Irish Druids and Old Irish Religions

264 Old Irish Religions.
asked, '' Do they throw any light upon the question of
rehgion in Ireland ? "
The first inquiry will be as to their age. If, as some
authorities declare, they date from Christian times, they
may be regarded as silent, so far as prior heathenism is
concerned. If, however, as others contend, their structure
and arrangements indicate a period of greater antiquity,
they may tell a tale of pagan symbolism.
As writers of the twelfth century assure us that there
were then no stone churches in Ireland, these buildings
must, if Christian, have been raised since the Norman
conquest of that Island. And yet, as Marcus Keane informs
us— " more than eighty of the supposed sites of
towers are associated with the names of fifth and sixth
century Saints, or of heathen divinities."
One has affirmed that a celebrated tower was built by
the devil in one night. To this, Latocnaye says, " If the
devil built it, he is a good mason." Others may still ask,
" Who erected the rest t " While over a hundred are
known to us now, their number must have been much
greater formerly, if, as that ancient chronicle, the Ulster
Annals, declares, 75
fell in the great Irish earthquake
of 448.
We have been told that they were fire-towers, belfries,
watch-towers, granaries, sepulchres, forts, hermit dwelHngs,
purgatorial pillars, phallic objects of worship, astronomical
marks, depositories of Buddhist relics, Baal fire-places,
observatories, sanctuaries of the sacred fire. Freemason
lodges, &c., &c. They were Pagan and Christian, built
long before Christ, or a thousand years after.
As showing the diversity of opinion, we place before the
reader some of the views,—especially where they bear upon
the subject of Irish religion.
Most Christian writers of the Island, jealous alike for