Note 192 — INTRODUCTION. (continued 2)

Sir Henry Dryden remarks that the same mode of making doorways is to be seen in the chapels at Lybster in Caithness, at Weir, at Linton in Shapinsay, Uyea in Shetland, and in some of the early oratories in Ireland, and suggests the question—Were there doors in these churches, and if so, where were they placed and how were they hung? “It is known,” he adds, “that in many cottages in old time the door was an animal’s hide hung across the opening, and probably this may have been the case in these unrebated church entrances.” The custom of closing the entrances to the places of worship by a skin or heavy curtain survives in the East to the present day. The “veil of the Temple,” covering the entrance to the Holy of Holies, is a familiar illustration of this ancient custom among the Jews.