history of this period on the moors, amidst the solitude of the hills, under ancient burial-mounds, by the side of the rivers, and in the lakes.

"In Ireland and in Scotland more relics of these primitive dwellings have survived than with us. This is accounted for in two ways: first, the Romans never occupied Ireland, and only penetrated a comparatively short distance into Scotland, so there was no change in the native method of building; and secondly, when the first Christian missionaries came, they first gained the ear of the chieftains and the rest of the clan followed, and several instances are mentioned where chiefs gave up their strongholds to these missionaries.

"The ruins on Ingleborough are believed to be the remains of a settlement of Culdee Monks. We have seen a plan of similar ruins on the great Skellig, which district was explored by a party of archæologists in 1891, who went in Lord Dunraven's yacht; and this plan shows circles of stones and ruined walls similar to those on Ingleborough.

"This Skellig Michael is about 700 feet above the sea, and is about eight miles from the Irish coast, and it is surrounded by a "cashel", or wall. A similar wall is to be found on Ingleborough.

"The cells on the Skellig where the monks dwelt are six in number, and are still there. They are built entirely of dry rubble masonry, and are at first nearly straight and then converge so as to form a dome-shaped roof, giving to the whole somewhat the shape of the old fashioned straw skeps for bees, whence they are called 'bee-hive cells'. There is no attempt at an arched roof, but the flat stones are laid horizontally in courses overlapping on the inside, until at last it can be spanned by a single flag. So skilfully constructed are these dry stone buildings that they have stood for centuries the storms of the Atlantic. Not so those on Ingleborough; the roofs have fallen in, and lie in a mournful heap in the centre of some of them, though the majority have been removed to build the cairn.

"Mr. Orphen, a writer some years ago in the Leisure Hour, says that 'this cashel or wall edging a plateau (extensive traces of which are found on Ingleborough) is one of the features of the early monastic group in Ireland, and in places more open to attack than the Skellig it is sometimes of great dimensions'. He mentions one place 'where the wall was 15 ft. high and 13 ft. broad', but a wall that size was not needed for a place so well fitted for a place of defence as Ingleborough.

"Granted, then, that buildings similar in design and situation may have been built, what reason have we to suppose that the Culdee monks ever reached so far as Ingleborough.

"St. Ninian, a son of one of the petty princes in the North of England, who visited Rome in the latter part of the fourth century, returned to his native country after being ordained by the Bishop of Rome, and preached to his countrymen. He then crossed the Solway from Cumberland to Whithorn, in Galloway, where he built a little church- the first on Scottish ground. It was called the White House', from the whiteness of its walls. This was the centre of Ninian's work, and from this point he made many missionary journeys into the interior of the country. This church was built on a bold headland overlooking the Solway.

"Then another missionary to Scotland was Palladius. He came from Rome about the middle of the fourth century to Ireland; from thence he crossed to Scotland and settled at Fordun, where he died. Years after he was called a saint, and a yearly festival, called 'Paldy's Fair', in his honour, is still kept up in that place.

"But the great missionary was Columba, and it is to some of his followers that the credit of forming a missionary station on Ingleborough most probably belongs. In 565 thirteen God-fearing men crossed from Ireland to Iona in a boat made of hides stretched on a keel and ribs of wood, called a 'currach'; boats made in a similar way are still used by the Greenlanders.

"They were under the leadership of the far-famed Saint Columba. In Iona they built huts of wood and wattles, and a monastery which, for ages afterwards, was the principal seat of the Culdees, this name in the old Pictish language meaning "Servants of God". Their conversion seems to have originally sprung direct from Asia Minor, and was not of Roman or Western origin, as is proved by their following the use of the Greek Church as to the date of Easter.

"This monastery of Iona was the great seat of learning-the parent stem, from which disciples, well instructed in religion, were sent forth to teach the people and to spread the Christian faith; and to them the Picts and Scots and British and Saxons owe mainly their conversion.

"Starting from this little missionary settlement, they made long journeys on the mainland to preach the Gospel. They travelled on foot over rugged mountains, and through pathless forests and deep retired glens.

"They endured all sorts of hardships, and suffered from the violence of the rude people, stirred up the heathen priests; but they had faith and courage given to them to toil on. Sometimes they spent the night in the pathless woods, reading their Latin bibles by the light of a fire made under some large tree. Now driven from the gate of a chief, and perhaps stoned; at another house made welcome in the

oaken hall hung round with the trophies of the chase, the tusked skull of the wild boar, the skin of the wolf, and the antlers of deer; at another time preaching in the midst of a village, and telling the simple people the story of the Cross.

"Many monasteries sprang up between Edinburgh and Ripon, and some in the Midlands. Forty years later, Aidan was sent to preach to the Northumbrians at Bamborough, and finally to Lindisfarne, where he became a bishop, lived to a good old age, and died universally respected. Four years after his death began a period of persecution against these early Christians, which lasted for a number of years. During this time they took up their abode in various fastnesses and natural strongholds, far from their cruel foes, and Ingleborough at such a time would be a veritable haven of rest. Who can tell but that the bones of St. Cuthbert himself may have been carried there during their years of pilgrimage? Tradition says they were carried into Lancashire, and then over the Yorkshire moors to Ripon, and in all their wanderings no safer place could be found than Ingleborough

When the rude Dane burn'd their pile,
The monks fled forth from Holy Isle,
O'er northern mountains, marsh, and moor,
From sea to sea, from shore to shore,
Seven years St. Cuthbert's corpse they bore.

"This is the time, probably, the colony on Ingleborough built their rude huts or cells, and defended it with a mighty wall, which, after 1,000 years, is still to be seen in parts, and on the inside of it is the remains of what was once a deep moat or ditch. Nature seems to have fitted it for a stronghold. Water there is close to the summit, and fuel in plenty within a few yards; and from its flattened top the country, like a map, lay stretched before them, and they would thus be prepared for any emergencies.

"The Romans may have also used it as a beacon hill, hence its name Ingle, or Fire-burrow, or Camp; but the remains are too rude; no Roman workmen ever fortified it, or at least no trace of any such appear. Those who lived there must have done so through dire necessity, not choice.

"The situation, remains, and general character are entirely at one with the Culdee settlement on the Great Skellig.

"There are eighteen horse-shoe or round foundations still to be seen, and more than five hundred yards of remains of a wall that once must have encircled the south, south-west, and south-east of the hill, The north would need very little, if any, encircling wall-nature has done its work too well for that. 'The Cross' at Ingleton, near the foot of Storrs' Common, may have been where the faithful Culdees met their flock and taught the living truth." "А. М. С."

Australian Light on Britain in the Later Stone Period: Appendix. Glossary of Australian words used in the Rev. W. S. LACH-SZYRMA'S Paper, pp. 113—124.

THE JOURNAL

OF THE

British Archacological Association.

SEPTEMBER 1898.

REPORT ON SEARCHES MADE AT THE PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

IN RESPECT OF

THE TOWN OF CONWAY OR ABERCONWAY.

BY T. B. FARRINGTON, ESQ., TOWN CLERK OF CONWAY.

(Read at the Conway Congress, August 20th, 1897.)

ONSIDERABLE searches have been made

at the Public Record Office for records relating to the town of Aberconway or Conway, and a large number of references have been taken from the catalogues and indexes of the Records.

The first charter was granted by King Edward I to the Burgesses immediately after the Conquest of Wales, and it was confirmed by many subsequent kings down to Edward VI, in 1547, without any variations. It will therefore be sufficient, if the original charters are not extant, to obtain an office copy of the latter, unless it be thought desirable to have also a copy of the first charter, as furnishing the more reliable text.

The charter of Edward I makes Aberconway a free borough, and grants it sundry liberties, thus exempting it from manorial jurisdiction, if any existed in Wales at that period; but the charter preserved one link with the

1898

14