170 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



also in the approximation of the principal measurements, would seem to indicate 

 a closer connexion than is usual between the two foundations, closely as all 

 Cistercian houses were connected with each other. The plans of choir, tower, 

 transepts, side chapels, nave, and aisles are in all their principal features almost 

 identical in these Welsh and Irish Cistercian abbeys, and it would be difficult to 

 find any other two religious houses so much alike in this respect. A few of the 

 dimensions of each are here given : — 



The total length of Graiguenamanagh is 216 ft. 4 in., and the total length of 

 Strata Florida is 213 ft. (The latter measurement is clear of external walls.) 



Size of Nave, Graiguenamanagh, . . . 130 ft. x 29 ft. 



„ „ Strata Florida 128 ft. 6 in. x 28 ft. 



Width of Aisle, Graiguenamanagh, . . . 13 ft. 



,, ,, Strata Florida, . . . 12 ft. 6 in. 



Square of lantern of Tower of Graiguenamanagh, 29 ft. 



,, „ ,, ,, ,, Strata Florida, . 28 ft. 



Breadth across Transepts, Graiguenamanagh, . 110 ft. 



„ ,, „ „ Strata Florida, . . 117 ft. 3 in. 



Size of Choir, Graiguenamanagh, . . . 45 ft. x 29 ft. G in. 



Strata Florida 52 ft. 6 in. x 28 ft. 



The number of arches separating nave from aisles is seven in each case. 



The Conventual Buildiniis. 



As regards the conventual buildings of Graiguenamanagh, they arc situated to 

 the south of the church, the position usually followed save in a few instances, as 

 in Tinteni, Melrose, Beaufort, Ac, where, owing to the exigencies of the site, the 

 cloisters are placed north of the church, but such cases are the exception. 



The Sacristy was approached from a side chapel : it is 16 ft. by 24 ft. ; it was 

 vaulted, and lighted by a window in the east, following closely the general plan 

 elsewhere. 



The next apartment is 24 ft. by 10 ft. H in., and may have been a penitential 

 cell, or it may have been a store-room or Treasury. Similar apartments elsewhere 

 have been supposed to be the morgue or dead-house. There is nothing in its con- 

 struction calculated to throw light on the question as to which of the foregoing 

 purposes it may have been used for. 



Adjoining this we find the Chapter-room, an apartment 24 ft. by 20 ft. There 

 can be no doubt as to its use, as it presents the characteristics by which such a 

 room is invariably distinguished. We have the large doorway opening into the 

 cloisters, with two .side lights, which would have left almost the whole of the west 

 end open. In the centre of the room we mark the position of the usual central 



« Confirmation from King .John on 11 April, 12(XI. given by the hand of Hubert Walter, 

 archbishop of Canterbury ; and it is worth noting that among the witnesses was Wilham 

 Marshal the elder, the founder of the abbey of Duiske. Mr. Williams also provides the 

 infonnatiun that a William le Gras witnessed a Strata Florida Inquisition at Montgomery 

 in the year 1252. These are additional indications which fall in with Dr. Cochrane's 

 opinion that there was a close connexion between the abbeys of Duiske and Stratflour.] 



