Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 3.djvu/198

170 being but fifty-six feet, its circumference thirty-nine feet, and the thickness of its wall, three feet. Its interior exhibits rests for five floors, each story, as usual, being lighted by a small aperture, except the uppermost, which, it is remarkable, has but two openings, one facing the north, and the other the south. These openings are also remarkable for their small size; and, in form, some are rectangular, and others semicircular-headed." pp. 411—12.

This is also the only instance in which the apertures are recessed, and Mr. Petrie observes "that it is a building obviously of much later date than the generality of the round towers, and presents an equally singular peculiarity in the construction of its roof, as compared with those of the other towers, namely, its masonry being of that description called herring-bone, or rather herring-bone ashlar, and the only instance of such construction which these buildings now exhibit." (p. 411.) Yet in another part of the work we find Mr. Petrie contending for the high antiquity of this tower, setting aside the strong evidence which would fix it at the end of the twelfth century, the Registry of Clonmacnoise, and the opinion of Archbishop Usher and Sir James Ware; and endeavouring to prove by tradition that it is some centuries older, although the utmost that the incidental notices he has so ingeniously collected can prove, is that there was a church on this site at an earlier period,—the old and often exploded, but constantly recurring, fallacy, of confounding the date of the original foundation with that of the existing structure; and this appears to be the great blemish of Mr. Petrie's work throughout; he has demolished all his predecessors, but