[Footnote 46: I, too, consider this church to be of the early part of the thirteenth century. Parts of it, however, I believe to be of the twelfth century. I allude particularly to that portion on one of the columns of which the name of the builder appears, and who, I have little doubt, was the eminent person whose death--1202--is recorded by the Annalists. Pinkerton, vol. ii. p. 258, is in error in supposing any portion of the church to be of the eleventh century. The family of the O'Brolchans were of distinguished rank in the county of Derry, and intimately connected with the churches there. See my notices of them in the _Ordnance Memoir of the Parish of Temple More_, pp. 21, 22, 29. It may be worthy of remark that this family of O'Brolchain, or a branch of it, appear to have been eminent, hereditarily, after the Irish usage, as architects or builders. At the year 1029 the _Annals of Ulster_ record the death of Maolbride O'Brolchan, "_chief mason_ of Ireland." And at the year 1097, the death of Maelbrighde _Mac-an-tsaeir_ (son of the mason) O'Brolchan. And, lastly, we have the name of Donald O'Brolchan as the architect of the great church at Iona. But if this Donald be the person whose death is recorded in the _Annals_ as "a noble senior" in 1202, that part of the building in which the inscription is found must be surely of the twelfth century; and the style of its architecture supports that conclusion.--P.] [Footnote 47: Twelfth.--P.] [Footnote 48: Square recesses or ambries of this kind are common in the most ancient Irish oratories.--P.] [Footnote 49: The unusual breadth, 4 feet, of this doorway, is perhaps the only feature in the structure likely to excite a doubt of its early antiquity. I cannot remember ever having seen in any very ancient church or oratory in Ireland a doorway so wide. The widest doorway that I have met with is, I think, that of the great church at Glandelough, which is 3 feet 10 inches wide at its base. The usual width in doorways of small churches and oratories is from 2 feet to 2 feet 10 inches.--P.]