Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 3.djvu/208

180 we cannot understand why the one should be considered some centuries earlier than the other. Neither can we reconcile Mr. Petrie's endeavour to prove the very early date of some of the latest of these structures, with his previous admissions respecting the general custom of the Scotic race to build of wood. The rude buildings of unhewn stone, and those of Cyclopean masonry may belong to any period, but fine-jointed masonry was not used in England before the twelfth century, and so far from this being evidence in favour of their antiquity, it is, so far as it goes, the very reverse.

"The next example, which I have to adduce, is a church of probably somewhat later date than that of Freshford, and whose age is definitely fixed by the most satisfactory historical evidence. It is the beautiful and well-known stone-roofed church on the rock of Cashel, called Cormac's Chapel, one of the most curious and perfect churches in the Norman style in the British empire. The erection of this church is popularly but erroneously ascribed to the celebrated king-bishop Cormac Mac Cullenan, who was killed in the battle of Bealach Mughna, in the year 908; and it is remarkable that this tradition has been received as true by several antiquaries, whose acquaintance with Anglo-Norman architecture should have led them to a different conclusion. Dr. Ledwich, indeed, who sees nothing Danish in the architecture of this church, supposes it to have been erected