430 [Proc. B. N. F. C, 



intervals during the night the monks descended by the wind- 

 ing night stair, whose lower steps in the south transept still 

 remain, to their prayers in the church. On the south side of 

 the cloister quadrangle was the refectory, in this case a mag- 

 nificent hall, 71 feet by 28 feet., with the balcony or reading 

 pulpit in its western side. The three splendid lancet windows 

 in the southern gable still remain, and of all the beautiful 

 features of this beautiful abbey these bear away the palm. 

 They alone are worth travelling miles to see. To the west of 

 the refectory lay the buttery and the Domus Conversorum, or 

 room for the lay brethren, the foundations of which were laid 

 bare in the excavations carried on by Mr. Phillips some years 

 since. Among the minor objects of interest are the numerous 

 " mason's marks," not of Freemasonry, so-called, but the marks 

 made by each workman to identify the particular stones 

 worked by him. Some of the party looked with more interest 

 on these than upon the technicalities of " early pointed," 

 "lancet," ''round arched," &c., or upon the effigy, now much 

 decayed, of Africa, wife of John De Courcy, and daughter of 

 Godred, King of Man, the pious foundress of the Abbey, who, in 

 1 193, brought monks from Holm Cultram, in Cumberland, and 

 established them here. The figure of the knight in armour, 

 still more decayed, may, at least possibly, have been her 

 husband. On the return to Newtownards the party visited 

 the Old Church, fully described in O'Laverty's valuable work. 

 Tea at the Londonderry Arms, the election of a new member, 

 and the appointment of the Rev. George Robinson, M.A., 

 delegate from the Club to the forthcoming meeting of the 

 British Association in Aberdeen, brought to a close a very 

 interesting day's proceedings. 



On 19th September, to 



RADEMON, FOR A FUNGUS FORAY. 



The final excursion for the season was to Rademon and 

 Crossgar. A party smaller than it would haye been, had the 



