231 



chevron and the zigzag; they are beautifully executed, and still 

 fresh and perfect.* 



The church at Dungiven is remarkable for the resemblance some 

 part of its architecture bears to the ruins in the Scotish island of 

 lona. The arches over the extremely narrow lancet windows of 

 the chancel, being a kind of gothic, formed in the same primitive 

 manner as those at Oransay, by two flat stones of equal length, their 

 lower ends resting on the side uprights, the others meeting in the 

 middle> and forming an acute angle. The windows are so narrow 

 as to admit but little air, and were evidently not intended to be 

 glazed.-f- The body of the church is built of cut free-stone, neatly 

 put together; it is of a mixed character, the arch over the door- way 

 being semicircular, as is that between the nave and the chancel. 

 There is no ornament, but the work is most excellent. The windows 

 in the nave are wide, of handsome stone work, and plainly of much 

 later date than the rest of the edifice, which is said to have been built 

 about the year 1100, by the family of the Carthans ;;{: a date which 

 agrees so well with the general style of the building that it seems 

 deserving of some reliance. It may be observed, that if this be so, 

 this well constructed lime and stone building was erected sixty-nine 

 years previous to the landing of the Anglo-Normans, and is a proof 

 of the justice of the conclusions drawn in an earlier part of this essay. 



At Lusk there is a church with a belfry of peculiar character, 

 well worthy of notice ; this stands at the west end of the building, 

 and one of its angles is attached to a lofty round tower, much 

 higher than the bell tower or the three smaller round towers which 



* Wright's Killarney, p. 72. — Weld's Killarney. 



t Parochial Surveys, I. p. 301. 



J Survey of Derry, p. 489. It is probable that when the church was enlarged, and in part 

 rebuilt, that the nave was added by the Carthans; while the chancel may contain a portion of 

 the original structure, and possibly belong to the latter part of the seventh century. A conclu- 

 sion warranted by the strong likeness it bears to the church in lona. 



