Among the great number of churches and religious houses or establishments founded by St. Patrick, t. Columba, and other early Christian teachers, it can scarcely be doubted but that some were built of more durable material than wattle or timber; and accordingly we find mention in Harris's edition of Ware's Antiquities, p.37, that "St. Kenan, or Cianan, built a church of stone at Duleek, and that from thence it took the name of Damhliag, for that before this time (fifth century) the churches of Ireland were built of wattles and boards. "This church was supposed to be one of the first buildings con-structed of stone and lime in Ireland, and St. Kienan, accor-ding to the annalist, Tigernach, died AD 490. The passage runs thus " AD 490, the rest of St. Kenan of Duleek," that is three years before St. Patrick's death. The Irish were therefore in advance of the English, who, according to Bede and William of Malmesbury, did not adopt the use of lime and stone until AD 675. The first Christian Church erected in Britain, and generally ascribed to the Apostolic age, was exactly the size generally adopted in Ireland after its conversion to Christianity, namely-sixty feet in length and twenty-six in breadth. "The walls of timber, cover'd with twisted rods, the roof of straw or reeds." (Spelman's Conc., vol. I, ll.) "It was believed, indeed, until lately," writes Dr. Joyce, "that building of stone and mortar were unknown in Ireland previous to the Anglo-Norman invasion, but it has been shown that churches of stone were erected in the fifth, sixth, and succeeding centuries; and (quoting from Petrie) the ruins of many of these venerable structures are still to be seen, and have been identified as the very buildings erected by the early saints. "At the year 788, reference is made in the Annals of Ulster to a stone oratory at Armagh, thus-" Con-tencio in Ardmaca, in qua jugulatur vir in hostio (ostio) Oratonii lapidei." According to Petrie the churches at Armagh were built of stone and lime cement as early as the middle of the ninth century, and that there is every reason to believe that these stone churches were the very churches erected in St. Patrick's time, or shortly after. The Ancient Irish Churches, continues the same authority, are almost invariably of small size, their greatest length rarely exceeding eighty feet, and being usually not more than sixty. One example only is known of a church of greater length, namely-the great Church or Cathedral of Armagh, which, on the authority of the tripartite life of the founder, was originally an oblong building 140 feet in length, and divided into Nave and Choir, according to the custom of the Ancient Churches. The original great church, or Damhliag Mor, of Armagh, was probably very similar to several erections of an extremely early period, which yet remain. They are most simple in form, yet not wanting in any essential feature in church archi-tecture. Their plan is a nave and choir, connected together by a semicircular arch. The doorway, and there is generally but one, occupies a position in the centre of the West gable. The windows, which are plain, and splay internally, are usually very small, and in number rarely exceeding three; of which one is invariably found in the East wall, and one in the chancel. The third lights the nave, and is generally placed in the south side wall, at a short distance westward from the chancel arch. "The Damhliag Mor, or Great Stone Church, "writes Dean Reeves," probably occupied part of the site of the present Cathedral. It bears the name here given to it in the annals of the year 839; while at 890 and 907 it is mentioned under the generic title of Ecclais, or Church. This building was probably a plain oblong, with the door in the west, and principal window in the east. Distinguished individuals were occasionally buried in it, as we find that in 1010 a chief was interred before the altar. In 995 it was burned, and the roof remained, as annalists observe, for 130 years in a ruined condition; until 1125, when Celsus new roofed it and covered it with shingles. This building seems to have served as the principal church until 1268, when Moelpatrick O'Scannaill, the primate who founded the Fran-ciscan Abbey, commenced the Tempul Mor or Great Church of Armagh. The new structure, like the Roman Catholic Cathedral in our day, was probably carried on at intervals, and required a long period for its completion, but when finished proved enduring; for after repeated conflagrations, changes, and repairs, it still remains the pride of the province, and the glory of its noble restorer, who might have demolished the old shell, and at less cost have erected a large and hand-some edifice on the same or another site, but who, as his Grace wisely judged, preferred at any sacrifice to retain as far as possible the ancient fabric in its original proportions and time honour'd associations." At what period this venerable building was constructed, in the form which it has come down to us, is a matter of great uncertainty, as it has been so oftened battered by invaders, and so frequently repaired by the Native Irish in the fashion of the age in which the new alterations took place. Inglis says that it is the "oldest Cathedral Church in Ireland." Part of this edifice was erected in the reign of Henry III. 13th cent.), and the remaining part of it in the reign of Edward III. (14th cent.) St. Patrick's Cathedral is the principal ecclesiastical building in Armagh, and the most striking object on entering the city. The site occupied by this sacred edifice has been devoted to religious purposes for more than fourteen centuries, and there appears no reasonable ground for doubting that this Church was founded and endowed with its Primatial dignity and pre-eminence by Saint Patrick