Uses of the Round Towers of Ireland, 



173 



bottom ; and most of the stones of which it is formed extend through the entire 

 thickness of the wall, which is three feet. The lintel is three feet nine inches 

 in length, and one foot three inches in height, and extends the entire thickness 

 of the wall. Some chiselling on the left side of this doorway seems to indicate 

 the intention of adding an architrave, like that seen in the Lady's Church, but 

 which was never completed. 



The next example, which I have to submit to the reader, is of somewhat 

 later date, being the doorway of the church of St. Fechin, at Fore, in the county 

 of Westmeath, erected, as we may conclude, within the first half of the seventh 

 century, as the saint died of the memorable plague, which raged in Ireland in 

 the year 664. 



This magnificent doorway, which the late eminent antiquarian traveller, Mr. Ed- 

 ward Dodwell, declared to me, was as perfectly Cyclopean in its character, as 

 any specimen he had seen in Greece, is constructed altogether of six stones, 

 including the lintel, which is about six feet in length, and two in height, the 



