270 [Pi'oc. B.N.F.C, 



font Abbey the lunch baskets were requisitioned, and when 

 sufficient time had been allowed for an appreciation of their 

 contents we were called to learn from our President an 

 account of the place, in course of which the architectural 

 features were minutely pointed out and explained. We were 

 informed that the abbey was founded in 1142 by Donough 

 MacColvill, or Carrol, a prince of Uriel, and was the home 

 of a colony of Cistercian monks, sent over by St. Bernard 

 from Clairvaux. It was the first Cistercian abbey built in 

 Ireland, and the mother-house of over forty branch abbeys. 

 These abbeys were always built in secluded positions, usually 

 on the banks of rivers; such situations contrasting strongly 

 with the exposed positions selected by the church builders of 

 earlier ages, from which extensive views of the surrounding 

 country could always be obtained. At the conclusion of Mr. 

 Fennell's remarks we were called to resume places for the next 

 drive, and in the course of about an hour arrived at Monas- 

 terboice. Here are the remains of a monastery founded by 

 St. Bute, or Boetius, who died in the year 521. It was de- 

 stroyed by fire in 1097, and partially rebuilt, but it only 

 existed for a short time after that calamity, the last abbot of 

 whom any record exists dying in 1117. The relics of the 

 edifice consist chiefly of the walls and gables of two churches, 

 whose architecture witnesses their antiquity. Near them is a 

 round tower, which, though the top is broken off, is 110 feet 

 high and 51 feet in circumference at the base. The ascent of 

 this tower is easily accomplished by means of the ladders fixed 

 inside, and most of the party mounted to the top, from which 

 charming views of the surrounding country were obtained. 

 But the principal attraction is the three crosses the " yard " 

 contains, and to them Mr. Fennell specially directed atten- 

 tion and explained their history and markings. Muredach's 

 Cross, claimed to be the finest stone cross in existence, is 15 

 feet high, and was erected by Muredach, a King of Ireland, 

 who died 924 a.d. The second cross, known as the high cross, 

 is 27 feet high, and was erected about 920. These two crosses 

 afford ample material for study in the rich, intricate inter- 



