Cillín

Bro and I went out to Dalkey and strolled to the seafront at Coliemore harbour. There's a view out to Dalkey island - see picture taken just as dusk was falling. The builing standing up on the island is the Martello tower, but this posting is about the little church or cillín which is about situated about the middle of the island in this picture.
As a result of the visit, I had a chat with my uncle who is a historian of those times - what the idea of the small little church was. Who went in? Was mass held in it etc.
So he painted a very interesting picture. The monk or priest reading the mass was inside, along with the rich or the gentry who would be invited and the rest of the congregation stood outside on the "faiche". Sometimes the area outside the wee church would be covered in gravel.
It gave me a whole other view of faith and religion. Apart from the fact that the mass was probably in Latin and therefore not understood by the congregation - they couldn't even hear it. They were standing around outside, possibly in rain and wind, trusting whatever was going on inside. That was in the days before microphones, printing of mass leaflets and all those devices for involving the people.