This  church  was  erected  at  the  expense  of  the  celebrated
Dervorgilla,  wife  of  Tieman  O'Rorke,  King  of  North
Connaught.  It  appears  to  have  been  completed  in  a.d.  1167,
and  probably  occupied  the  site  of  an  older ,  church  belonging
to  the  nuns  of  Clonmacnoise,  for,  as  we  have  seen,  we  find
reference  made  to  the  garden  of  the  abbess  so  early  as
A.D  1026,  when  the  causeway  was  constructed  from  her
garden  to  the  Three  Crosses,  near  the  great  Church  of  Clon-
macnoise. A.D.  1082,  we  are  told  that  the  "  cemetery  of
the  nuns  of  Clonmacnoise  was  burned  with  its  stone  church,
and  with  the  eastern  third  of  the  entire  establishment."
The  cemetery  here  means  the  enclosure  surrounded  by  the'
cashel,  portions  of  which  still  remain  ;  it  contained  not  only
the  church,  but  also  the  cells  in  which  the  nuns  dwelt,  and
the  other  buildings  necessary  for  their  accommodation.  The
causeway,  too,  can  still  be  traced  from  the  nimnery  to  the
Carn  of  the  Three  Crosses,  which  was  surmounted  by  a  stone
bearing  the  following  Irish  inscription : —

OROIT  AR  THURCAIN  LASAN  DERNAD  IN
CHROSSA.
(Pray  for  Turcan,  by  whom  this-Cross  was  made.)
The   striking  features  of  the  Nuns'    Church   are   the


CELTIC   ART   AT    CLONMACNOISE.  553

w  estem  door- way  and  the  chancel  arch.  This  door- way  is  the
principal  entrance  to  the  nave,  which  is  36  ft.  in  length,  and
nearly  20  ft,  in  breardth  ;  the  walls  are  3  ft.  thick. "  The
chancel,  like  that  of  Tuam,  is  nearly  a  square — 14  ft.  6  in.
by  13  ft.  in  breadth  ;  the  walls  are  3  ft.  3  in.  thick,  and  built
of  hard  limestone,  hammer-dressed.
