St. Kevin was of the Royal House of Leinster, and died at a great age in 618. We are told in a ‘Life’ of him that ‘on the northern shore of the lake his dwelling was a hollow tree; on the southern he dwelt in a very narrow cave, to which there was no access except by a boat, for a perpendicular rock of great height overhangs it from above.’ He attracted numbers of disciples to the place, and erected a monastery. This was repeatedly devastated by fire and sword in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, St. Kevin’s House being consumed in 1163, and the city is described as having lain waste for forty years, and as being a veritable den of robbers, ‘spelunca latronum.’ It suffered at the hands of Dermot Mac Morrough, and was destroyed again in 1398. That several of the existing churches formed part of the original foundation, their style of architecture sufficiently indicates. A cashel, or wall, appears usually to have enclosed most of the ancient Irish monastic establishments. That such a work at one time existed at Glendalough is certain, though scarcely a vestige of it at present remains above ground. One of the gateways, however, stood until Petrie’s time, which he compares to the Roman-built Newport Gate at Lincoln; and his prophecy, that for want of care this monument, unique of its kind, would soon cease to exist, was shortly after partially fulfilled, upon the fall of the principal arch. The stones, however, have been re-set, and the work possesses much of its pristine appearance. It is 11 feet high, 9½ feet wide, and 16 feet deep; it has external and internal arches, between which rose the tower. The Church of Our Lady (a modern name) is believed to have been the first erected in this part of the valley by St. Kevin, ‘qui ibi duxit vitam eremiticam,’ and here he was buried. It consists of a nave 32 feet by 20½ feet, and a chancel 21 feet 4 inches by 19½ feet: but the arch has fallen. The doorway is perhaps the finest of the kind remaining, and exhibits in a striking degree that early Greek form which is so very commonly found in the doorways of the most ancient churches, of the round towers, and, though more rudely developed, in the cahers of the pagan era. It is 5 feet 10 inches high, 2 feet 8 inches wide at the top, and 3 feet at the bottom, being formed of seven stones of the thickness of the wall; the lintel, 5 feet 1 inch long, has a cross on its soffit somewhat similar to that of Killiney. [Illustration: Doorway of the Church of our Lady, Glendalough.]