_Howth ‘Abbey.’_--The Church of St. Mary or Collegiate Church, more commonly known as the ‘Abbey’ Church of Howth, stands near the edge of a cliff, the base of which was formerly washed by the sea. The original foundation is said to be by Sigtryg the Dane in 1042; and a portion of this church still remains at the west entrance. This was enlarged, chiefly by the addition of a north aisle in 1235 under Archbishop Luke, on the removal of the prebendal church of Inis Mac Nessan from Ireland’s Eye to the mainland, a grant of land having been given by Almaricius, Lord of Howth, for this purpose. Placed upon a precipitous bank, considerably elevated above the water’s edge, and surrounded by a strong embattled wall, it presents a striking evidence of the half-ecclesiastical, half-military character of the time. Considerable additions were made to the east side in the fifteenth century. The church was practically a two-aisled structure, the north aisle being a little shorter than the south. The arches dividing the aisles are six in number; and with the exception of the two adjoining the east end, which are separated by an octagonal pillar, they spring from rudely-formed quadrangular piers. The three to the west end denote the earlier addition; those to the east are more pointed and show the later extension. The porch in connection with the south doorway is a very unusual feature in churches found in Ireland--a fact not easily to be accounted for, as they appear to have been common in England during mediæval times. A bell-turret with three apertures rose from the west gable; the bells are said to be preserved in the castle. A tomb usually ascribed to Christopher, the twentieth Lord of Howth, who died in 1589, but which, from its style, is more probably that of Christopher the thirteenth Lord (_d._ 1430), stands in the nave not far from the east gable. It is a good specimen of the altar-tomb; but an inscription which it bears, owing to the neglected state in which the monument until lately was suffered to lie, has become illegible. * * * * *