356 



Proceedingis of the lioyal Irkh Academy. 



Limerick City. 



1. Cathedral Church of the Blessed Yirgin Mary. — It was 

 founded by Donaldmore O'Brien, King of llunster. His grant 

 (1192-1194) to it and Bishop Brictius of the lands of Imungram, or 

 llungret, and Imalin (Ballyclogh), is the earliest document preserved 

 in the Black Book, and is witnessed by Matthew, Archbishop of Cashel, 

 1192. Its possessions were found by a jury (of twelve each) of 

 English, Ostnien, and Irish, under Meyler FitzHeury and Bishop Donat 

 O'Brien, 1201, '-ptin ad Lymer eccliani " (B.B.L. xxii.). A grant 

 remains by which (King) John, 1189, gave a fishery and Godric's land, 

 "near Lymberik," to it (B.B.L., p. 94). A vast mass of deeds relating 

 to it are extant in the Public Records of England, Ireland, and Home. 



Fahric — It is alleged to have been built on the site of O'Brien's 

 palace, within the IS'orse city. It was a cruciform structure, with 

 Gothic arcades, and " i^orman " door and clerestory. To this vai'ious 

 additions were made till the original plan is greatly obscured. The 

 chapels from east to west are, along the south, St. James Major and 

 St. Mary Magdalen, built by Thomas Balbeyn, c. 1370, and repaired 

 by Richard Bultingfort, c. 1400 ; the south transept repaired by John 

 Budston, 1400 ; St. Anne, founded by the Sextens after 1450, and 

 St. George, by the Stacpoles, c. 1480. On the north are the following 

 chapels, from the west : — St. Catherine's Chapel, built by the Arthui's, 

 after 1450 ; the Chapel of St. ^N'icholas, by Nicholas Arthur, who died 

 1465 (probably the ^^apier and Jebb Chapels), and a chapel of the 

 Creagh family (either the transept or the small western chapel).^ 



The chancel was enlarged, ante 1207, by Bishop Donat, and again 

 by Bishops Curraghand O'Dea, and Thomas Arthur, 1380-1410. All 

 "three transepts" were repaired and the choir enlarged by Bishop 

 John Folan, c. 1490. The Creaghs restored the north-western chapel, 

 and the Harolds the chancel, in 1526. The belfry is an afterthought, 

 probably of the fifteenth century. The battlements and turrets are 

 later than 1681 (Dyneley, &c.).2 



Monuments — The most interesting ancient monuments are — 



the coast of North America, " in the "Western Ocean, near Vinland the Good" 

 (Landnamabok). 



^ The Creagh coat-of-arms M-as painted in it *'on the left hand," near the 

 entrance to the choir, about 1583. MSS. T.C.D., E. 3. 16. SeeR.S.A.I., xxviii., 

 p. 45. 



2 See illustrations, Plates XI., XII., and XIII., and plan, Plate XY., infra. 



