Glossary R-Z

Radiocarbon dating: This is a scientific dating technique based on the amount of the radioactive isotope in carbon. On the death of organic materials the decay rate of this isotope can be measured and approximately dated to the time of its death. So a piece of charcoal, for example, can be roughly dated to when it was burnt.

Renaissance: The period of great advances in art and science, and rebirth of ideas in Europe between the 14th and 17th centuries.
Romanesque: In the early 12th century a style of architecture, known as Romanesque was at its high point in Ireland. Romanesque churches and monastic buildings were built to a simple plan but often had highly decorated doors and windows. St. Fechin's Church in Ballysadare has an example of a Romanesque doorway. Although this type of architecture is found in other parts of the Europe, the form of decoration found in Ireland is unique and draws its influence from Irish illuminated manuscripts and metalwork as well as Viking and continental ornament.

Roodscreen: An ornamental screen of timber or stone at the west end of a chancel. A rood or crucifix would be suspended within it.

Roofstone: This is a large slab of stone covering all or part of a chamber or gallery in megalithic tombs.

Rubbing: A copy made from a raised pattern or shape by rubbing a piece of paper placed over the pattern with wax, pencil or chalk for example.

Sacristy: The area of a church where the vestments and church vessels were kept.

Sedilia: The seats for the priest, deacon, and sub deacon officiating at Mass, usually built into the south wall of the chancel.

Sillstone: This is a low, upright slab, usually laid on its longest axis that is located between portal stones or between jambs, at the entrance to a chamber.

String Course: A continuous horizontal band of stone that slightly projects set into a wall or tower to stabilise the structure above it.

Tracery: This is the ornamental intersecting work of stone or wood in the upper part of a window.

Tuatha Dé Danann: The mythological ancient gods of Ireland called the Tribe of the goddess Danú, who inhabited Ireland before humans arrived.

Tympanum: An enclosed space above a doorway often with decorative figures carved in it.

Unclassified megaliths: These megalithic sites cannot be classified because so little of the upstanding monument survives. However, some monuments do not conform to modern day typologies. Cloverhill is an unusual monument that does not fit into a 'normal' type of megalith building tradition.

Wall-walk: A walk way positioned outside the roof and behind a parapet of a castle or church.

Wattle: This is interwoven framework of organic materials such as tree branches or reeds. Hazel and willow were commonly used in wattle in early medieval sites.
Wedge tombs: These belong to the late Neolithic c.2700 BC and continued to be built into the Bronze Age, up to 1700BC. They consist of a rectangular main chamber or gallery. Most have a wider entrance often towards the west. A wedge shaped kerb often occurs that was wider at the front and narrower to the rear. Capstones or 'lintels' roofed the chamber and the structure was covered in a cairn. Examples of wedge tombs are at Streedagh and Coolbeg near Drumcliff.