316 



Mr. PETRIE'S Inquiry into the Origin and 



During the short reign of Turlogh's successor, Muirchertach Mac Loughlin, 

 and that of Turlogh's son, Roderic O'Conor, the last of the Irish princes who 

 claimed the sovereignty of Ireland, many churches were erected in the Ro- 

 manesque style, of which notices will be given in the Third Part of this 

 Inquiry ; and in several of these we find a more refined taste of design and 

 beauty of execution than in those of earlier date. The material, also, selected 

 for the ornamental parts, is of a different and better kind, being usually of grey 

 limestone or marble. Such, for example, was the beautiful abbey of Cong, of 

 which, as a characteristic architectural example, I annex an outline of the 

 capitals and arch mouldings of one of the doorways. I have, indeed, found no 



authority to enable me to fix with precision the date of the re-erection of this 

 noble monastery, or ascertain the name of its rebuilder ; but the characteristics 

 of its style are such as will leave no doubt of its being a work of the close of 

 the twelfth century, while its magnificence indicates with no less certainty the 

 pious bounty of the unhappy Roderic, who, in his later years, found refuge and, 

 as we may hope, tranquillity within its cloistered walls. 



