
 Indian, and the towers themselves have been considered em- 
 blematic of the Phallus or Lingam, an opinion which is sustained 
 by the fact that in the neighbourhood of Seenite pagodas, conical 
 rocks, conspicuous for their height and symmetry, have some- 
 
PHALLIC REMAINS. 2T 
 
 times been consecrated as Lingams. I was told that at 
 Trichengore, in Barramahal, there is a conical rock dedicated to 
 the Liiigam, which it has been made more closely to resemble by 
 artificial means, having at its summit a small temple of Seeva, 
 reached by an ascent winding round the eminence externally. 
 
 "At Metapolliam, slabs of mica, slate, and gneiss protruding 
 through the surface, nearly perpendicularly, to the height of 
 eight or ten feet, form an enclosure which has been taken 
 advantage of for the purpose of the Lingam worship. I found in 
 it an old stone Lingam rising from a pedestal and covered with 
 garlands of faded flowers, while the ground about it was strewn 
 with votive earthenware lamps of various sizes and shapes." "^ 
 
 In the year 1866, an interesting communication was made to 
 Notes and Queries respecting certain towers in Switzerland, a 
 part of which we here transcribe as calling attention to a 
 country we have not yet noticed. The writer, Mr. J. H. Dixon, 
 says—" I have not met with any archaeological, or even topo- 
 graphical, work published in England or elsewhere that notices 
 the round towers of Switzerland, otherwise than in a superficial 
 and ofl'hand manner. And yet several of these edifices exist in 
 that country. The Swiss know nothing of their history, and 
 dismiss them with all sorts of vague and absurd suppositions. 
 Some tell us that the round towers were built by the Romans ! 
 others say they were erected by the old counts of Savoy, or by 
 some of the Burgundian conquerors, and some (more sagely in my 
 opinion) suppose that they ma}' be older than the Christian era, 
 and were probably constructed by Pagans when the cantons, 
 wherein they were found were under celtic domination, or 
 subjected to the visits of some nomadic oriental tribes. In fact 
 the Swiss towers, like those of Ireland and Persia, are a mystery. 
 I am not aware, however, that any Swiss archaeologist has ever 
 supposed that the towers of Helvetia were built by the Danes, 
 or that they were constructed by the early Christian missionaries 
 for belfries ! Such sage ideas belong exclusively to certain 
 Irish antiquaries, and much good may they do them." The 
 writer then proceeds to relate that while visiting some localities 
 contiguous to the railway from Lausanne to Tribourg, his atten- 
 tion was arrested by a round tower at the little town of Romont. 
 He inquired what it was, and was told it was part of the old 
 fortifications. Not accepting this statement as conclusive, he 
 
 * H. C. in Notes and Queries, April, 1866. 
 
28 PHALLIC REMAINS. 
 
 resolved upon an inspection. Arriving at the scene of his 
 intended explorations he found two round towers, one in the 
 town near the ancient parish church, the other completely 
 detached and outside the walls of the town in the centre of a 
 field. The latter he describes as a most beautiful and graceful 
 edifice, in an excellent state of preservation. The entrances, two 
 in number, are about halfway between the ground and the roof. 
 The tower, he says, is built on an artificial mound about a yard 
 in heiglit, and is thirty feet in circumference. There is no 
 entrance below^, and the solid masonry shows that there never 
 was one. He then says — " Having, along with my friend, Mr. 
 Edwin Lees, of Worcester (F.L.S., and author of " The Geology 
 of the Malvern Hills,") made a most careful examination of the 
 towers, I can assert that they bear a remarkable resemblance to 
 those of Ireland. They have evidently been built by a similar 
 people, and for an identity of purjDOse. Romont is said to be of 
 lloman origin, and to have been called 'Rotundus Mons.' Such 
 name is found in several old MSS. But I am inclined to believe 
 that Romont was inhabited long anterior to Roman domination. 
 The original name w\as, probably, ' Round Tower Hill,' or 
 'The Towers on the Round Hill.' Indeed, in some MSS., the 
 place is called ' Rotundo Monte,' which looks like part of a 
 name, and might induce one to suppose the ablative adjective 
 and noun lack the nominative turres. Romont is the very spot 
 that the worshippers of tire would have selected for a ' high 
 place.' The watch-tower theory is at fault here. Wliat could 
 be wanted with two towers at so short a distance ? They stand 
 on equal elevations, or nearly so — tliere may be a slight difference. 
 One commands the same view" as the other. The belfry theory 
 may be equally dismissed," 
 
 This latter statement is supported by another writer (anony- 
 mous), who speaks of the smallness of the ancient bells preserved 
 in museums, and challenges anyone to take them to the top of, 
 say, Clondalkin tower, near Dublin, and hammer away as 
 vigorously as possible and see if the clatter would be loud 
 enough to summon a congregation within a liundred yards 
 diameter. 
 
 Mr. Dixon proceeds to mention some other towers in the same 
 country, and points out how very similar they are in various 
 particulars to the round towers of other parts of the world. 
 Near the village of Bex he found one whose entrance was 
 probably about halfway between the foundation and the roof. 
 
PHALLIC REMAINS. 29' 
 
 At the town of La Tour de Peilz, a suburb of Yevey, he found 
 two. He says — "As the name of the town is derived from the 
 towers, it may be presumed that there was a time when tliey 
 stood in solitary grandeur. The opening to the cardinal points, 
 the higli doorways, &c., ifec, still exist ; in fact, there are all the 
 features that mark the genuine and unmistakeable round toiver.'' 
 
 At Saint Saphorin, a little hamlet in the same Canton de 
 Vaud, he found another round tower, much dilapidated, but still 
 possessing most of its original features. 
 
 At Lausanne was another, in which a door had been made to 
 obtain access to the lower portion, which previously was closed 
 to the upper. "The high original entrance," he says, "still 
 remains, as do all the characteristic features of a genuine round 
 tower." 
 
 In the canton of Vallais he found another of "these myste- 
 rious " towers — "at the romantic and picturesque town of 
 Martigny, so well-known to all tourists who visit JMont Blanc." 
 This tower is one hundred and eighteen feet high without the 
 roof, and the entrance is exactly halfway between the foundation 
 and the roof. 
 
 The writer then says — " It is not my intention to enter upon 
 any discussion about the Swiss round towers or their j^eculiarity 
 of form. But in concluding this notice, I will say that I am 
 more inclined to the O'Brien than to the Petrie theory. One 
 thing is certain, they are only found in Celtic Switzerland." 
 
 The following extract from Notes and Queries relating to the 
 internal structure of the round towers, may prove of interest to 
 our readers. Mr. W. Cassie says — "An answer to J. B. Waring's 
 query, as to how communication was effected between the stories 
 of the round towers of Ireland, would be, I am certain, more or 
 less guess work. These towers stand from fifty to a hundred and 
 tifty feet in height, with an average circumference of fifty feet at 
 the base, and the distance of the doors from the ground-level 
 varies from four to twenty-four feet. At present they are per- 
 fectly empty from the door upwards, but divided by projectino- 
 blocks of stone into stories ranging in number from three to 
 eight. The main room was apparently at the top, where, 
 with three exceptions, there were windows — generally four in 
 number — though in four towers there are to be seen, five, six 
 seven, and eight windows respectively. These remarks introduce 
 the subject. 
 
 Walter Harris says, " that the Irish towers were fitted with 
 lofts and stages, by means of which and the help of short ladders 
 
30 PHALLIC REMAINS. 
 
 access might readily be had to the top. In an article in the 
 Edinburgh Magazine, a circular tower in Scotland is described, 
 ' Havin<^ stone shelves ranged all round the sides one above the 
 otlier, fuid tliat there are also some remains of an awkward 
 staircase.' O'Brien says this was built by an Irisli colony, 
 and that the Irish round towers have similar shelves or 
 recesses in the wall, or in their place projecting stones." 
 
 "In Archer's 'Travels in Upper India,' he describes some 
 conical pillars at Serrowee having tiles stuck in them resembling 
 steps, and O'Brien says that these were for the purpose of 
 ascending by the aid of a hoop; and that the projecting 
 stones in the Irish towers, or the cavities that appear 
 after their removal, are also thus accounted for. Dr. Milne 
 conjectures that a ladder was used, and that it was after- 
 wards drawn up in a certain manner. If so, one can easily 
 see how one ladder would suffice in many instances to reach 
 the whole of the stories. 
 
 "This is not quite satisfactory. O'Brien's idea that some of 
 the round towers may have been entered by a hoop, or in 
 other words, by the aid of a rope embracing both the 
 climber and the tower in the same fashion as I have 
 no doubt many besides myself have seen, the Arabs climb 
 the palms to open its fruit to the sun is, I think, nearly 
 out of the question; though the Devenish Tower, in Lough 
 Erne, and some others have two doorways, one above the 
 other— a fact which tends to upset the ladder theory. 
 
 "Petrie says that the floors were 'almost always of wood,' 
 and here he gives us leave to imagine occasionally a stone 
 floor. In which case, why not a stone stair? The whole 
 question is beset with difficulties. I may say I have come 
 to the conclusion, after inspecting several of them, that little 
 or no wood was used in the construction of these towers, 
 else in all likelihood would the roofs have been of wood; 
 that the remains of charcoal found in excavating the base 
 of the towers do not prove the existence of wooden steps, 
 and that the majority will be found to evidence staircases 
 of projecting stones outside to the doorways, and inside to 
 the apex, these stones being purposely chosen of a n)aterial 
 well-known to indurate by time." * 
 
 We may add to this the fact that two of these towers, 
 at least, have been discovered in Scotland, and they are thus 
 
 :Kotes and Queries, March, 186G, p. 200. 
 
PHALLIC REMAINS. 31 
 
 described by a traveller named Gordon — " I went directly to 
 Abernethy, the ancient capital of the Pictish nation, about 
 four miles from Perth, to see if I could find any remains 
 of the Picts hereabout, but could discover nothing except a 
 stately hollow pillar without a staircase, so that when I 
 entered within and looked upward, I could scarce forbear 
 imagining myself at the bottom of a deep draw-well. It has 
 only one door or entrance, facing the north, somewhat above 
 the basis, the height of which is eight feet and a half. 
 Towards the top are four windows which have served for the 
 admission of light; they are equi-distant, and five feet nine 
 inches in height, and two feet two inches in breadth, and 
 each is supported by two small pillars. At the bottom are 
 two rows of stones projecting from beneath, which served for 
 a basis or pedestal. The whole height of the pillar is 
 seventy-five feet, and consists of sixty-four rows or reo-ular 
 courses of hewn stone. The external circumference at the 
 base is forty-eight feet, but diminishes somewhat towards the 
 top, and the thickness of the wall is three feet and a half. 
 This is by the inhabitants called the round steeple of 
 Abernethy, and is supposed to be the only remains of 
 Pictish work in these parts." 
 
 Of another tower he thus speaks — " In my journey north- 
 ward, I found a steeple at Brechin, diff'ering little in shape 
 from that at Abernethy, only it was larger and covered at 
 the top ; its height from the base to the cornice is eighty- 
 five feet, and from thence to the vane fifteen, in all one 
 hundred ; it consists of sixty regular courses of stone ; the 
 external circumference thereof is forty-seven feet, and the 
 thickness of the wall three feet eight inches. However, 
 this has no pedestal like the other, but seems to shoot out 
 of the ground like a tree; it has a door fronting the 
 south, the height and breadth of which differ little from 
 Abernethy. 
 
 "This steeple has a low spiral roof of stone, with three 
 or four windows above the cornice, and at the top thereof 
 is placed a vane. It has no staircase within any more than 
 the other, but the inhabitants of both towns ascend to the 
 top by ladders. The vulgar notion of these is tliat they 
 are Pictish, and I should easily have rested in that opinion 
 had I not been since that time assured that some of the 
 like monuments are to be seen in Ireland, where the Picts 
 never were settled." 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 A Difficult Problem — Suggested Uses of the Bound Toivers — 
 Prize Ei^says — Petrie's Theory — Petrie's Inaccuracies — Great 
 Age of the Towers — Petrie's Theory Objected to — Belfries — 
 Faber on Petrie's Fallacies of Reasoning — Extravagant Con- 
 clusions of Theorists — Materials used by the Ancient Irish 
 
 in Building 
 
 AN Irisli writer, some twenty years ago, asked — "Is it 
 not a shame and a wonder tliat the true idea of the 
 origin and use of the round towers of Ireland should have 
 been buried in the darkness of, perhaps, a thousand years? 
 Yet it is so. These objects so striking and remarkable 
 have been made the subject of many essays, and of almost 
 innumerable discussions. Still no published theory respecting 
 them has been accepted as true or as satisfactory by public 
 opinion. The latest distinguished writer on Irish history 
 says — ' That probably the question of their origin and of 
 their use will for ever remain in obscurity.' In the face 
 of such discouragement and failure, it requires no slight 
 energy to approach the subject now with any amount of 
 success." "^ 
 
 The question, "To what uses were these round towers 
 applied?" has always been one which has much exercised the 
 minds of Archaeologists, Theologians, and Thinkers in general, 
 and some nine or ten solutions of the difficulty have been 
 offered, which have afforded various degrees of satisfaction 
 to different classes of enquirers. They read as follows : — 
 
 "1. They were fire-temples. 
 
 2. They were used as places from which to proclaim the 
 
 Druidical festivals. 
 
 3. They were astronomical observatories. 
 
 4. They were phallic emblems or Buddhist temples. 
 
 5. Tliey were anchorite towers or stylite columns. 
 
 6. Tliey were penitential prisons. 
 
 7. Tliey were belfries. 
 
 8. They were keeps or monastic castles. 
 
 9. They were beacons and watch towers." f 
 
 * " Smiddy, on the Druids, &c." 
 f " Petrie, Eccl. Architect, Ireland," -i. 
 
PHALLIC RExMAINS. 33 
 
 Mr. O'Neill jokingly observes— "And, as if nine were not 
 enough, some wag has had the cruelty to inflict a tenth 
 theory, namely, that the towers were built by the ancients 
 for the purpose of puzzling the moderns; and, alas! this 
 has proved to be the truest theory of them all." 
 
 A^arious efforts were made years ago by the Royal Irish 
 Academy to untie this troublesome knot, and at diff'erent 
 times several handsome prizes were oflfered for the best essays 
 upon the subject. Twice in these documents, viz., in 1827 
 and 1828, the theory that they were fire-temples, was 
 maintained. In 1832 another prize was off'ered, and this was 
 gamed by Dr. Petrie, who asserted that they were of Christian 
 origin, a theory which has been adopted by a good many 
 subsequent writers. 
 
 From the delay in the publication of Dr. Petrie's essay, 
 it would appear that either the author or the academy, or 
 perhaps both, had some misgivings as to the soundness of 
 the off'ered explanation ; for, it is said, that as long a period 
 as thirteen years passed before the essay made its appear- 
 ance, by which time it had - grown considerably in bulk, 
 filling a closely-printed imperial octavo of nearly five hundred 
 pages, whereas originally it consisted only of fifty. 
 
 If we turn to the essay itself, we find its author's views 
 thus stated : — 
 
 "I. That the towers are of Christian and ecclesiastical 
 origin, and were erected at various periods between the fifth 
 and thirteenth centuries. 
 
 2. That they were designed to answer at least a twofold 
 use, namely, to serve as belfries, and as keeps, or places 
 ot strength m which the sacred utensils, books, relics and 
 other valuables were deposited, and into which the ecclesiastics 
 to whom they belonged could retire for security in case of 
 sudden predatory attack. 
 
 X That they were ptobably also used when occasion 
 required, as beacons or watch-towers." 
 
 The proof of the above would appear to have been, in 
 Dr. Petrie s judgment, a very much easier task than it has 
 generally been regarded by other writers, for he actually says 
 in his preface-" That I have been able to throw some con- 
 siderable light on tiie hitherto neglected antiquities of my 
 country, and to remove the very thin veil which involved the 
 origin of round toivers in mystery, will, I fondly hope, be the 
 
 D 
 
34 PHALLIC REMAINS. 
 
 opinion of the learned." Then he proceeds — "I heave not, 
 however, any very sanguine expectations that either the 
 evidences or arguments which I have adduced, or those which 
 I have still to submit to my readers, will have any very 
 immediate effect on the great majority of the middle-classes 
 of the Irish people (for the lower or agricultural classes 
 have no ideas upon the subject but the true ones), in changing 
 their opinions as to their indefinite antiquity and Pagan uses." 
 
 The exposure which has been made of Dr. Petrie's boasted 
 accuracy— an accuracy to which he says he pledges himself 
 
 may be passed over as of little consequence in our present 
 
 enquiry ; what we have to do with chiefly is his theory of 
 the exclusively Christian origin of these towers. 
 
 It is known that there was a great Art Era with the 
 Irish Christians, in which the most wonderful and beautiful 
 of works of all kinds were produced. During this era. Dr. 
 Petrie says, the round tow^ers were built, and for the purposes 
 we have enumerated. There appears but little reason for such 
 an assertion, for there is nothing about them which in any 
 way links them with the beautiful works of that period. 
 As" to his statement that, " On several of them Christian 
 emblems are observable;" that is absolutely without proof, 
 and to this day has never been supported and verified. 
 
 Now there are two branches or schools amongst those who 
 hold the theory that the towers belong to the Christian era 
 of Ireland. One of these, of which Dr. Petrie was the 
 head, insisted that these buildings were erected at various 
 periods from the commencement of the iSfth to the close of 
 tlie twelfth century. The others say that the period of all 
 these buildings is confined to the twelfth and following 
 centuries, and they argue upon the well-established fact that 
 the Celtic Irish had no buildings of stone and mortar before 
 the twelfth century. "We have," says Mr. Keane, "the 
 testimony of contemporary writers that then, for the first 
 time, buildings in stone began to be erected; the previous 
 structures built by the Irish, whether palaces, churches, or 
 monasteries, being all of wood or eartliwork. If, therefore, 
 the beautifully-wrought specimens of architecture to be de- 
 cided be assumed to belong to the Christian era, they cannot 
 be assigned to a period earlier than the twelfth century, 
 for then was introduced the Gothic or early English style, 
 displaying in Ireland the same architechtural character as. 
 
PHALLIC REMAINS. 35 
 
 that of the more civilized country, though the build in f^s 
 themselves were inferior in decorative skill and artistic 
 completeness." 
 
 Smiddy says— " The age of the towers is truly great. In 
 even the twelfth century, at the period of the English 
 invasion, legend and story had gathered round them* on 
 account of their great antiquity. In recording the physical 
 wonders of Ireland, an English priest, Giraldus Cambrensis, 
 who had come Avith King John to this country, says that 
 the fishermen of Lough Neagh at certain times saw the 
 submerged round towers of past ages shining at the bottom 
 of that lake, or as the poet Moore has rendered it : 
 
 On Lough Neagh's bank as the fisherman strays, 
 
 When the clear cold eve's declining, 
 He sees the round towers of other days, 
 
 In the wave beneath him shining." 
 
 Speaking of the various theories propounded respecting- 
 the origin and uses of the round towers, Smiddy, after 
 mentioning several of them, says— " Lastly, Dr. Petrie, wdiose 
 essay on the subject obtained a prize and gold medal from 
 the Royal Irish Academy, maintained that they were in- 
 tended to serve as belfries, and also as keeps or places of 
 strength in which the sacred utensils, books, relics and other 
 valuables of the adjoining church were preserved, and into 
 which the ecclesiastics to whom they belonged, could retire 
 for security in case of sudden predatory attacks." 
 
 "It would be an almost endless task to examine the 
 grounds foi- these various theories with a view to their 
 refutation. It is only the true theory that can accomplish 
 the work, and if that can be discovered it will demolish 
 all these at one stroke. But with respect to Dr. Petrie's. 
 theory, one would imagine that a slight and narrow tower, 
 one hundred or one hundred and thirty feet high, would 
 be a poor place to fly to with one's treasures, when a few 
 stones taken out of the foundation with a crow-bar would 
 soon bring the whole structure crashing to the ground. 
 That elevation, too, would not be the best suited for the 
 ringing of a bell, or the transmission of its sound, especially 
 when we know how small were the bells of early times 
 compared with those in use at preseat. Possibly to the 
 circumstance of their never having possessed any treasure, 
 is mainly due the preservation of so many of the round 
 towers to this day. 
 
36 PHALLIC REMAINS. 
 
 "Perhaps according to our motto, Antiquam exquirite ma- 
 
 trem ' Search out the ancient mother ' — the name of the 
 
 round tower in the Irish language may throw some liglit 
 on its use and origin. In the Irish Annals and old 
 Chronicles we find the names Cloiciheach and Cloigtlieach 
 applied to the round towers and to other structures. 
 Cloictheach means ' the house of stone,' and cloigtlieach 
 'the house of the bell,' or belfry. But the universal 
 popular name of the round tower in Munster, Connaught, 
 and other Irish speaking parts of Ireland is cuilceach or 
 culctheach. This name is formed from cuile 'a reed,' and 
 theach ' a house,' that is, the reed house, or reed-shaped 
 structure. Thus the people have always said with constant 
 unerring accuracy, w^ien speaking of these stuctures, cuilceach 
 Cohnain, the round tower of Colman (the patron saint); 
 cuilceach Deaglain, the round tosver of Deaglan (of Ard- 
 more), and so on. Some have said that cuilceach is a mere 
 corruption of claigtheach ' the bell-house.' It is no such 
 thino-. It is the real true name of the round tower in 
 Irish, and is pronounced by the people with unmistakable 
 accuracy. There is growing in the bogs and ruins of Ire- 
 land a large kind of cuilc or reed, with a conical head, 
 which in form and shape resembles the lines of the round 
 tower, and which, I am sure, was originally taken as the 
 model for it. Anyone looking at the perfect round tower 
 of Ratoo, in Kerry, and at the reeds growing in the water 
 near it, must be at once struck by the great resemblance 
 in shape which they bear to one another."-^ 
 
 The Rev. G. S. Faber, in the Dublin University Magazine 
 for 1850, vol. 35, p. 330, calls attention to the several weak 
 points in Pr. Petrie's theories, and says — "The fallacy of 
 his reasoning may be compendiously expressed in the familiar 
 logical dogma, Dolus latet in generalibus, that is to say, he 
 puts more into his premises, and thence deduces generals 
 from ^ja?'^ic?/^^a?'6'." 
 
 His line of argument, as I understand him, is the 
 following : — 
 
 He assumes that the round towers were erected at various 
 periods between the fifth and thirteenth centuries, so that 
 the supposed earliest are allowed to be as old as the mis- 
 sion of Patrick. 
 
 *" Druids, Hound Towers, ifcc," p. 199. 
 
PHALLIC REMAIXS. 37 
 
 Next he brings satisfactory testimony to show that between 
 the tenth and thirteenth centuries many round towers were 
 built by Christians, and attached to their churches for the 
 ecclesiastical purpose of belfries. 
 
 _ Then he fairly acknowledges the general absence of dis- 
 tinct notices, and the extreme meagreness of the Irish annals 
 anterior to the tenth century ; in other words, he acknow- 
 ledges that between the fifth and the tenth centuries we 
 have no definite accounts either of the building of round 
 towers or of the use to which they were put. 
 
 Now, in what manner does Dr. Petrie employ these 
 materials ? 
 
 From the evidentially ascertained building and ecclesiastical 
 use of round towers between the tenth and thirteenth 
 centuries, he draws the conclusion : that all round towers, 
 the more ancient included as well as the more modern, must- 
 have been built by Christians for ecclesiastical purposes; in 
 other words, he draws a general conclusion from only \mr- 
 ticular premises. 
 
 Such, if I mistake not, is the fallacy in Dr. Petrie's 
 reaso}iing. ^ His ojnnion, abstractedly, may be quite correct. 
 But that is not precisely the point. We are concerned 
 with the 2^]'oof. And here we cannot help feeling that 
 Dolus latet in generalibus. 
 
 Dr. Petrie, however, draws what I readily admit to be no 
 improbable inference. 
 
 One of the principal duties of the aistaire, he tells us, 
 was to ring the bell in the cloictheach or round tower. But 
 the office of astaire can be shown to have existed in the 
 Irish church under Patrick in the fifth century. Therefore, 
 a not improbable inference may be drawn, that bell-towers 
 were then in existence ; as, otherwise, this duty could not 
 have been performed. 
 
 I have not the slightest quarrel with the inference. On 
 the contrary, it is the precise inference which, for the purpose 
 of showing the existence of round toivers in the fifth century, 
 I myself should have drawn, and I feel scarcely a doubt 
 of its correctness. 
 
 But what then? What is the result? 
 
 Truly I am at a loss to perceive how this perfectly legiti- 
 mate inference can substantiate the opinion that the round 
 towers were universalhj built for ecclesiastical purposes, and 
 
38 PHALLIC REMAINS. 
 
 that the earliest of them wore constructed in the fifth 
 century hy Patric and his Christian associates. It may be 
 so, but still the inference would only go to the use made 
 of the round towers in the earliest Hiberno-Christian times; 
 it would not go, yet additional!}^, to the construction of those 
 towers by Christian hands for Christian purposes. 
 
 Purely hypothetically, let us say, that Patric did not 
 build these very ancient round towers, but found them ready 
 built to his hand ; and let us mark the result of such a 
 supposition. 
 
 We all know that in the early propagation of Christianity 
 among the northern nations, it was a regularly established 
 plan to appropriate pagan places of worship to Christian 
 purposes, with such additions of churches and the like as 
 might be found convenient or necessary. This, according to 
 Bede, was the plan enjoined by Pope Gregory upon Augustine 
 of Canterbury, in the sixth century, or the very centiu-y 
 which succeeded the mission of Patric to the Irish, No%\, 
 there is nothing in Dr. Petrie's very just inference to forbid 
 the belief that Patric found certain pagan round towers 
 already in existence, and, naturally enough, ajDplied them to 
 the Christian use of belfries, while churches were built in 
 immediate contiguity. 
 
 I do not positively assert that it tuas so, but most 
 assuredly the inference will warrant only the itse, not the 
 erection, of the round towers, which Dr. Petrie assumes to 
 have existed in the fifth century and in the time of Patric. 
 
 If, then, we consider the point of probability, the question 
 will be : whether it be more likely tliat Patric erected such 
 extraordinary edifices, or that he found them ei'ected by 
 pagan hands, and applied them to a very obvious Christian 
 use in exact conformity with the plan, authoritati\ely as 
 we know, in those days recommended. 
 
 It is, no doubt, a question of mere probability, and, as 
 I understand Dr. Petrie, the question either way is incapable 
 of being decided evidentially. Let us, tlien, purely for the 
 sake of discussion, take that side of the alternative which 
 is rejected by Dr. Petrie, and we shall see that it will 
 account for the existence and application of all the round 
 towers confessedly built by Christians between the tentli and 
 the thirteenth centuries. 
 
 Patric, we will say, found certain round towers which had 
 
PHALLIC REMAINS. 39 
 
 been built by pagan hands for pagan religious purposes. 
 The missionary applied them to Christian uses. They were 
 found very convenient for belfries ; and henceforth, quite 
 down to the thirteenth century, whenever a belfry was 
 wanted to a new church, an imitative round tower was 
 erected. Much the same progress may be observed in the 
 well-known change of the Roman basilica into the Christian 
 cathedral. The change was speedily followed by similar 
 imitative Christian buildings ; and the pagan basilica became 
 the type of the larger Christian church. 
 
 Now, I do not assert, in opposition to Dr. Petrie, that 
 such tvas the progress of the Irish round tower; I only 
 say that, by his own shev/ing, such might have been the 
 progress. Neither side of the alternative has ever been 
 l^roced, and, for anything that evidentially appears to the 
 contrary, the earliest round towers may just as well have 
 been built by pagans as by Christians; yet it may not be 
 useless to compare and weigh opposing probabilities. 
 
 On the supposition that round towers were first built in 
 the fifth century by Christian hands and for Christian pur- 
 poses, we are obviously led to ask how Patric came to adopt 
 that very peculiar shape rather than any other more familiar 
 one. Was he the architectural inventor of the round tower? 
 Or did he bring the model of it from France or Italy? 
 I am unable jnyself to answer these questions. I only 
 know, that with the exception of (I believe) two in Celtic 
 Scotland, round towers of the Irish type are usually deemed 
 peculiar to Ireland. Something like parallel cases have, I 
 believe, been brought from Hindostan or its vicinity; but 
 these would afford no solution of the principle on which 
 Patric might be thought to have permanently introduced 
 them into the land of his mission. 
 
 On the contrary supposition, that the earliest round towers 
 were built by pagan hands prior to the arrival of Patric, 
 we shall not have very far to seek for at least a plausible 
 explanation of their peculiar shape. When I wrote, between 
 thirty and forty years ago, my "Origin of Pagan Idolatry," 
 I knew so very little of the Irish round towers, that I did 
 not care to commit or expose myself by introducing a sub- 
 ject which I had then never studied, and of which I was 
 consciously ignorant. Otherwise, I might have well intro- 
 duced them into my comparative view of pyramidal or conical 
 
40 PHALLIC REMAINS. 
 
 temples, if temples according to our common idea of a temple, 
 they may be properly denominated. I considered all buildings 
 of either pyramidal or the conical form, whatever might Idc 
 their several proportions of height relatively to base, as 
 designedly constructed with the same ideality ; and since I 
 met with such buildings in regions widely separated from 
 each other, I concluded that they must all have sprung from 
 one common centre ; the region, to wit, where the wiiole 
 postdiluvian race were once congregated, and whence they 
 were subsequently scattered over the face of the whole 
 earth .... Now with or without propriety, I might, at least, 
 on the principle of analogy, have classed with other pyramidal 
 or conical buildings the round towers of Ireland. The 
 analogy is certain ; whether it be the result of accident or 
 design is another question. In point of fact, I should de- 
 fine an Irish round tower to be a conical pyramid, the 
 proportions of which in height compared to base widely 
 differed from those of either the Egyptian pyramid or the 
 Indian pagoda, or the Buddhic cone, while they closely 
 correspond with those of the lofty square Chinese pyramid. 
 
 I am by no means prepared to affirm that the most 
 ancient of the round towers must have been erected anterior 
 to the fifth century and the arrival of Patric, or the some- 
 what earlier arrival of Palladius, by pagan hands and for 
 pagan purposes; for it may be doubted whether we have 
 sufficient evidence to affirm anything positively. But I 
 certainly think that for the pagan side of the alternative 
 rejected by Dr. Petrie, as fair a case of probability may 
 be made out as for the Christian side of the alternative 
 espoused by him. At all events, he has given no legitimate 
 proof that his opinion must be correct, for the evidentially- 
 established circumstance that the less ancient round towers 
 were erected by Christian hands for Christian purposes, 
 between the tenth and the thirteenth centuries, is no valid 
 proof, either that the more ancient ones of the fifth century 
 were built by Patric and his Christian converts, or that 
 no round towers were in existence previous to his arrival. 
 
 "The assertors of the pre-Christian and post-Christian 
 date of the structures are both in extremes, tlie former in 
 saying that they all belong to pagan, the latter to Christian 
 times. It must be admitted that round towers have been 
 erected subsequent to tlie fifth century, as belfries, or 
 
PHALLIC REMAINS. 41 
 
 ornaments of some kind ; but to insist from this fact that 
 none existed prior to that period is a fallacy very easy to 
 illustrate. Throughout Europe there are to be seen Chris- 
 tian churches and other public edifices, built exactly like 
 the pagan temples of Greece and Rome. These structures 
 have been reared chiefly in the eighteenth and nineteenth 
 centuries, and if one were to assert that no such edifices 
 existed previous to these dates, he would commit the same 
 fallacy that those fall into who Avould infer that round 
 towers were unknown before the twelfth and thirteenth 
 century, dates to which they are only able to assign the 
 erection of one or two of them. The truth is that public 
 buildings are traditioyial The same kind of building is 
 erected froui age to age for different purposes. The temple 
 of Jupiter, or Apollo, or Minerva, revives after nearly three 
 thousand years, in the form of a School of Arts, as in 
 Edinburgh ; or of a Catholic Cathedral, as in INlarlborough 
 Street, Dublin; or of a Presbyterian or a Methodist Chapel, 
 as may be seen in alxpost every town in the United 
 Kingdom. Therefore, though we should be able to show 
 that every round tower now standing in Ireland was of 
 post-Christian date — and only one or two can be so shown 
 — it would not follow that no such structures existed in 
 Ireland previous to the era of St. Patrick. On the con- 
 trary, the probability would be that the Christian Irish got 
 the models from their pagan ancestors. 
 
 "The round tower is an Asiatic building ^;«7' excellence. 
 There are round towers in Persia and in India, so old that 
 their age and use are alike unknown. Syria, comprising the 
 Canaan, and PhoBnicia of antiquity is full of them ; but they 
 are modern and, no doubt, also they are traditional. In a 
 letter published in the Nation newspaper, under the signa- 
 ture C, 12th July, 1851, I have shown that the 'high 
 places ' of the Canaanites so often mentioned in scripture 
 as places of pagan worship, were hiyh towers, and though 
 I have not proved yet I have rendered it highly probable, 
 that they were round towers. 
 
 "When we consider that Ireland is the only country in 
 Europe in which these Asiatic structures are to be found, 
 we are forcibly impelled to the conclusion that the idea of 
 the round tower was imported into Ireland by an Asiatic 
 people, and this inference is not in the smallest degree con- 
 
42 PHALLIC REMAINS. 
 
 tradictecl by the fact that some fe^Y of them can be shown 
 to be more than a thousand or eight hundred years old.""^ 
 
 Sir James Ware, writing in the year 1G54, says — "Cer- 
 tain it is that the ancient Irish had no walled towns before 
 the coming of the English, as Dublin, Limerick, Waterford, 
 Wexford, and Cork, but they were built by the Easterlings. 
 That which we treat of here is of the houses of the ancient 
 Irish, which as they were neither marble nor brick, so 
 neither were they (unless very seldom) subterraneous caves 
 or dens, as were those of the ancient Geruians described 
 by Tacitus, but made of hurdles and covered with straw or 
 rushes, few of them were of solid timber. These were 
 either great or small according to the dignity of the inhabi- 
 tants, and were usually built in woods and on the banks 
 of rivers. Nor was it otherwise (it seems) among the ancient 
 Britons. Of the castle of Pembroke, built of small rods 
 and turf by Arnulphus de Mountgomery, under Henry I. 
 (see Giraldus Cambrensis), and - of the most ancient towns 
 of the Britons. The Britons (says CiBsar) call it a town 
 when they have hedged in a wood with a bank and a ditch. 
 From this poor sort of building among the ancient Irish, 
 it comes to pass that we have so few signs remaining of 
 any houses or castles built by the kings of Ireland before 
 the comincc of the Enfjlish. Therefore, when Roderick O'Con- 
 nor, king of Connaught, in the year 1161, built a stone 
 castle at Tuam, it was so new and unusual in those times 
 that the Irish called it the Wonderful Castle. But above 
 all is Temoria (now called Teragh), in Meath, wliicli though it 
 was their pi-incipal palace, and the place where at certain 
 times they held their royal assemblies ; yet at this day there 
 is not the least sign or remainder of an ancient building. 
 The first of the Irish, or at least one of the first who 
 began to build with stone and lime, was Malachias O' 
 Morgair, Archbishop of Armagh. Of whicli St. Bernard, 
 who lived at the same time, says thus in the life of 
 !Malachias, he was of opinion that he ought to build a stone 
 oratory at Benchor, like those he had seen in other countries; 
 and, having began to lay the foundation, it was the wonder 
 of the natives, the like buildings never before having been 
 seen in that country. And a little after he introduces a 
 
 * VUtev Jour. Arch., vol. 1, p. 303. 
 
PHxVLLIC REMAINS. 43 
 
 certain malicious fellow exclaiming thus — ' O good man, what 
 is your meaning to introduce such a novelty into our 
 country ? What levity is this 1 We are Scots, not Gauls ! 
 What need is there of so proud and so superfluous a work ? 
 How will you, poor man, bear the charge of it ? or who 
 will ever see it finished ? ' In Bernard we likewise read 
 that this Malachias built an oratory there some years before, 
 well and firmly set together of planed timber, for a Scotch 
 work, fair enough. Nor is it beside the purpose to remem- 
 ber here that Henry II., King of England, being in Dublin 
 in 1171, caused to be built a royal palace of smooth rods, 
 after a wonderful manner, near St. Andrew's church, without 
 the city, where he with the kings and princes of Ireland, 
 celebrated the festival of the nativity of our Lord. So says 
 Roger Hoveden." "^ 
 
 * " Antiquities of Ireland." 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 M. Violett le Due on certain ^'- Light Toivers" — Suggestions 
 respecting the Irish Towers — Early Architecture of Ireland — 
 The Stone Age — Early Saints — Preservation of the Toicers 
 — The Cuthiies — Sir John Davis on Irish Building Jlate- 
 7nals — Mr. Parker oyi Ancient Building Materials — Phallic 
 Worship among the Cuthites — Wanderings and Wars of the 
 Cuthites — Ireland and the Ciithites — Diffusion and Degenera- 
 tion of Phallic Worship. 
 
 ""TN the admirable dictionary of M. Violett le Due (vol. 
 L 6, p. 155), is a very curious account of certain towers 
 which are found in cemeteries in the centre and west of 
 France, and in which formerly lights were burned at night 
 to indicate the proximity to the last resting-places of the 
 dead. He states that they are also called fanel, tourniele^ 
 and phare. The earliest notice he gives is from an old 
 chronicle of the Crusades, which states — ' Then died Saladin 
 (Salahedius), the greatest prince that there was in Pagan- 
 dom, and was buried in the cemetery of St. Nicholas of 
 Acre, near his mother, who was there very richly interred ; 
 and over them a beautiful and grand tower, where is night 
 and day a lamp full of olive oil, and the hospital of St. 
 John of Acre pays and causes it to be lighted, wlio hold 
 great rents which Saladin and his mother left them.' " 
 
 "The author says, however, there is a tradition that they 
 were ' menhirs ' or erections of stone, consecrated to the 
 Sun in Druidical times. He gives illustrations of three of 
 these lanterns to the dead. They have all a small door, 
 raised some distance above the ground, and an opening or 
 window at the top, where the lighted lamp was exhibited. 
 One is from Celfronin (Charente), and is like a pier sur- 
 rounded by clustered columns about six feet in diameter, 
 and including a sort of conical top or spire about forty 
 feet high. Tlie mouldings, kc, show it to be the work of 
 the thirteentli century. The second exists at Ciron (Indre), 
 has a similar door, and six lancet windows at the top, and 
 is not more than twenty-live feet high. Tlie tliird is at 
 
PHALLIC REMAINS. 45 
 
 Antigny (Vienne), and is square with small jamb-shafts at 
 the angles, and is about thirty-five feet hioh and seems 
 
 _ "Is it possible that the round towers of Irehind were 
 intended to serve as cemetery lights or lanterns of the dead? 
 in France, these fanals seem to be confined to tiie Celtic 
 distric s, and it is not impossible that the Celtic races in 
 Ireland may have seen and copied them. Tliey have the 
 same entrances a little above ordinary reach, the same window 
 
 after "^^Lir'^'h . ^r"" """'u' *?' " ' ' " ^' '' "°* i.npossible 
 attcr all that they may be the means of dispellinct the 
 
 oTSnd/* " ''""°" '° '°"' "''' '''' f^-f-"-' *»--' 
 "The round towers and other edifices of what may be 
 termed the pnmitive architecture of Ireland, are couunonly 
 classed with the English-Norman from a' simikrity in ou S 
 both hav.ng doorways and windows with semicircular heads' 
 but so many difficulties and anomalies present then lefves 
 n following up the comparison, that several of the most 
 learned and diligent enquirers have given up the subLras 
 utterly inexplicable. It is manifestly absurd to af^' m tha 
 a people who had never previously to the twelftli century 
 con tructed buildings of stone, and openly e:.pressed thek 
 
 ve,y Ji, St essay, so many fine examples of skill in buildin.. 
 and sculpture, attesting the early excellence of architec urlf 
 art, even now in their condition of ruin, with e ecde 
 siastioal structures of our advanced period 
 
 "However, there is a large amount of evidence to prove 
 that some of the finest examples of ancient Irish arcliitecture 
 existed long before the twelfth century-some as earl v« 
 the hfth which has induced Dr. Petrie and hif sS S 
 question the authenticity of the evidence, attestin<^ ^haftle 
 commence„,ent o building in stone amokg the Iril CeUs 
 was not earlier than the twelfth century."! 
 r. ll'^'?-''f *''''''® '^ '""P'® evidence to prove that the Irish 
 Celts did not build in stone before the twelfth cent "rv 
 another equally important historical fact in support tfnf; 
 
 ^ Notes and Queries, 1864, p. 115. 
 t Keaue, "Antiquities of Ireland," xviii. 
 
46 PHALLIC REMAINS. 
 
 views is sustained by even more abundant evidence, viz.: — 
 that antecedent to the Celtic invasion, which took place 
 m;iny centuries before our era, Ireland was inhabited by a 
 highly-civilized race of building celebrity ; and a careful 
 investigation of the ancient classic and oriental histories and 
 traditions will clearly prove the identity of this primitive 
 race with the Cuthites of antiquity, the descendants of Ham, 
 
 " As a general rule, the sites at which the remains of 
 ancient Irish architecture are found, have their foundation 
 ascribed to Christian Saints reported to have lived in the 
 fifth and sixth centuries. I endeavour to prove that these 
 so-called Saints, with the exception of St. Patrick and a 
 few others, were the divinities or hero-gods worshipped by 
 tlie earliest apostates from the north, who, under the names 
 of Cuthites, Scythians, and various other denominations, bore 
 sway in the earth for a considerable period, commencing at 
 the usurpation of Nimrod, the grandson of Ham ; and that 
 Cuthite superstitions traditionally preserved were the origin 
 of Irish legendary hagiology. 
 
 " That so many of these structures should have survived 
 the wasting effects of time and change, during an interval 
 of three thousand years, is accounted for by several causes : 
 First, the building stone of Ireland excels in enduring re- 
 sistance to atmospheric influences the same material in other 
 European countries. Secondly, Ireland never having been 
 subjected to Roman dominion, the substantial edifices of the 
 primitive colonists escaped demolition for the construction of 
 an alien architecture. And, thirdly, the Celtic conquerors 
 of these Cutliite colonists, though themselves despising the 
 art of building in stone, suffered to remain uninjured those 
 edifices to which they ascribe a supernatural origin." * 
 
 Mr. Keane further says that his conviction of the heathen 
 origin of these ruins has been strengthened in proportion to 
 the increased knowledge which he lias acquired by examina- 
 tion of the ruins themselves, and by the study of works 
 bearing upon the subject. He then proceeds to criticise Dr. 
 Petrie's essay in somewhat similar terms to those in w^hich 
 it has been dealt with by O'Neill, G. S. Faber and others, 
 and he remarks that Dr. Petrie undertakes to prove : — 
 First, that the round towers of Ireland are coeval with the 
 
 * Keane, " Anc. Arch., Ireland," xlx., xx. 
 
PHALLIC REMAINS. 47 
 
 anc-ient so-called "Norman" stone-roofed churclies and crosses 
 found so frequently in Ireland; and, secondly, that these 
 stone-roofed churches and crosses, as well as the round 
 towers, were erected after the introduction of Christianity 
 He, Mr. Keane, says— " I think he has failed in his second 
 argument ; and my effort slial] be to show, that not only 
 the round towers, but also the crosses, &c., are entirely of 
 heatlien origin, and are in fact, the work of the Tuath-de- 
 Danaans and their Cuthite predecessors." 
 
 Now, a good deal in this discussion turns upon the 
 character of material employed by the early Irish in the 
 construction of their various buildings, ecclesiastical, domestic 
 or otherwise, and the opinions of the learned in antiquarian 
 matters must be duly consulted in order to arrive at a iust 
 and sensible conclusion. Ledwich says— " From every evi- 
 dence supplied by antiquity, it is certain the Irish had 
 neither domestic edifices or religious structures of lime or 
 stone, antecedent to the great nortliern invasion in the ninth 
 century. Some years before the birth of Christ, Drusus 
 erected castles or forts along the Rhine, so that the cal- 
 cination of stone and the preparation of mortar, could not 
 be unknown to the natives, and yet a hundred years after 
 iacitus assures us the Germans did not use cement or 
 mortar. A century later, Herodian and Dion Cassius declare 
 the same. Tacitus does not say the Germans were ionorant 
 of mortar and its composition, that would have been im- 
 possible from their intercourse with the Romans, he only 
 denies them the use of it; their riches, as this writer 
 observes, were their flocks and herds, their life was pastoral, 
 a state of society wherein no one expects to find durable 
 structures. And yet they had skill enough to form subter- 
 ranean granaries and antrile chambers to secure their corn 
 and soften the winter's cold. Such was exactly the case 
 with the Irish. Whatever change Christianity operated in 
 the religious sentiments of the latter, it made no alteration 
 in the political constitution of the country, of course thino-s 
 remained in their ancient state as to the arts of civil life. 
 The force of this analogical reasoning cannot be resisted it 
 must satisfy every rational inquirer. If to this we superadd 
 the positive proofs, before alleged, of our buildings beino- 
 ot wood, nothing more is wanting to make it complete 
 demonstration." ^ . 
 
 * "Antiquities of Ireland." 
 
48 PHALLIC REMAINS. 
 
 Let us hear Sir Jolm Davis, a candid and intelligent 
 observer — ''Though the Irishry be a nation of great antiquity, 
 and wanted neither wit nor valour; and though they have 
 received the Christian faith above twelve hundred years 
 since, and were lovers of poetry, musick, and all kinds of 
 learning, and were possessed of a land in all things necessary 
 for the civil life of man, yet, which is strange to be related, 
 they did 7iever build any houses of brick or stone, some few 
 poor religious houses excepted, before the reign of King 
 Henry II., though they were lords of the isle many hundred 
 before and since the conquest attempted by the English. 
 Albeit, when they saw us build castles upon their borders, 
 they have only in imitation of us, erected a few piles for 
 the captains of the country. Yet, I dare boldly say, that 
 never any particular person, either before or since, did 
 build any stone or brick house for his private habitation, 
 but such as have lately obtained estates according to the 
 course of the law of England. Neither did any of them 
 in all this time plant any garden or orchard, settle villages 
 or towns, or make any provision for posterity." ^ 
 
 We quote also the statement of Mr. J. H. Parker ; he 
 says — " A careful examination of the principal buildings of 
 modern Europe from which the general history of architecture 
 has been drawn, has demonstrated that after the fall of the 
 Roman Empire, the people who succeeded them were accus- 
 tomed to build chiefly of wood, of which we have, of course, 
 no remains ; and occasionally of rough stone, such as they 
 found ready to their hands on the surface of the ground, 
 or split from the rocks or cliffs by means of wedges. The 
 various tribes of the Northmen, whether called Saxons, or 
 Danes, or Normans, or by other names in other countries, 
 who over-ran Europe in all directions and destroyed the 
 Roman civilization, were accustomed to build in this manner 
 only, when they built at all. When these nations began 
 to be civilized and became Christian, they became very 
 zealous Christians, as it was their nature to be vigorous 
 and zealous in everything that they undertook. Having 
 become Christian they began to build churches everywhere 
 with wonderful activity and zeal, but they did not possess 
 much skill in building, they had everything to learn by 
 copying the older buildings of the Romans, or such others 
 * Ledwich, " Hist. Res." 
 
PHALLIC REMAINS. 49 
 
 as they could find to copy. The earlier churches were 
 generally of wood, and the chronicles are full of accounts 
 of the burning of churches ; it was not until the eleventh 
 century that churches were commonly built of stone, in order 
 that they might not be burnt. The number of churches 
 erected in the eleventh century was marvellous, but they 
 were so badly built that comparatively few have come down 
 to our time ; we have, however, enough of them to see 
 that they were at first entirely of rough stone, and that 
 cut stone or ashlar was introduced very gradually and very 
 sparingly at first, being confined to the corners and what 
 are called the dressings — that is, the sides of the openings 
 for door and windows — for a long period, down to near the 
 end of the eleventh century. It is not until quite the end 
 of that century that we can find anywhere buildings faced 
 entirely with ashlar or cut stone, and at first the joints of 
 mortar between these cut stones were extremely rude and 
 clumsy. The walls of all early buildings are also very 
 thick and massive, and as the workmen became more skilful 
 by practice, they learned to be more careful of the material ; 
 they discovered that walls of half the thickness well-built 
 were equally strong with those of double the mass badly 
 put together. They learned by degrees to arrange these 
 rough stones in regular courses, and to trim them with the 
 hammer ; eventually they learned the art of cutting stone 
 into square blocks called ashlar, and to reduce the spaces 
 between these blocks, until they arrived at walls built en- 
 tirely of ashlar, with very fine joints and wonderfully thin 
 for the height to which they were reared and the masses 
 they had to carry. But it was not until the twelfth century 
 that this perfection of masonry was anywhere attained ; and 
 it was not until the thirteenth that the marvellously thin 
 walls, which shew such skill in construction, were erected, 
 such as those of Notre Dame de Dijon, tfec. 
 
 Many successive generations of workmen were necessary 
 before such a degree of skill as this in the art of building 
 was attained. To suppose that the native Irish possessed 
 this degree of skill centuries before any other nation is the 
 height of improbability." "^ 
 
 The remarkable people called the Cuthites, and to whom 
 the round towers are attributed as remains of monuments 
 Gentleman's Magazine, vol. 16, X.S. 
 
 E 
 
50 PHALLIC REMAINS. 
 
 connected with tbeir worship of the Phallus, are an extremely 
 ancient race now known as Samaritans, and said to be 
 rapidly approaching extinction. It is said that they were 
 an ingenious and powerful people, and ruled the world for 
 many centuries after the Noachian Deluge, They are also 
 said to have been established as a kingdom by the first 
 king of Babylon, Nimrod, Belus, or Elorus. They were known 
 as Scythians, and their dominion was antecedent to the 
 Assyrian Empire. 
 
 Phallic worship was all-prevailing during the time of their 
 prosperity and power, and from them found its way into 
 India, "introduced," as history says, "from the banks of the 
 Euphrates where the mighty Lord Belus was thus worshipped." 
 
 Here we are reminded of the origin of the title " Shep- 
 herd Kings," which arose from the fact of the king of 
 Babylon assuming to himself the name of the Royal 
 Shepherd, hence the Cuthite victors in Egypt were called 
 Shepherds, or Shepherd Kings. Some other names by which 
 the Cuthites were known were Ethiops, Phoenico?, Scuthi, 
 Hyperboreans, Cyclopeans, Centaurs, Titans, and Denions. 
 
 The progress of these Cuthites or Scythians gradually 
 westward has been traced by several w^riters, notably by 
 Bryant, who mentions two great w^ars, the first w^hich, he 
 says, was for dominion, which lasted ten years, and ended 
 in the defeat of the Cuthites, who were expelled from 
 Babylonia and driven to Tartarus, i.e., to the west ; others 
 of them were at the same time made tributaries in the 
 localities where they had founded settlements. "This," says 
 Keane, " was the war referred to by the ancients as that be- 
 tween the Gods and the Giants — the Greeks and the Centaurs; 
 and the war of the sexes as recorded by Wilford and Faber 
 from Hindoo mythology." 
 
 The second war was one of extirpation. After the over- 
 throw of the Cuthite dominion, the remains of that race in 
 Italy, Sicily, and by the borders of the Euxine, became 
 objects of intense dislike and hatred to their neighbours on 
 account of their religious practices, which included human 
 sacrifices. 
 
 This banishment to Tartarus is said to mean " to the 
 west to the abyss of the Atlantic Ocean and tlie unknown 
 ref'-ions beyond." Keane is of opinion that this emigration 
 was probably the first colonisation of America, and tliat 
 
PHALLIC REMAINS. 51 
 
 then also Ireland for the first time may have been peopled. 
 
 Keating describes the journeying of these Scythians as 
 first from Scythia, the country about the river Tanais on 
 the Euxine. "They travel backwards and forwards between 
 Scythia, Crete, Egypt, Thrace, and Gothland, thence to 
 Spain, and ultimately to Ireland." He derives his informa- 
 tion, he says, from the " Book of Invasions," upon whose 
 authority we may depend ; for the whole account is faith- 
 fully collected and transcribed from the most valuable and 
 authentic chronicles of the Irish affairs, particularly from 
 that choice volume called " Leabhar Dhroma Sneachta ; or, 
 the White Book," that was written before St. Patrick first 
 arrived in Ireland to propagate Christianity in the country. 
 About a thousand years were occupied in these wanderings. 
 
 Keane, in his " Antiquities of Ireland," quotes a number 
 of passages from Bryant's "Ancient Mythology" relating to 
 the journeyings and vicissitudes of these Cuthites, and says — 
 "Although Ireland seems never to have entered into Bryant's 
 mind as connected with Cuthite history, every sentence in 
 these quotations respecting the Hyperboreans — when taken in 
 connection with Irish records — seems to point to Ireland as 
 the home of that people, to whom ancient Greek authors 
 refer as the Hyperboreans. I must, however, direct the 
 reader to other notices respecting the Insula Hyperhorea of 
 the classic writers, about which Mr. O'Brien has written at 
 some length in his ' Round Towers.' He quotes Mr. Booth's 
 translation of the notice respecting it by Diodorus Siculus, 
 as follows — 'Amongst them that have written old stories 
 much like fables, Hecatseus and some others say that there 
 is an island in the ocean ovei^ agaiyist Gaul as big as Sicily^ 
 under the arctic pole, where the Hyperboreans inhabit, so 
 called because they lie beyond the breezes of the north wind. 
 That the soil here is very rich and fruitful, and the climate 
 temperate, insomuch as they have two crops in the year. 
 They say that Latona was born there, and, therefore, that 
 they worship Apollo above all Gods ; and because they are 
 daily singing songs in praise of this god and ascribing to 
 him the highest honours ; they say that these inhabitants 
 demean themselves as if they were Apollo's priests, who has 
 here a stately grove and renowned temple of round forin^ 
 beautiful with many rich gifts. That there is a city like- 
 wise consecrated to this god, whose citizens are most of them 
 
02 PHALLIC REMAINS. 
 
 haiyers, who, playing on the harp, chant sacred hymns to 
 Apollo in the temple setting forth his glorious acts. The 
 Hyperboreans use their natural language, but, of long and 
 ancient time have had a special kindness for the Grecians, 
 and more especially the Athenians and them of Delos ; and 
 that some of the Grecians passed over to the Hyperboreans, 
 and left them divers presents inscribed with Greek cliaracters ; 
 and that Abaris formerly travelled thence into Greece and 
 renewed the ancient league of friendship with the Delians. 
 
 " . . . . The sovereignty of this city and the care of tlie 
 temple, they say, belong to the Boreades, the posterity of 
 Boreas, who hold the principality by descent in the direct 
 line from that ancestor.' " (O'Brien, pp. 396, 397.) 
 
 Mr. Keane then proceeds to draw certain conclusions from 
 this passage, and says that it presents many striking 
 coincidences which go far towards identifying the Hyperbo- 
 rean island of antiquity with Ireland, These comprise 1, 
 The situation, " over against Gaul." 2, The size of the 
 Hyperborean island, " as big as Sicily," the actual size of 
 Ireland. 3, The soil, "rich and fruitful," the soil of Ireland. 
 4, The climate, " temperate," the climate of Ireland. 5, They 
 worshipped Apollo [the sun] above all gods, the Irish 
 worshipped the sun under the name of Baal, &c. Then there 
 were tlie round towers, and the songs, and the harps, tfcc, 
 all of which Mr. Keane identities with Ireland. And so we 
 get in Ireland the Phallic worship of the Cuthites, and it 
 is supposed the Round Towers as Phallic Objects and 
 Monuments. 
 
 "The worship of the God of nature as the source of life 
 and iiappiness under the emblem of the Lingam and the 
 Yoni, seems to have pervaded the world during the period 
 of the Cuthite dominion. The Arkite worship is generally 
 regarded as a distinct idolatry, but a closer examination of 
 the subject is sufficient to show that the ark was used only 
 as an emblem in the deeper mysteries of the Lingajas and 
 Yonijas. This Phallic worship was introduced into India 
 from the banks of the Euphrates by Balcswana. Mr. Har- 
 court says — * At Moliabalipoor, the city of the great Bali, 
 i.e. Hercules Belus, the towers are pyramidical ; one very 
 old temple stands immediately on the brink of the sea, and 
 midst the dash of the spray a tall pillar is conspicuous. 
 It is indeed called ])y some a Linga, but then, in the 
 
PHALLIC REMAINS. 53 
 
 opinion of those who compiled the Puranas, this emblem 
 was first publicly worshipped by the name of Baleswara-linga, 
 on the banks of the Cumud-vati or Euphrates. Now 
 Baleswara means the mighty Lord Belus, Bali, or Baal ; 
 for Iswara is lord, and it is a title of Mahedeva whose 
 emblems are the crescent and all obelisks or pillars, whatever 
 be their shape.' And again he siys — ' As the Phallic wor- 
 ship was attributed by the Hindoos to Baleswara, i.e. to 
 Belus, so it was by the Greeks to Dionysius.' (Harcourt, 
 pp. 283-4-5.) 
 
 "The origin of this idolatry in connection with the worship 
 of Siva in India, is preserved in a legend translated from 
 the Persic, and read before the Oriental Society in India. 
 It may be found copied at length in O'Brien, p. 100. The 
 introduction of this hateful idolatry into Egypt in connection 
 with the worship of Osiris is mentioned by Plutarch, and 
 copied by O'Brien. I mention these authorities to establish 
 the fact of the very ancient and wide-spread influence of 
 this idolatry — so much being necessary to the subject in 
 hand. 
 
 " Colonel Franklin, writing on the Jeynes and Boodhists, 
 says — ' The Cuthites, or descendents of Chus, after having 
 broken and dispersed from Shinar, the just punishment for 
 their impious attempt to erect the Tower of Babel, wandered 
 in detached masses to many different regions of the earth. . . . 
 
 "It will be seen hereafter that wherever they migrated, 
 this singular race carried with them their arts and sciences; 
 and they appear, according to the learned Bryant, in various 
 
 parts of the globe, always great and always learned 
 
 The great works of antiquity observable in various parts of 
 Asia, but particularly in the widely extended peninsula of 
 Hindoostan, are undoubtedly of Cuthic origin, i.e., according 
 to the learned Bryant, of Indo-Cuthites, who came to India 
 at a very early period after quitting their native country 
 of Ethiopia. The vicissitude which nature was constantly 
 undergoing, according to the Hindoo mythology, made these 
 obscene symbols (the Cuthite emblems of the god of nature) 
 be regarded in a sublime and spiritual sense, which soon 
 degenerated into Bachanalian revels when transplanted into 
 other climes — gradually subverting all traces of the original 
 doctrines of regeneration, until ending in the licentious feast 
 of the Saturnalia, or the still more degrading mysteries of 
 
54 PHALLIC REMAINS. 
 
 Eleusis. Such scenes of moral debasement never polluted 
 the caves of Salsette or Elephanta ; and the offerings to 
 the Linc^am and Yoni, the types of creative power, are 
 still made in these hallowed sanctuaries, freed from sensual 
 ideas or impure emotions. The unadorned fabric of Boodhism 
 combined with the worship of the solar orb, I believe to 
 have been the first heresy, and the complicated worship of 
 Siva, with all the monstrous attributes and meretricious 
 ramifications which accompany it, are of recent introduction.' " ^ 
 
 Very much in the same strain runs O'Brien's verdict 
 respecting the round towers : — 
 
 "It is not difficult to understand why no information 
 could be obtained from the present inhabitants as to the 
 object of these edifices. Their remote antiquity is a sufficient 
 reply. But I flatter myself that the reader who has accom- 
 panied me from the outset of this antiquarian voyage can 
 now supply the defect, and explain that they were a series 
 of round towers or phalli erected by the aboriginal Budhists, 
 of whom the Jaina are only the wretched remains ; and 
 that those tiles which are stuck in them resembling steps, 
 were for the purpose of ascending by the aid of a hoop, 
 such as we have shewn at Hieropolis. The projecting stones 
 in our Priaps, or the cavities that appear after their removal, 
 are thus also accounted for." f 
 
 * Keane's " Ancient Ireland," 229. 
 f " Eound ToAvers of Ireland," 176. 
 
CHAFER Y. 
 
 Pillar Stones of Central America — Pillar Stones of Britain — 
 Pillar Stones of India — Superstitious Uses connected with 
 Pillar Stones — Phallic Associations — Stone Worship forbidden 
 by various Councils — Sexucd Distinctions indicated by Stones — 
 Persian Customs — Extravagant Application of the Phallic Idea. 
 
 ON a previous page we have quoted from " Stephens' 
 Travels in Yucatan," an account of two ancient Ameri- 
 can towers, in the centre of one of which, he says, "There 
 is a cylindrical solid mass of stone .... this centre mass 
 must be nine feet in thickness." 
 
 Mr. Keane expresses the opinion that this is " The same 
 as the Mahody of Elephanta, the Muidhr of Ireland, and 
 the Lingam of all the rock temples of Hindostan." 
 
 In the fourth volume of Yallancey's " Collectanea de 
 Rebus Hibernicis," page 211, we read as follows — "The 
 Tuatha Dadann, though they could not effectually introduce 
 image worship among the Scoti of the Britannic Isles, did 
 however prevail on them to adopt the cave-worship of 
 Muidhr or Grain, that is of the sun, an institution entirely 
 of their invention. 
 
 " Several of these Antra Mithroe exist in Ireland and in 
 Britain at this day. They are of a wonderful construction. 
 Such is that at New Grange, described by Governor Pownall 
 in the second volume of the Archa^ologia. Grange, I take 
 to be a corruption of Grein-uagh, that is, the uagh, cave, 
 or den of Grian, i.e. Mithras or the sun. Uagh, Coire, or 
 Goire, signify a cave, hence that remarkable Antrum called 
 Carrig-coire, or the cave of the rock, in the county of 
 Waterford, near Tramore. This was a natural cave, that 
 of New Grange is artificial. The most remarkable caves of 
 this kind are in the island of Inis Muidr, now called Innis 
 Murra, and the Holy Island or Island of Saints. It is 
 about nine miles distant from Sligo. Here, not only the 
 ruins of the caves are to be seen, but the Cloch Greine, 
 Sun Stone, or Muidhr, from whence the island takes its 
 name, is still remaining in its most perfect state, being a 
 
56 PHALLIC REMAINS. 
 
 conical pillar of stone placed on a pedestal, surrounded by 
 a wall to preserve it from profanation. This is the Mudras 
 of the Greeks, and the Mahody of the Gentoas. 
 
 " Captain Pike landed in the island of Elephanta, near 
 Bombay. In the midst of a Gentoa temple, he found a low 
 altar, on which was placed a large polished stone of a 
 cylindrical form, standing on its base, but the top was 
 rounded or convex. The Gentoas, says he, call this the stone 
 of Mahody, a name they give to the original of all things. 
 And this hieroglyphic of the Supreme Being is intended to 
 shew that it is beyond the limited comprehension of man to 
 form to himself any just idea of him that made the world, 
 for, they say, no man can behold the Great God and live, 
 M-hich is the reason he cannot be represented in his proper 
 shape. Upon the captain's enquiring tlie reason of placing 
 such a stone there, and in that awful and solemn manner, 
 it was answered — That this sacred stone is dedicated to the 
 honour of Mahody, who created the universe, and his name 
 is placed under it, and therefore that stone which defends 
 the name of the great and inconceivable God from all 
 pollution, is itself a holy memorial, but is not itself a God, 
 yet being thus placed, though a stone, no profane or polluted 
 man ought to touch it. 
 
 " Linsater, in his voyage to India, tells us that the 
 Brahmins report that their holy men in the rajah's country, 
 can give an account of these monuments, and that they are 
 recorded in their Handscrit books. That no offerings were 
 to be made at the altar of Mahoody but by those of clean 
 and unpolluted minds. He saw one erected in a tank of 
 water to prevent any unclean thing coming near it. At 
 the north and south of the island "of Elephanta there are 
 other pagodas full of imagery, except the interior of the 
 Mahoody temples, and each has a spring of water or a tank 
 near it to purify all that entered. 
 
 This is certainly the stone Herodian saw at Emissa, in 
 Phcenicia, where, says he, they worship Heliogabalus ; but lie 
 saw no image fashioned by men's hands, but only a great 
 stone, round at bottom and diminishing towards the top in 
 a conic form. Our Muidhr and the Mahoody of the Gentoas 
 are not conical, but only columns of circular bases rounded 
 at the tops. 
 
 " Muidhr in Irish, in the ancient glosses, is written for 
 
PHALLIC REMAINS. 07 
 
 Midhr, which is explained by the ray of the sun, but the 
 Mahody of Captain Pike is certainly corrupted from the 
 Gentoo INIaha-deu, i.e. Magnus Deus, in the Irish Mah or 
 Maith-de bonus deus. 
 
 " E everting again to ' Stephens' Travels in Yutacan,' in 
 vol. I. he describes another of these pillar stones. He says 
 — 'ISTear the centre of the platform, at a distance of eighty 
 feet from the foot of the steps, is a square enclosure, con- 
 sisting of two layers of stones, in which stands in an oblique 
 position as if falling, or, perhaps, as if an effort had been 
 made to throw it down, a large round stone measuring 
 eight feet above the ground, and five feet in diameter. 
 This stone is striking for its uncouth and irregular propor- 
 tions, and wants conformity with the regularity and symmetry 
 of all around. From its conspicuous position it doubtless 
 had some important use, and in connection with other 
 monuments found in this place induces the belief that it 
 was connected with the ceremonial rites of ancient worship 
 known to have existed among all eastern nations.' 
 
 " These pillar stones are found, like the round towers, in 
 various parts of the world. We have a picture of one on 
 the Hill of Tara. Keane says it was found buried in the 
 ground on a part of the hill called Bel-Pear, and was 
 removed after the year 1798 to mark the grave in which 
 a number of ' Croppies ' were buried, who had been shot 
 by the king's troops. ' The name of the place,' lie continues, 
 (Bel-Pear) ' from which the stone had been removed, is 
 significant. I believe it to be identical with Baal-peor of the 
 Scriptures ; which, like the Priapus, Muidhr and Mahody, 
 was the emblem of the sun as the source of generative life. 
 Another pillar stone, square in form, stands on the Hill of 
 Tara in the churchyard. On it is sculptured the well-known 
 figure of the Irish Sheela-na-gig, from the original name of 
 which I believe the Irish word CLUAIN — the Stone of Ana, 
 was derived.' 
 
 " Mr. Keane's remarks upon this are as follows — ' In the 
 foregoing, the reader will observe that the stone of Bel- 
 Pear at Tara is a conical pillar (the stone called Cloich 
 Kieran at Cape Clear is precisely of the same form), and 
 that Herodian describes the sun as worshipped in Phoenicia 
 under the form of a conical stone. Diodorus Siculus iden- 
 tities ' Sol ' with ' Priapus.' At Inis-Muidhr, County Sligo, a 
 
58 PHALLIC REMAINS. 
 
 stone of a similar form is by the people called ' Cloich 
 Greine,' literally ' the stone of the sun ; ' the ' Mudros ' of 
 the Phoenicians is also represented as a ' conical stone.' At 
 the temple of Elephanta, the Divinity who created the 
 universe is worshipped under the form of a similar stone, 
 and under the name Mahody, answering to our St. IMochudee 
 of Lismore. The name of the island near Sligo, at which 
 the Cloich Greine, or the stone of the sun, is described to 
 be, is Inis-Muidhr — Muidhr, in the ancient glosses, is written 
 for JNlidhr, which is explained by the ray of the sun — the 
 modern name of the island is Inis-Mura, the name of the 
 celebrated but mythical Saint Mura. This Saint is thus far 
 identitied with the Mahody of Elephanta, and Saint Mochudee 
 of Lismore, one of the names of the Outhite divinity. The 
 patron Saint of Inis-Mura or Inis-Muidhr, is Saint Molaise, 
 another Cuthite derivation, which I have elsewhere shewn 
 to be identical with ATolaice, Molach in the genitive 
 case.' " ^ 
 
 That pillars and other stone ornaments were objects of 
 veneration and worship, we have ample and conclusive 
 evidence, " certainly in France, and by implication in Eng- 
 land — down to the times of Charlemagne and Alfred at 
 least," remarks Fergusson. 
 
 A decree of the Council of Nantes called upon bishops 
 and their servants to dig up and remove, and hide in places 
 where they cannot be found, those stones which in remote 
 and woody places were still worshipped, and where vows 
 were still made. This decree was probably dated 658, 
 according to "Richard, 'Analyse des Conciles.' " 
 
 In 452 it had been decreed by the Council at Aries 
 that if, in any diocese, any intidel either lighted torches or 
 worshipped trees, fountains or stones, or neglected to destroy 
 them, he should be found guilty of sacrilege. The Council 
 at Tours in 567, called upon the clergy to excommunicate 
 those who, at certain stones or trees or fountains, perpetrated 
 things contrary to the ordinances of the Church. 
 
 The Council at Toledo, 681, also decreed against the 
 practice, and declared that those who did such things, 
 sacrificed to the devil, and rendered themselves liable to 
 penalties. In 692, a Council at Rouen, condemned all who 
 offered to trees or fountains or stones as they would at 
 * " Towers, &c., of Ancient Ireland." 
 
PHALLIC REMAINS. 59 
 
 altars; and a decree of Charlemagne, 789, condemned before 
 God, trees, stones and fountains, which foolish people 
 worshipped. 
 
 A reviewer, quoted by Forlong, says — " Arnobius, a Chris- 
 tian convert of the fourth century, relates that in Africa 
 where he resided, he never before his conversion saw a stone 
 upon which oil had been poured without paying it homage." 
 Why? Not surely if it did "not typify something beyond 
 itself." Arnobius would have answered difterently. This 
 writer can only fancy that these stones were held to be 
 aerolites, or at least to have come down from heaven in 
 some mysterious manner, for in no other way can he account 
 for the otherwise unaccountable fact, that " stones smeared 
 with oil and called Betyls w^ere amongst the earliest objects 
 of devotion;" that Jacob made his pillar-stone into such a 
 Betyl, and that even according to Acts xix., 35 ; " the 
 world-famed temple of Diana at Ephesus commemorated one 
 of these meteoric stones," and, he adds, " tlie black stone of 
 Meka is such another " 
 
 "It is here, perhaps, necessary to inform my readers that 
 all conical or erect stones, and all quaint or rude masses 
 of rock usually denote the male sex, unless ovate or rounded, 
 when they are feminine." ^ 
 
 Mention has just been made of the stone set up by 
 Jacob at Bethel, and this is declared by various writers to 
 be of a phallic character and an object of worship.^ The 
 record in Genesis says — "And Jacob rose up early in the 
 morning, and took the stone that he had put for his pillow, 
 and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it." 
 
 Upon this passage we have the following note in Kitto's 
 Pictorial Bible. "Nothing can be more natural than this 
 act of Jacob, for the purpose of marking the site and making 
 a memorial of an occurrence of such great interest and 
 importance to him. The true design of this humble monu- 
 ment seems to have been, however, to set this annointed 
 pillar as an evidence of the solemn vow which he made on 
 that occasion. Mr. Morier, in his ' Second Journey through 
 Persia,' notices a custom which seems to illustrate this act 
 of Jacob. In travelling through Persia he observed that the 
 guide occasionally placed a stone on a conspicuous piece of 
 rock, or two stones one upon another, at the same time 
 * Forlong, " Riv. Life," vol i. 
 
00 PHALLIC REMAINS. 
 
 uttering some words which were understood to be a prayer 
 for the safe return of the party. This explained to Mr. 
 Morier what he had frequently observed before in the east, 
 and particularly on high roads leading to great towns at 
 a point where the towns are first seen, and where the 
 oriental traveller sets up his stone, accompanied by a devout 
 exclamation in token of his safe arrival. jNIr. Morier adds : 
 Nothing is so natural in a journey over a dreary country, 
 as for a solitary traveller to set himself down fatigued and 
 to make the vow that Jacob did ; or again, that on first 
 seeing the place which he has so longed to reach, the 
 traveller should sit down and make a thanksgiving, in both 
 cases setting up a stone as a memorial. The writer of this 
 note has himself often observed such stones without being 
 aware of their object, until happening one day to overturn 
 one that had been set upon another, a man hastened to 
 replace it, at the same time informing him that to displace 
 such stones was an act unfortunate for the person so dis- 
 placing it, and unpleasant to others. The writer afterwards 
 observed that the natives studiously avoided displacing any 
 of these stones ' set up for pillars ' by the way-side. The 
 Jews believe that the stone which Jacob set up at Bethel 
 was placed in the sanctuary of the second temple, and that 
 the ark of the covenant rested upon it ; and, they add, 
 that after the destruction of that temple and the desolation 
 of Judea, their fathers were accustomed to lament the 
 calamities that had befallen them over the stone on which 
 Jacob's head rested at Bethel," " which means," declares 
 Forlong, " that they grieved, like good Sivaites, over the loss 
 of the oriijinal Lincjam of Yokob, for he was a female 
 demi-god, as elsewhere shown. It is a mere fancy of the 
 Jews that they ever recovered their ark-box, either for the 
 second or Zerubbabel's temple of the fifth century B.C., or 
 for the second Herod's, of 21 B.C. No doubt if they had 
 it would have been the receptacle of the Lingam, or been 
 placed over it like Soma, the moon, upon the upright Siva 
 in Som-nat. As few eastern conquerors take away a mere 
 tribal Lingam — national ones were constantly removed — we 
 may believe tliat Yokob's Matsebah would remain and descend 
 to the next conquerors of this unfortunate city, of which 
 there were several before tlie INIahomedans. These are indeed 
 said to be tlie culprits, for thougli Islamis, tliey had long 
 
PHALLIC REMAINS. 61 
 
 lost their own 'black stone,' and could only show fragments of 
 another, for the adoration of the faithful ; we find exactly 
 such a stone as the Jewish one is described to be, viz. : 
 18 X 3 X 3 inches, actually built into the corner of the 
 Al-Kaba, as is detailed in my chapter on Arabian Faiths."^ 
 
 This same writer asserts — "All pillars were sacred to the 
 phallic Hercules, that is, they were Phalli. The ' Pillars of 
 Hercules ' were, says Strabo, at the noted passage of the 
 Mediterranean ; one in Iberia called Kalpe, now called 
 Gibel-Tar or Gibraltar, and the other Abyla or Ab-El- 
 Parens Sol 
 
 The rudest and most ungainly-looking rock or stump was 
 sufficient to denote a Hercules or Pallas ; and a lump, a, 
 Ceres or Juno." 
 
 * " Eivers of Life." 
 
CHAPTER YI. 
 
 Variation of Form in Objects of Stone Worship — Holed Stone 
 at Aghade — Story of Eochiad — Holed Stone at Ballyveruish — 
 Holed Stone at Kilquare — Holed Stones at Lackendarragh, 
 Kilmalkedar and Castledermott — Large Holed Stone at Bally- 
 ferriter — Stones at Dingle^ Killaloe and Moytura — Holed Stone 
 in Circassia — Holed Stones in Cornwall — Ceremonies connected 
 with Holed Stones — TJie Stone of Odin — Account of a Game 
 Played as a Meligious Ceremony with the Holed Stones — The 
 Phallic Idea co7inected with Holed Stones. 
 
 STONE Worship has not been confined to pillcars or any- 
 other particular form ; in every quarter of the globe, 
 north, south, east and west, it has existed in connection 
 with the cromlech, the pillar, the circle, the rocking-stone, 
 and the holed stone. It is a singular thing that notwith- 
 standing the ages that have passed since these things first 
 came into existence, superstitious memories and practices still 
 linger in connection Avith them. If we look across to Ireland 
 we shall find a number of them, with most of which some 
 remote and extraordinary tradition is associated. 
 
 Ryan, in his " History and Antiquities of the County of 
 Carlow," describes one standing two miles south of Tullough, 
 in the parish of Aghade, it is called Cloch-a-Phoill, i.e. in 
 Irish, the "hole stone." He says — "It is about twelve feet 
 in height, and four feet in breadth, having an aperture 
 through near the top. There is a tradition that the son 
 of an Irish king was chained to this stone, but that he 
 contrived to break his chain and escape. The stone is now 
 thrown from it perpendicular ; and it was a practice with 
 the peasantry to pass ill-thriven infants through the aperture 
 in order to improve their constitutions. Great numbers 
 formerly indulged in this superstitious folly, but for the last 
 twenty years this practice has been discontinued. INIy 
 informant on this occasion w\as a woman who had herself 
 passed one of her infants through the aperture of this 
 singular stone." 
 
 The story of the Irish king who was chained to the stone 
 
PHALLIC REMAIXS. 63 
 
 is found ill the Book of Ballymote, a vellum MS. of the 
 fourteenth century, in the possession of the Royal Irish 
 Academy. His name was Eochaid, the son of Enna Cinse- 
 lach, king of Leinster in the fifth century. 
 
 Translated by Dr. John O'Donovan, and printed in the 
 Transactions of the Academy, the story is that Eochaid, 
 having been for some time at Tara, as an hostage from his 
 father to Niall of the Nine Hostages, monarch of all Erinn, 
 absconded and repaired to the south to his own country. 
 He decided on visiting the house of Niall's poet laureate, 
 Laidginn, the son of Barcead, to refresh himself, but on 
 arriving there he was refused entertainment. He proceeded 
 home then, but soon returned with some followers to the 
 
 poet's home, burned it, and killed his only son In 
 
 the meantime the poet so worked up the feelings of the monarch 
 Niall, that he vowed to march with his army into Leinster 
 and lay it waste unless the young prince Eochaid was 
 delivered up to him again, to be dealt with as he should 
 think fit, in expiation of the double insult and violation 
 which had been offered to the sacred persons of himself and 
 his poet. This vow he immediately carried into effect, and 
 the king of Leinster being unable to offer any effectual 
 resistance, was compelled to deliver up his son as he was 
 commanded. The young prince was conveyed to Niall's 
 camp at Atli Fadat, on the river Slaney, where he was left 
 with an iron chain round his neck, and the end of the 
 chain passed through a hole in a large upright stone and 
 fastened on the other side. Shortly after there came to him 
 nine champions of Niall's soldiers for the purpose of killing 
 him. " This is bad, indeed," said he, at the same time 
 giving a sudden jerk by which he broke the chain. He 
 then took up the iron bar which passed through the chain 
 at the other side of the stone, and faced the nine men, 
 and so well did he ply the iron bar against them, that he 
 killed them all. The Leinsterinen, who were in large num- 
 bers in the neighbourhood, finding their prince at liberty by 
 his own valour, rushed in, led by him, upon their enemies, 
 and a great battle ensued, in which the monarch (Niall) 
 was routed and forced to retreat to Tulla, and ultimately 
 out of Leinster. 
 
 The Dublin Penny Journal for 1832, gives an account of 
 one of these stones at Ballyveruish, about a mile from the 
 
64 PHALLIC REMAINS. 
 
 village of Doagb, in the parish of Kilbride and county of 
 Antrim. It is a large slab of whinstone, according to the 
 drawings extremely rough and unhewn, about five feet high, 
 two feet six inches wide at the base, and about ten inches 
 in thickness. The hole is three feet from the ground, and 
 two and a half inches in diameter. 
 
 There is another in the churchyard of Kilquare, near 
 Mallow, count}'' of Cork, six feet high, two feet four inches 
 wide, witli a hole four inches in diameter, of dark red 
 sandstone. It is called Cloch na-Pecaibh, or the Sinner's 
 Stone, as is marked on the maps. It was the custom for 
 the women to draw clothes through the hole, as children 
 were drawn through holes of greater dimensions. 
 
 A smaller stone with a smaller hole also, stands not far 
 off' in the Townland of Lacken-darragh, parish of Kilcoleman. 
 This is four feet five inches high, three feet three inches 
 broad, and one foot thick ; the hole is on one side, and is 
 only an inch and a half in diameter. 
 
 Another, four feet six inches in height, eight inches broad, 
 and eight inches thick, stands near the church of Kilmal- 
 kedar, county of Kerry ; it has a fine Ogham inscription. 
 
 In the churchyard of Castledermott, county of Carlo w, is 
 another of granite, extremely rude and ill-shapen. 
 
 Kot far from Ballyferriter, on the road to Dingle, is 
 another, five feet high, with a hole two inches in diameter, 
 which, as in the stone at Lacken-darragh, is close to the 
 side. Attempts have been made to give to this stone and 
 the one at Kilmalkedar a Christian appearance, by marking 
 them with Greek crosses and other ornaments of a similar 
 character. 
 
 A number of others with such small holes as the above 
 are found scattered about in various parts of Ireland, in 
 different states of preservation, some with the hole half 
 broken away as in the case of one two and a half miles 
 west of Dingle. 
 
 At Killaloe, where stands the famous round tower we 
 have already mentioned, in its principal church, Teampuil 
 Camin, used for some years for burials, is a small stone 
 about tliree feet six inches high and fifteen inches wide, 
 with a small hole. The stone is broken at the top, and 
 a like attempt to some previous ones to Christianise it has 
 been made by marking it with a cross. 
 
PHALLIC REMAINS. 65 
 
 In the county of Sligo, at Mogtura, are some stones much 
 larger than any of those we have yet mentioned, in which 
 the holes are five inches in diameter. 
 
 Bell, in his "Residence in Circassia," p. 154, describes a 
 curious monument, one of whose stones was such as we have 
 just been noticing. The tomb, for such it happens to be, is 
 about five feet high, and is built of five great slabs of stone, 
 four supporters and one covering stone, the latter nine feet 
 long and six feet broad. In the front slab is a circular 
 hole sufliciently large for the admission of a child's head. 
 Mr, Bell says there are others of a like character in 
 different parts of the country. 
 
 We now turn to Cornwall, a most remarkable country ; 
 the country "j;ar excellence,'' says the Gentleman's Magazine^ 
 "of megalithic monuments." 
 
 Borlase, in his " Antiquities " says, after describing certain 
 forms of rocks — "There is another kind of stone-deity which 
 has never been taken notice of by any author that I have 
 heard of. Its common name in Cornwall and Scilly is 
 Tolmen ; that is, the Hole of Stone. It consists of a large 
 orbicular stone, supported by two stones, betwixt which there 
 is a passage. There are two of these in the Scilly Islands, 
 one on St. Mary's Island at the bottom of Salakee Downs ; 
 the top stone forty-five feet in girth horizontally measured ; 
 the other in the little island of Northwethel, thirty-three 
 feet in girth horizontal, by twenty-four feet perpendicular 
 measurement. They are both in the decline of hills beneath 
 a large karn of rocks, standing on two natural supporters ; 
 the first has one exactly round basin on it ; the second 
 has none, neither are there any basins on the rocks 
 below, or near it, but elsewhere on the island there are 
 several. Both these are probably erected by art, and the 
 top stones large as they are, brought from the karns above, 
 and placed by human strength where we see them. But 
 the most astonishing monument of this kind is in the Tene- 
 ment of Men, in the parish of Constantino, Cornwall. It 
 is one vast oval pebble, placed on the points of two natural 
 rocks, so that a man may creep under the great one and 
 between its supporters, through a passage about three feet 
 wide and as much high. The longest diameter of this stone 
 is thirty-three feet, and the breadth in the middle eighteen 
 feet six inches. I measured one half of the circumference 
 
66 PHALLIC REMAINS. 
 
 and found it, according to my computation, forty-eight feet 
 and a half, so that this stone is ninety-seven feet in cir- 
 cumference, about sixty feet across the middle, and by the 
 best information I can get, contains at least seven hundred 
 and fifty tons of stone. Getting up by a ladder to view 
 the top of it, we found the whole surface worked like an 
 imperfect or mutilated honey-comb into basins ; one, much 
 larger than the rest, was at the south end, about seven 
 feet long, another at the north about five, the rest smaller, 
 seldom more than one foot, oftentimes not so much, the sides 
 and shape irregular. Most of these basins discharge into 
 the two principal ones (which lie in the middle of the 
 surface), those only excepted which are near the brim of 
 the stone, and they have little lips or channels which dis- 
 charge the water they collect over the sides of the Tolmen, 
 and the flat rocks which lie underneath receive the droppings 
 into basins which they have cut into their surfaces. This 
 stone is no less wonderful for its position than for its size; 
 for although the underpart is nearly semicircular, yet it rests 
 on the two large rocks ; and so light and detached does it 
 stand, that it touches the two under stones but as it were 
 on their points." 
 
 "In the area below this stone there are many great rocks 
 which have been divided and split, but whether thrown down 
 from the sides of the Tolmen for the purposes above men- 
 tioned, I will not pretend to determine. One thing is 
 remarkable, which is, that these Tolmens rest on supporters 
 and do not touch the earth, agreeably to an established 
 principle of the Druids, who thought that everything that 
 was sacred would be profaned by touching the ground, and 
 therefore ordered it so as that these deities should rest upon 
 the pure rock, and not be defied by touching the common 
 earth. Another thing is worthy of our notice in this kind 
 of monument, which is that underneath these vast stones 
 there is a hole or passage between the rocks. What use 
 the ancients made of these passages we can only guess at; 
 but we have reason to think that when stones were once 
 ritually consecrated, they attributed great and miraculous 
 virtues to every part of them, and imagined that whatever 
 touched, lay down upon, was surrounded by, or passed 
 through these stones, acquired thereby a kind of holiness, 
 and became more acceptable to the gods. This passage 
 
PHALLIC REMAINS. 67 
 
 might be also a sanctuary for the offender to fly to, and 
 shelter himself from the pursuer ; but I imagine it chiefly 
 to have been intended and used for introducing proselytes 
 or novices, people under vows, or going to sacrifice, into 
 their more sublime mysteries ; and, for the same reason, I 
 am apt to think that the vast architraves, or cross-stones 
 resting upon the uprights at Stonehenge were erected, namely 
 with an intent to consecrate and prepare the worshippers 
 by passing through those holy rocks for the better entering 
 upon the oflices which were to be performed in their pene- 
 tralia, the most sacred part of the temple. The Druid throne 
 at Boscawen Ros might also serve at particular times for 
 the like preparatory rites, and might be thought to instil a 
 greater degree of sanctity into the presiding judge, the seat 
 being surrounded so on every side by rocks. For much the 
 same reasons the ancient idolaters made their children pass 
 through their consecrated fires, a lustration which ever after- 
 wards made the Gentiles think that those who had gone 
 through had acquired thereby a greater degree of purity 
 than any others ; and, as Maimonides informs us, the 
 Canaanites believed that such children should not die before 
 their time. 
 
 " The inhabitants of Shetland and the Isles used to pour 
 libations of milk or beer through a holed stone in honour 
 to the spiritual Browny, which is therefore called Browny's 
 Stone. Now whether the Cornish Druids applied this stone 
 to the use of such offerings I cannot say, but the Cornish 
 to this day invoke the spirit Browny when their bees 
 swarm, and think that their crying 'Browny, Browny,' will 
 prevent their returning into their former hive, and make 
 them pitch and form a new colony. It is not improbable 
 but this holed stone (consecrated, as by its structure and 
 present uses, it seems to have been) might have served 
 several delusive purposes. I apprehend it served for libations, 
 served to initiate and dedicate children to the oflices of 
 rock-worship by drawing them through this hole, and also to 
 jDurify the victim before it was sacrificed ; and considering^ 
 the many lucrative juggles of the Druids (which are con- 
 firmed by their monuments) it is not wholly improbable that 
 some miraculous restoration of health might be promised to 
 the people for themselves and children upon proper pecuniary 
 gratifications, provided that at a certain season of the moon 
 
68 PHALLIC REMAINS. 
 
 and whilst a priest officiated at one of the stones adjoining^ 
 with prayers adapted to the occasion, they would draw tlieir 
 infirm children through this hole. And, I must oljserve, 
 that this passing through stones and holes in order to 
 recover or secure health, is the more likely to be one of 
 the Druid principles, because I find that they used to pass 
 their cattle through a hollow tree, or through a hole made 
 in the earth (for like superstitious reasons probably) which 
 was therefore prohibited by law. It is not improbable but 
 that this stone might be also of the oracular kind ; all 
 which may, in some measure, be confirmed by the present 
 though very simple uses to which it is applied by the com- 
 mon people. When I was last at the monument, in the 
 year 1749, a very intelligent farmer of the neighbourhood 
 assured me that he had known many persons who had 
 crept through this holed stone for pains in their back and 
 limbs, and that fanciful parents at certain times of the year, 
 do customarily draw their young children through in order 
 to cure them of the rickets. He showed me also two pins 
 carefully laid across each other on the top of this holed 
 stone. This is the way of the over-curious, even at this, 
 time, and by recurring to these pins and observing their 
 direction to be the same, or different from what they left 
 them in, or by their being lost or gone, they are informed 
 of and resolve upon some material incident of love or for- 
 tune, wiiich they could not know soon enough in a natural 
 way. 
 
 " Of the same kind, and appropriated to the same uses. 
 as that I have here explained, I look upon all thin stones 
 which have a large hole in the middle ; but before I close 
 this chapter of the holed stones I must just mention some 
 of another sort, many of which I have seen. About sixty- 
 five paces exactly north of Rosmodreuy Circle, in Buryen, 
 Cornwall, is a flat stone six inches thick at a medium, two 
 feet six wide, and five feet liigli ; fifteen inches below the 
 top it has a hole six inches in diameter, quite through. In 
 the adjoining hedge I perceived another, holed in tlie same 
 manner ; and in one wall of the village near by, a third 
 of like make. By some large stones standing in these 
 fields, I judge there have been several circles of stones erect, 
 besides that which is now entire ; and that these belonged 
 to those circles and were detached stones to -which the 
 
PHALLIC REMAINS. 69 
 
 ancients were wont to tie their victims whilst tlie priests 
 M'ere going through their preparatory ceremonies, and making 
 supplications to the gods to accept the ensuing sacrifice." 
 
 A large triangular holed stone was described by Mr. 
 J. T. Blight in a paper read before the Royal Institution 
 of Cornwall in 1862. He called it the largest of its class, 
 and was eight feet eleven inches wide at the base, eight 
 feet six inches high to the apex, and about twelve inches 
 average thickness. The hole was seventeen inches in diameter. 
 His words were — "A few years ago, a person digging close 
 to the Tolven discovered a pit in which were fragments of 
 jDottery arranged in a circular order, the whole being covered 
 by a flat slab of stone. Imagining that he had disturbed 
 some mysterious place, with commendable reverence he imme- 
 diately tilled up the pit again. Taking the proximity of 
 burrow in connection with pit, it seems most probable 
 that the Tolven is a sepulchral monument, stones of this 
 kind being erected, perhaps, to a peculiar class of personages. 
 It is well known that the circle is an ancient symbol of 
 eternity, and it was sometimes adopted as typical of Deity 
 itself. The triangular form of the stone may be accidental. 
 The holed stones at Madron also form part of a triangular 
 arrangement. Whether a signiticant connection was intended 
 in this union of the circle and triangle is perhaps worthy 
 of consideration." 
 
 The stone with the hole seventeen inches in diameter is 
 at Tolven Cross, in the parish of Constantine. 
 
 Then, again, near St. Just's at the Land's End, at Carn 
 Kenidjack are four holed stones, and at Boilleit two others. 
 
 There is a stone at Madron with a still larger hole than 
 any yet mentioned; it is two feet two inches in diameter 
 on one side, and one foot seven inches on the other. It 
 stands between two other stones at the distance of seven 
 feet ten inches from one, and seven feet eight inches from 
 the other. It is called Men-an-tol. 
 
 As might naturally be expected from the intimate historical 
 connection in the past of Ireland and Scotland, the latter 
 country has also its holed stones used for similar purposes 
 as those of the former. There is the celebrated stone of 
 Odin, at which contracts were entered into and agreements 
 ratified. 
 
 Mr. Daniel Wilson, in his " Pre-historic Annals of Scotland," 
 
70 PHALLIC REMAINS. 
 
 says — " The celebrated stone of Odin, near the Loch of 
 Stennis, in Orkney, which has had a new interest added to 
 it by being interwoven with the romantic incidents of the 
 ' Pirate,' was one of the remarkable monolithic group called 
 The Stones of Stennis. It formed no part, however, either 
 of the Great Ring of Bragar, or the neiglibouring circle of 
 Stennis, but stood apart to the north-east of the latter 
 group ; though it can scarcely be doubted that it bore some 
 important relation to these ancient and mysterious structures. 
 The Stone of Odin is described as standing about eight 
 feet high, and perforated with an oval hole large enough to 
 admit a man's head. A curious though rudely executed 
 bird's-eye view of the Stones of Stennis is given in the 
 Arcliffologia Scotica, from a drawing executed by the Rev. 
 Dr. Henry, about the year 1780, and there a man and 
 woman are seen interchanging vows, plighted by the promise 
 of Odin, which Sir Waltei- Scott refers to as ' the most 
 sacred of northern rites yet practised among us ' Tlie vow 
 was sworn while tlie engaging parties joined hands through 
 the perforation in the stone ; and though it is difficult to 
 decide how much of the tradition may be ascribable to 
 modern embellishment and the adaptation of a genuine 
 heirloom of primitive superstition to the preconceived theories 
 of local antiquaries, there cannot be a doubt of the popular 
 sacredness attached to this sacramental stone in former 
 times. An illustration of the practice from which this 
 originated is supposed to be traceable in an ancient Norse 
 custom, described in the Eyrbiggia Saga^ by which, when an 
 oath was imposed, he by whom it was pledged passed his 
 hand, while pronouncing it, through a masssve silver ring 
 sacred to this ceremony." 
 
 " The solemnity attached to a vow ratified by so awful 
 a pledge as this appeal to the Father of the Slain, the severe 
 and terrible Odin, continued to maintain its influence on the 
 mind till a comparatively recent date. Dr. Henry, writing 
 in 1784, refers to the custom as having fallen into disuse 
 within twenty or thirty years of the time he wrote, and 
 adds, tliis ceremony was held so very sacred in those times, 
 that the person who dared to break the engagement was 
 counted infamous, and excluded all society." 
 
 Principal Gordon, of the Scots College, Paris, who visited 
 Orkney in 1781, thus refers to a curious example, showing 
 
PHALLIC REMAINS. 71 
 
 probably the latest traces of this venerable traditionary relic 
 of Scandinavian superstition : — 
 
 "At some distance from the semi-circle stands a stone by 
 itself, eight feet high, three broad, nine inches thick, with 
 a round hole on the side next the lake. The original design 
 of this hole was unknown, till about twenty years ago it 
 was discovered in the following manner : A young man had 
 seduced a girl under pi-omise of marriage, and she growing 
 with child, was deserted by him. The young man was called 
 before the session ; the elders were particularly severe. 
 Being asked by the minister the cause of so much rigour, 
 they answered : You do not know what a bad man this is, 
 he has broken the promise of Odin. Being further asked 
 what they meant by the promise of Odin, they put him in 
 mind of the stone at Stenhouse with the round hole in it, 
 and added that it was customary when promises were made, 
 for the contracting parties to join hands through this hole, 
 and promises so made were called the promises of Odin." 
 
 "It is possible that the awe which the vow of Odin so 
 recently inspired may have originated in the use of the 
 stone for more dreadful purposes than the most solemn con- 
 tract, sealed with imprecations derived from a barbarous 
 pagan creed ; though little value can be attached to another 
 tradition, described by Dr. Henry as still existing in his 
 time, — that human victims destined for sacrifice were bound 
 to the perforated column, preparatory to their slaughter, as 
 an acceptable offering to the terrible god. Another stone 
 on the north side of the island of Shapinshay, bears the 
 name of the Black Stone of Odin, but no definite associa- 
 tions are now attached to it, and its sole value is as the 
 march stone between the grounds of two conterminous 
 heritors. A more trustworthy tradition ascribed peculiar 
 virtues to the Stennis Stone, manifestly corresponding with 
 those referred to by Borlase in connection with one at 
 Maddeon, and denounced in ancient Anglo-Saxon laws. 
 According to this, a child passed through the hole would 
 never shake with palsy in old age. 
 
 "A view of this remarkable memorial of ancient manners 
 and superstitious rites, is given in Lady Stafford's 'Views 
 in Orkney and on the North-eastern Coast of Scotland,* 
 drawn in 1805, and has been copied as one of the illustra- 
 trations for the Abbotsford edition of 'The Pirate.' But 
 
'^ PUALUC REMAINS. 
 
 the Stone itself no longer exists. After having siu-vivecl the 
 waste of eentunes until it iiaci nearly outlivecl the last 
 traditionary remembrance of the strange rites with which 
 had once been associated, it was barbarously destroyld by a 
 neighbouring farmer in the year 1814, along with two stonet 
 of the adjacent sem.-circle. Had it not b?en for the inter 
 ference of .Mr. Jlalcolm Laing, the historian, the whoi: "'"p 
 of S ennis would have been broken down as buildin- mater"d 
 for the Ignorant Goth's cow-sheds. The act was less%urpable 
 perhaps, as the perpetrator was a stranger who had "^on ly 
 recently taken up his abode in Orkney. It affords p. oot^ 
 
 ha^r::::'' ''T ,*'","■''"" "^^^^^^ ^°^ *^^ venerable ten"^ 11 
 had not entirely disappeared, that its unfortunate destroyer's 
 
 WiiolTTh T'^ ""^'r'^''* ^^ *'''' P^-">- Pe-ecutions w-itl 
 
 which the natives sought to revenge the destruction of their 
 sacramenta stone. So far, indeed, was the manifestation o 
 popular indignation carried, that various conspiracies are said 
 to have been formed to injure him, and two different 
 atteinpts were made to set fire to his dwelling and property 
 a suthcien ly manifest token that the old spirit of^^ venel' 
 Arcadtii."" ''"" "' ""'''" ""^ "°' u■lknown^o the moTeni 
 
 hJ^!Jlfy.°^ ?^'T ''''^' °" *° t'^°^« °f Christianity 
 has an illustration in the holed stone cross of Eilean Kona^ 
 a sma 1 island on the western coast of Scotland. It is an 
 upright cross, somewhat rude in shape, pierced by three holes 
 in the form of a triangle. Evidently the holes by them- 
 selves are a pagan conception, while their number and form 
 are Cliristian, that is, they represent the Holy Trinity 
 
 Stones of a very similar character are found in various 
 C rul in ''' ^^P'^^'''"y,'." Southern Bengal; some of these 
 or as DrVV ^^""^ ^^Inle others are refined and delicate, 
 or as Dr. Wise says, of beautifully dressed stone, richly 
 
 b, e».r f . u '''*'".^'«'-' composed of beautiful monoliths, 
 m each of winch a niche is sunk, with a miniature alta,' 
 and ingam. The stones are placed quite close together in 
 tlie circle, and are covered with delicate symbolical "carvings 
 The centre is occupied by an altar and lingam." 
 
 In some of the cromlechs the stones have lioles runnin<r 
 through them, like those in Ireland, Brittany and Circassia ° 
 
 Stephens, lu his "Yucatan," already quoted several times 
 
PHALLIC REMAINS. 73 
 
 in these pages, describes a peculiar game of tlie ancient 
 Americans which was engaged in as a religious ceremony, 
 there is frequent mention also of its having been common 
 in Ireland as well. It was played with a spherical ball, 
 emblematic of the sun, in an open area between two walls 
 of great thickness. A stone with a hole in it was set in 
 each wall, and the aim of the players was to send tlie ball 
 completely through ; whoever did this was declared winner 
 of the game. 
 
 Stephens says — "In the centre of the gn^at stone w^alls, 
 exactly opposite each other, and at the height of twenty 
 feet from the ground, are two massive stone rings, four 
 feet in diameter and one foot one inch thick ; the diameter 
 of the hole is one foot seven inches. On the rim and 
 border were two sculptured entwined serpents. 
 
 "These walls, at the first glance, we considered identical 
 in their uses and purposes with the parallel structures sup- 
 porting the rings at Uxmal, of which I have already 
 expressed the opinion that they were intended for the cele- 
 bration of some public games." 
 
 In the account of the diversions of Montezuma, given by 
 Herrera, we have the following — "The place where they 
 played was a ground room, long, narrow, and high, but 
 wider above than below, and higher on the sides than at 
 the ends, and they kept it very well plastered and smooth, 
 both the walls and the floor. On the side walls they fixed 
 certain stones, like those of a mill, with a hole right 
 through the middle just as big as the ball, and he that 
 could strike it through there won the game; and in token 
 of its being an extraordinary success, which rarely happened, 
 he had a riglit to the cloaks of all the lookers-on, by antient 
 custom, and law amongst gamesters ; and it was very 
 pleasant to see, that as soon as ever the ball was in the hole, 
 the standers-by took to their heels, running away with all 
 their might to save their cloaks, laughing and rejoicing, 
 others scouring after them to secure their cloaks for the 
 winner, who was obliged to offer some sacrifice to the idol 
 of the tennis court, and the stone through whose hole the 
 ball had passed. Every tennis court was a temple, having 
 two idols, the one of gaming and the other of the ball. 
 On a lucky day, at midnight, they performed certain cere- 
 monies and enchantments on the two lower walls and on 
 
74 
 
 PHALLIC REMAINS. 
 
 the midst of the floor, singing certain songs or ballads : 
 after whicli a priest of the great temple went with some 
 of their religious men to bless it ; he uttered some words, 
 threw the ball about the tennis court four times, and then 
 it was consecrated and might be played in, but not before. 
 The owner of the tennis court, who was always a lord, 
 never played without making some offering and performing 
 certain ceremonies to the idol of gaming, which shews how 
 superstitious they were, since they had such regard to their 
 idols, even in their diversions," 
 
 "Captain Wilford, in the Transactions of the Royal Asiatic 
 Society, mentions the fact that perforated stones are not 
 uncommon in India, and devout people pass through them 
 when the opening will admit of it, in order to be regenerated. 
 If the hole be too small, they put either the hand or foot 
 through it, and with a suflicient degree of faith it answers 
 nearly the same purpose." 
 
 We have indeed here the secret of the whole matter of 
 these passages through fissures in rocks, holes in stones and 
 clefts in trees, viz., the idea of regeneration. A reference 
 to our former volume* will supply a full account of this 
 custom, and the reader will find there some remarkable and 
 interesting specimens of its existence and manifestation in 
 both India and England. We may remention here the story 
 there quoted from Wilford, of two Brahmins who came on 
 a political expedition to England, and who in their return 
 journey having crossed the Indus, contracted, according to 
 the Hindoo faith, serious impurity, and in consequence lost 
 caste. All efforts made in their behalf by the rajah, in 
 whose service they had undertaken the journey, proved 
 unavailing, and at an assembly of Brahmins it was decreed 
 that : — 
 
 " In consequence of their universal good character, and of 
 the motive of their travelling to distant countries, which 
 was solely to promote the good of their country, they 
 might be regenerated and have the sacerdotal ordination 
 renewed. For tlie purpose of regeneration it is directed to 
 nuike an image of pure gold of the female power of nature 
 in the shape either of a woman or of a cow. In this 
 statue the person to be regenerated is enclosed and dragged 
 
 * " Phallisrn." 
 
PHALLIC REMAINS. < 5 
 
 out through the usual channel. As a statue of pure gold 
 and of proper dimensions would be too expensive, it is 
 sufficient to make an image of the sacred Yoni, through 
 which the person to be regenerated is to pass. Rayhu-Nath- 
 Raya had one made of pure gold and of proper dimensions; 
 his ambassadors were regenerated, and the usual ceremonies 
 of ordination having been performed, and immense presents 
 bestowed on the Brahmins, they were re- admitted into the 
 communion of the faithful." 
 
 Mr. Richard Brash, writing in the Gentleman's Magazine 
 for 1864, winds up an article on these stones as follows: — 
 " I think a few inferences may be drawn from the facts 
 already stated. First, that the superstition of the holed 
 stone seems peculiar to the ' Goadhal ' or Irish Celts, as 
 the examples existing are almost exclusively found in Ireland, 
 Scotland, and Cornwall, which two latter districts were 
 largely colonised by the Goadhal. Secondly, that the virtues 
 attributed to its use are found either traditionally or in 
 actual existence in the countries whence I have drawn my 
 examples, Ireland, Scotland, Cornwall, India ; and those are 
 the binding nature of contracts made through them, but 
 more particularly the regenerative power supposed to be 
 communicated by passing through the orifice, whether it be 
 a diseased limb, or the weakly and rickety infant, or the 
 linen about to be used in child work. In India it un- 
 doubtedly was a Phallic emblem with a twofold symbolisui, 
 representing in the one monument the reciprocal principles. 
 I am equally certain, that among our Celtic progenitors it 
 had a similar signification, of which the existing myths have 
 a faint shadowing. In Ireland ample evidences are not 
 wanting to show that Phallic dogmas and rites were very 
 extensively known and practised in ancient times. It is 
 patent in the existing folk-lore of the country, in some 
 everyday customs of the peasantry, and in the remains of 
 midnight plays and ceremonies, practised still in remote 
 districts at wakes and such-like occasions. Thirdly, Mr. 
 Blight has before alluded to the triangular arrangement of 
 the stones at Madron, and to the triangular stone at 
 Tolven Cross, Constantine, and Iiints that the coincidence 
 is worthy of consideration. To these I would add the 
 triangular arrangement of the aperture on the cross at 
 Eilean Rona, and the thrice-repeated aperture on the sup- 
 porting slab of the cromlech on Gafr-Inis, Brittany." 
 
/b PHALLIC REMAINS. 
 
 The object we set out with has now been achieved, and 
 we have in the foregoing pages endeavoured as clearly as 
 possible to describe three particular forms of " Objects, 
 Monuments and Remains," viz., the Round Towers, the 
 Pillar Stones, and the Holed Stones. That the bulk of 
 them were not of Christian origin, to whatever uses they 
 may have been put in Christian times, has probably struck 
 the reader as unquestionable. When their peculiar form is 
 taken into consideration, their great antiquity and the very 
 striking analogy between many of the circumstances con- 
 nected with their history and those connected with the 
 history of eastern nations, little difficulty will probably be 
 felt in coming to the conclusion that the theory which 
 regards them as emblems of the male and female organs of 
 generation, and therefore as Phallic Remains, has the pre- 
 ponderance of argument in its favour. 
 
 The Exd. 
 
PHALLIC SERIES 
 
 Cr. 8vo, Vellum, 7/6 Each. 
 Only a very limited number, privately printed. 
 
 PHALLICISM. — A Description of the Worship of 
 Lingam-Yoni in various parts of tlie World, and 
 in different Ages, with an Account of Ancient and 
 Modern Crosses, particularly of the Crux Ansata 
 (or Handled Cross) and other Symbols connected with 
 the Mysteries of Sex Worship. 
 
 Nearly out of jn^int, 
 
 OPHIOLATREIA.— An Account of the Rites and 
 Mysteries connected with the Origin, Rise, and De- 
 velopment of Serpent Worship in various parts 
 of the World, enriched with Interesting Traditions, 
 and a full description of the celebrated Serpent Mounds 
 and Temples, the whole forming an exposition of one 
 
 of the phases of PhalMc, or Sex Worship. 
 
 Phallic Objects, Monuments and Remains; 
 Illustrations of the Rise and Development of the 
 Phallic Idea (Sex Worship), and its embodiment in 
 Works of Nature and Art. Etc! ted Frontispiece. 
 
 in preparation. 
 
 Cult US ARBORUM.— a Descriptive Account of 
 Phallic Tree Worship, with illustrative Legends, 
 Superstitious Usages, Ac; exhibiting its Origin and 
 Development amongst the Eastern and Western Nations 
 of the World, from the earliest to modern times. 
 
 Fishes, Flowers, and Fire as Phaiiic Symbols. 
 
BL460.P534 
 
 Phallic objects, monuments and remains; 
 
 ■ n[','."';!^°"J^^°'?5'C3' Seminary-Speer Library 
 
 1 1012 00009 426C ., 
 
iiaiiiii