Macalis'I'kk — The Histori/ and Antiquities nf Inis Ccaltra. 131 



outside but spanned with a flat arch inside. There is a simple moulding on 

 the outside arris (fig. 6, C). There were two other doorways in the church, 

 now blocked up. One of these was on the south side, apparently Jacobean ; 

 it was spanned with a low segmental arch. The other was on the north side, 

 and cannot now be traced except on the outside face of the wall. It was 3 

 feet 8 inches across, and was covered with a thin lintel slab, having no 

 relieving arch above it. 



When roofed, this church must have been very dark. There were 

 only two windows — a tall single lancet in the east end, now completely 

 destroyed, and another single lancet with round head on the south side of the 

 altar. The sill of the east window is leaning against the north wall on the 

 outside, and the cut stones now mark graves in the adjoining cemetery. 

 There are two aumbries, one in the south wall near the east corner, the other 

 in the north wall about 10 feet from the east end. 



One of the most peculiar features of the church is an offset in the south 

 side, beginning a few feet from the east corner, and running along the whole 

 length of the church ; but not reaching up to the top of the wall (see the 

 sketch, fig. 6, B). It seems as though, for some reason difficult to understand, 

 the wall had been at some time thickened by adding a new face to the inside 

 of it. 



There is a buttress against the north wall of the church, in line with the 

 east end, not bonded to the main building, and therefore probably an addition. 

 A curious water-channel is pierced through this buttress, which was probably 

 once connected with a drain from the eaves-gutter (see fig. 6, D). 



The corbel with a head, now built into the top of the south wall 

 on the outside, has already been mentioned. The seventeenth-century 

 O'Brien altar-tomb, which has suffered many vicissitudes, is described 

 below, pp. 164-6. A rude seat, to serve as sedilia, has been constructed in 

 recent years on the north side of the church. A cross-slab (No. 35 below) 

 has been utilized in the construction. 



St. Mary's is the least interesting, and certainly the latest, of the buildings 

 on the island, with the exception of the Cottage (sect. ix). It is probably of 

 thirteenth-century date, but much altered, if not partly rebuilt, about the 

 sixteenth century. O'Donovan is not improbably correct in supposing that 

 the remaining window has been taken out of an earlier church.' The west 

 doorway looks like thirteenth-century work, but the two blocked doorways 

 are quite late, and were probably not much, if at all, earlier than 1600. 

 Nothing but clearing of rubbish was done by the Board of Works. Delany 



' 0,S. Letters, loc. cit., p. 552. Brash, loc. eit., j). 20, makes the same suggestion. 



