Westropp — Ancient Churches in Co. Limerick. 457 



courses bend for some distance in order to bond with its blocks, it 

 may, however, be questioned whether the ornament is not a later 

 adornment cut on a plain, raised face. 



We now reach the transitional period when (some ten years before 

 the Norman invasion) the Gothic first appeared in the Cistercian Abbey 

 of Monasteranenagh, circa 1159. Here we find the large plain-pointed 

 arcades under a round-headed clerestory ; these also occur in St. Mary's 

 Cathedral twenty to thirty years later. Tlie Cathedral also retained 

 till our time its recessed west doorway, two of the orders having 

 one keystone in common ; the capitals retained traces of late 

 twelfth -century foliage. It was destroyed in a "restoration," and 

 (though it is hard to believe) this act of vandalism took place in the 

 •episcopate of one of the most eminent Irish antiquaries of that day. 

 Two well-moulded round-headed west lights are extant in the nave 

 of Monasteranenagh. The combined triforium and clerestory of the 

 Cathedral have round-headed arches, and rest on an arcade of 

 unnecessary but impressive bulk. 



Beautiful examples of the early Gothic were found in the fine 

 triplet window and Gothic chancel of Monasteranenagh, and the church 

 of Abbeyowney (1206) (only preserved in Dyneley's view). Only the 

 north piers and spring of the arches remain at the first ; the second 

 was demolished by the Stepneys, to the sad loss of local antiquaries 

 and artists. To the thirteenth century we may assign several remains 

 of beauty and great interest, such as the noble five-liglit window in 

 the Dominican Abbey, and other features in it, and the collegiate 

 church of Kilmallock, the beautiful west door of Old Abbey, the 

 massive White Abbey of Adare, the curious old arcaded church 

 of Shanagolden,^ and other remains in the Hospital of Aney, and 

 lesser churches. ^ 



The fourteenth century gave us in the main the deeply interesting 

 Black Abbey of Adare.^ The fifteenth has left its mark everywhere — 

 in a number of chapels, in the Cathedral, at Mungret, Adare, in dozens 

 of parish churches and chapels. The finest remains of its buildings 

 are the Franciscan Houses of Adare and Askeaton, and their beautiful 

 cloister arcades and sedilia. The first convent is fortunate in the 

 preservation of an abstract of its original register by Father Mooney. 

 It was dedicated, 19 Nov., 1466, accepted at the provincial chapter of 

 Moyne, and consecrated Michaelmas, 1466, with the cloister, sacristy, 



1 Plate XI. 



2 Plate XVIII. 



3 Plate XII. 

 [35*] 



