252 



Mr. PETRIE'S Inquiry into the Origin and 



How far Dr. Ledwich may be right or wrong in the preceding explanations 

 of these sculptures, I must leave the reader to determine, as I am unable to 

 offer any thing in the way of elucidation of them myself. 



That these features, and indeed the whole of the chancel, are of later age 

 than the nave, or body of the church, will be at once obvious on an examina- 

 tion of the building. The greater antiquity of the nave, which, indeed, there is 

 every reason to believe, if not of St. Kevin's time, is of an age very closely fol- 

 lowing it, is sufficiently indicated by the Cyclopean character of its masonry, 

 of which I have given an example at page 186, and its massive doorway, 

 placed in the centre of the west front, which is similar to some of the most 

 ancient church doorways in Ireland, except that the weight upon the lintel is 

 taken off by a semicircular arch, as shown in the annexed wood-cut : 



Moreover, in the chancel there is no massive masonry in any part of the walls, 

 and the stones, of which they are composed, seem all to have been boulders or 

 surface stones ; and those forming the quoins in the east angles are of granite, 



