438 



is semicircular-headed, but of that elongated form characteristic of the 

 thirteenth century. The external angles, in addition to being recessed, 

 have their edges plainly but broadly chamfered. 



No. 57. — Ground plan of the old church of Dunkitt, showing the 

 comparatively modern massive buttresses supporting the south side wall. 

 The doorway was in the north wall, somewhere near the spot indicated, 

 but its casing is gone. The chancel arch is at present built up, and the 

 chancel obliterated, excepting a faint trace of its foundations. Each 

 angle of the building is formed of well-dressed stones, with the angle 

 chamfered. The west gable is pierced for a square-headed window, at 

 the height of about twelve feet from the ground, which no doubt lighted 

 an apartment at that end of the church, and which was the residence of 

 the officiating ecclesiastic. 



1^0. 58. — External view of one of the windows from the keep of the 

 Castle of Carrickfergus, in the county of Antrim. The erection of this 

 structure is attributed to John De Courcy, who received from Henry II. 

 a grant of all the lands he could conquer in Ireland. Erom the archi- 

 tectural features of this castle, it is clear that it must have been erected 

 either during the latter part of the reign of King John (1216), or more 

 probably during the commencement of the reign of Henry III., as the 

 pointed arch, with the nail-head ornament, is characteristic of thirteenth 

 century art. 



JSTo. 59. — "Window loop, from Carrickfergus Castle. This is also 

 headed by a pointed arch, and the external angles are broadly and simply 

 chamfered. 



JSTo. 60. — External view of a third window loop, from the same 

 castle. Though this ope is semicircular-headed, its elongated form and 

 chamfered edges prove it to be of the thirteenth century. This cham- 

 fering of the windows, doors, and walls of churches and castles is 

 always characteristic of the thirteenth and subsequent centuries in Ire- 

 land, and forms a safe guide to the antiquary when speculating on the 

 age of a building. 



'No. 61.— External view of the small doorway in the south wall of 

 the chancel of the old church of Owning, county of Kilkenny, near Pill- 

 town. Except in some of our finest cathedrals and abbey churches, I 

 know of no doorway in a simple parish church to be compared to this for 

 beauty of design and boldness of execution. It is tricusp-headed, with 

 a massive drip moulding, springing from a ball flower on one side and 

 a wimpled female head on the other. Apart from the form and mould- 

 ings of the arch, the style of the female head just alluded to would at 

 once determine the age of the building to be either the latter part of the 

 thirteenth or the beginning of the fourteenth century. 



1^0. 62. — Exterior view of the window in the south wall of the 

 chancel of Owning old church. This is also tricusp-headed, but the 

 arch is remarkably flat ; as is usual in buildings of this age, the external 

 angles of the window are broadly chamfered. 



l!^o. 63. — Plan of the old church of Owning, showing the singular 

 fact that the chancel is a subsequent addition to the original church, 



