151 



of "Westmeath, showing the ancient masonry at the base of the wall, with 

 the comparatively modern flat belfry, pierced for three bells, above it. 



?To. 23. Yiew of the interior of the same church, which is said to 

 have been dedicated to St. Edan, as a well bearing his name is close at 

 hand. To the right of the view, in the south wall of the nave, is a very 

 ancient window ; the chancel arch is completely gone ; beyond this, to 

 the left of the view, is a portion of the east gable, with a small partition 

 taken off the width of the chancel, to allow of a narrow flight of stairs, 

 which conducted to the room over the arch of the chancel. 



JNo. 24. Exterior view of the ancient window in the south wall of the 

 nave of the same church. This feature is exceedingly interesting, as it 

 shows the method adopted of closing the window with an external wooden 

 shutter, a portion of the stone surrounding the ope having been cut away 

 to receive it. It appears to me that in this and similar examples we have 

 the origin of the external mouldings, and subsequent decorations of all 

 our windows. At first these necessary adjuncts to buildings of stone were 

 merely loops ; and as they were made wider in process of time, the benefit 

 of light and air was often counterbalanced by cold and wet, and it be- 

 came necessary to close them externally by a shutter. A deep notch was 

 therefore cut all round them to receive this construction ; and this notch, 

 after the introduction of glass in our churches and castles, was retained 

 as an ornamental feature, and enlarged, modified in shape, and decorated 

 as taste and architectural skill suggested. 



~No. 25. Interior view of the foregoing window, which shows that 

 though the ope is triangular-headed externally, it is semicircular within 

 — a feature which, I believe, is novel in windows of this class. 



ISTo. 26. Specimen of the masonry at the base of the south wall of 

 the same old church, the character of which is quite Cyclopean, and will 

 bear comparison with that of the churches at Glendalough. 



jSTo. 27. Plan of Feohran church, showing the more modern chancel, 

 and the unique construction of the stairs to the room over this portion 

 of the building. 



Another place of the same name is mentioned in the " Four Masters," at 811, and 

 placed by them in Crich Graicrighe, corresponding to the modern baronies of Coolavin 

 in Sligo, and Castlereagh in Roscommon, in his note on -which place Dr. O'Donovan con- 

 founds the two together, although in his Index Locorum he correctly has — 



"Faebhran, o*r Faobhran, Foyran, in the barony of Fore, county of Westmeath, 

 abbot of, 754;" and "Foibhren, in Crich-Graicrighe, 811." 



Tober Aedhain is a well of cyclopean construction, the masonry of which is now 

 entirely defaced. 



Aedhan is the diminutive of Aedh, the latter being the form in the Calendars ; and 

 this is preserved in the English equivalent given for Tobar Aedhain, in the Ordnance 

 ; Map, "Bishop Hugh's Well." 



Among the appropriations of the Abbey of Fore was the "Ecclesia S. Edani de 

 Fayron." Archdall, "Monast. Hib.," p. 715. 



In Bp. Anthony Dopping's "Register of Meath Diocese" (Marsh's Library), the 

 parish is noticed thus : — " Favoran, alias Foyran, alias Fiunah. The last form is now 

 ' written Finnea, and is the name of a hamlet on the river which connects Lough Sheelin 

 and Lough Kinale." 



