Early Irish History and Antiquities and the History of West Cork
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Prior to St. Patrick there is no means of ascertaining what the population might be. After the advent of the Saint we can only offer conjectures, and, judging from the very small churches that were erected previous to the Norman Conquest, the population must have been small. The churches were small because the congregations were small. The first inhabitants settled about the seashore, where they could provide themselves with plenty of fish, and where there were facilities for trading by means of their boats. The inland parts of the country were covered with trees, and those had to be cleared off before people settled there, and this took a long time. It is conjectured that there were, in the time of St. Patrick, 800,000 inhabitants in the country. We think the figure excessive.