The land on
which I looked was rented at L3. My only wonder is that the lands thus
rented pay the rent alone without supporting in any manner the tillers
of the soil. It was all pasture at this particular place. The ruins here
of the church are very extensive, of the abbey only the fragment of a
wall is standing. My guides informed me that there was an underground
passage in old days between the abbey and the church, so that the bishop
was not seen from the time he left the abbey until he appeared on the
high altar.
They remarked that a story handed down from father to son as a true
record of a place should be believed before a written account. They made
no allowance for the coloring given to a story as it passed through the
imaginations of successive generations. I assured them that I accepted
all legends as historical facts to a certain extent. They were made
happy, and were in a fit state of mind to _insinse_ me into the
facts of the case about the round tower. It is of great thickness, the
area enclosed would make a good sized room. The stone work is remarkably
solid and good, and every stone smoothly fitted into the next with no
appearance of mortar.
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