Labyrinths in Ireland

by Jeff Saward, editor, Caerdroia

In a country so steeped in history and with an artistic heritage famously decorated with swirling and spiralling art forms, from the time of the earliest Neolithic rock art through to the Celtic masterpiece of the Book of Kells, it might seem logical to find the labyrinth symbol also abundant in Ireland. Instead there are only a handful of examples known, but each is quite unique and each represents a different phase of the history of labyrinths and their use as a multi-faceted symbol with widespread appeal.

A Historical Aside

The story of how the labyrinth symbol came to occupy the grand naves of the greatest Christian monuments of the Middle Ages and gain acceptance with the Church is long and tortuous. It took nearly a thousand years for this episode in the history of the labyrinth to unravel.

The first example of labyrinths in a Christian setting is to be found in Algeria, North Africa, and provides an illuminating insight into how the labyrinth may have been visualized by the early Christian mind. It is a mosaic pavement labyrinth of typical Roman style, but laid in the floor of the Basilica of St. Reparatus, founded in 324 AD in Al-Asnam (Orléansville) 100 miles west of Algiers. At its centre is a word square comprising the words Sancta Eclesia (holy church) repeated over and over. Such word squares, or letter labyrinths, were popular with the Romans, and this example, enclosed within a physical labyrinth, has been interpreted by scholars as a depiction of the Civitas Dei (City of God, i.e. the church) surrounded by the Civitas Mundi (city of the world), as later outlined by St.Augustine in De Civitate Dei.

A recently discovered labyrinth graffito on a piece of tumbled masonry among the ruins of the Roman town of Knidos, in south-west Turkey, provides an interesting example of an early Christian usage of the labyrinth. Accompanied by an inscription in Greek text, KYRIE BOETHEI ("Lord help (us)"), it may be an appeal for protection from a threat at the time; but could also be a prayer for the soul. The labyrinth is surrounded by depictions of crosses, the style of which dates the carving to the 6th or 7th centuries AD, a palm tree and a twining plant issuing from a pot. This fascinating combination of the labyrinth and other Christian imagery suggests that the walls of the labyrinth may have been viewed as providing the protection that the unknown carver of the inscription was seeking.

It seems likely that the preserved written works of Roman and, earlier, Greek authors, Pliny, Homer and others, which mentioned the legends of the labyrinth, were instrumental in the acceptance of the labyrinth within the early Christian Church. These writings, combined with the widespread recognition of Christianity throughout the Roman territories following the conversion of the Emperor Constantine and his hosting of the Council of Nicaea in AD 325, allowed the labyrinth symbol to be absorbed into later Christian symbolism, philosophy and architecture, despite its pre-Christian origins.

Surprisingly few examples of early Christian labyrinths, apart from those in manuscripts, are known, although they are found at opposite ends of the early Christian world, attesting to the obvious acceptance of the labyrinth into early Christian symbolism. Surprisingly, perhaps, all of these early Christian labyrinths are of the ancient Classical design, the form that could be carried around in the mind without recourse to instructions for their construction.

The development and introduction of the familiar Medieval design, epitomised by the labyrinth in the nave of Chartres Cathedral, did not take place until the 10th century and it did not appear in churches as an architectural feature until the 12th century. This form of labyrinth appears at this time not only in ecclesiastical settings but also in popular use throughout Europe, cut into the turf or formed in mediaeval gardens. It would go on to become the root of the hedge maze puzzles that are recognized almost universally today, whenever the word maze, or labyrinth, is mentioned.

The Labyrinth in Ireland

As the Romans never colonised Ireland, there are no mosaic labyrinths, widespread elsewhere in Europe, to be found. Likewise, despite the abundance of prehistoric rock art, which elsewhere in southern Europe contains labyrinths amongst its circular and spiralling forms, so far, no example of the symbol has been reported in this context in Ireland. However, there are several important historic examples of the labyrinth surviving in Ireland which deserve attention.

The Hollywood Stone

On current evidence, the earliest example of the labyrinth symbol known in Ireland would appear to be the Hollywood Stone, a large boulder decorated with a Classical labyrinth design, 29 inches (73 cm) in diameter, discovered in 1908 at Lockstown, near Hollywood, County Wicklow, by a group of men chasing a Stoat! When they turned over the boulder, under which their quarry had hidden, it revealed the carving on the underside. Soon confidently identified by the archaeologists of the time to be of Neolithic or early Bronze Age origin, and contemporary with other prehistoric rock art in Ireland, the stone was removed in 1925 to the National Museum in Dublin, where it remains to this day. Removed from its original find location, its position in the landscape, purpose and origin was thus difficult to appreciate and few questioned the original interpretation of its origin, made at the time of its discovery, until the 1970's.

The Hollywood Stone, Co. Wicklow

The important fact that provides the clue is where the stone was originally situated. It stood beside a branch of St. Kevin's Road, an ancient pilgrim's paved trackway, which starting at Hollywood, leads through the Wicklow Mountains to the famous monastery at Glendalough, founded by St. Kevin in the mid-6th century AD. While the age of the labyrinth carved on the boulder is difficult, if not impossible, to prove, the combination of the sharpness of the carving and its former location, strongly suggests that it was a marker stone for the start of the long winding pilgrims path through the rugged Wicklow Gap.

As such it probably dates from the early Christian or Mediaeval period, c.550 - 1400 AD, possibly toward the earlier end of this range (Harbison, 1991). The choice of the labyrinth to decorate the stone was surely a commentary on the tortuous path that lay ahead for the pilgrims on the trackway. Had the stone been left where it was found, the connection would be apparent, but now isolated in a museum it has lost its context and stands silent.

The Church of St. Lawrence, Rathmore.

Another carved stone, but this time with the Mediaeval design, is to be found in the ruined church of St.Lawrence at Rathmore in County Meath. Found in 1931 amongst rubble on the floor, it is now set into the wall just inside the doorway into the church.

Labyrinth stone, Rathmore, Co. Meath.

The labyrinth, a perfectly executed 11 path design of the type found commonly in churches and cathedrals across Europe during the Middle Ages, is 14 inches in diameter. Its original purpose and location with the church are not known, but it was surely a decorative item and clearly dates from the mid-15th century, when the church was built by Sir Thomas Plunkett, who lies buried with his wife in a tomb within the church.

Bridgetown House, Castletownroche.

The third example of an ancient labyrinth design in Ireland comes from Bridgetown House, a large farmhouse to the south of Castletownroche in County Cork. It is formed from river worn pebbles laid as a cobblestone floor in the kitchen of the farmhouse. Only 5½ by 4½ feet in diameter, the 'walls' of the labyrinth were created by laying larger, flattened, stones at an angle to the stones that form the 'pathway.' Its design is of the widespread Classical type, with seven concentric paths surrounding the goal. The story of how this little labyrinth came to be created is quite remarkable.

The farmhouse was built in 1782 and sometime in the 1790's a family wedding party was held at the house. At the height of the festivities, the assemble folk were dancing in the kitchen when the original wooden floor collapsed, sending everyone tumbling into the cellar beneath! Apparently nobody was seriously injured, but to avoid a repeat of this unfortunate incident, it was decided that the cellar would be filled in and a local paver, Joe Knott, laid the cobblestone floor. Presumably he chose the labyrinth motif as a good luck charm, or maybe as a way of commemorating the unusual circumstances that lead to the construction of the floor.

Cobblestone Labyrinth, Bridgetown House, Castletownroche

The new floor was evidently sturdier than the original and was quite well known locally, but over the years the floor had settled unevenly and during the 1960's the owners were forced to pour a new concrete floor over the original cobblestones. Fortunately, however, they appreciated the value of the original floor and had the foresight to photograph the labyrinth and cover the cobbles with a layer of plastic sheeting and sand before the concrete was poured, so it should be possible to recover the labyrinth at some point in the future.

The Church of St. Regnus, Burt.

A final example of the use of the labyrinth in Ireland, but from a much more recent time, is to be found at the unusual church of St. Regnus in Burt, County Donegal. Built in the early 1960's and consecrated in 1967, this striking modern circular church, is modelled on the plan of an ancient Iron Age hillfort, the Grianan of Aileach, which overlooks Lough Swilly and the village of Burt. The concentric defensive walls of the fortress, the legendary seat of the O'Neills, the Kings of Ulster from the 5th to 12th centuries AD, and destroyed in 1101 AD by Murtogh O'Brien, the King of Munster, were restored in 1870 and the church is modelled directly on the reconstructed outer walls of the fortress.

The labyrinth appears several times within the structure of this new church: as bronze door handles on the impressive copper-clad doors and on a plaque set into a wall in front of the church commemorating its dedication.

Labyrinth door handle & the Church of St. Regnus, Burt.

However, it is not clear why the architects who designed the church choose to use the labyrinth in this setting. Maybe they likened it to the concentric defensive walls of the fortress, a parallel that can be traced back to the stories of the Walls of Troy, first made apparent on an Etruscan vase from Tragliatella dating to the 7th century BC, where a labyrinth inscribed with the name Truia (Troy) is depicted with horsemen and soldiers. There is no trace of a labyrinth carved on the stones of the fortress, and no explanation given at the church.

As with the earlier examples discussed above, an air of mystery surrounds even this most recent of additions to the fascinating collection of historic labyrinths to be found in Ireland.

Jeff Saward, Thundersley, England, March 2003.