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| MUCKROSS ABBEY, KILLARNEY.-The ruins of this renowned abbey, reproduced with fidelity in the sketch, are situated on Castlelough Bay - one of the arms of the Lower Lake of Killarney, and contiguous to the pretty little hamlet of Cloghreen. Muckross Hotel, built by the Herbert family for the accommodation of tourists, is in the immediate neighborhood. Our erudite friend, Professor Joyce, of Dublin, gives romance a dab in the face when he declares that Muc-ros-the Gaelic spelling of the name-means, in Irish, "the peninsula of the pigs!" "Muc" standing for "pig" and "ros" for "peninsula." Other savants claim that the original name was "Irelough"-Anglice "Westlake"-but, in either case, the old monks, who had a great eye for scenic beauty, chose the beautiful spot for the founding of the abbey, under the patronage of one of the princely McCarthys, while they yet ruled over "deep-valley'd Desmond." It is said that the original church was burned in 1192. The Four Masters mention the foundation of the structure, whose remains are shown above, in 1340, while some say it was established for the Franciscans in the middle of the Fifteenth century. The ruins comprise those of the convent and the church, and present many beauties of ecclesiastical architecture. The chief entrance is through a superb Gothic doorway, deeply bearded in ivy, through which is seen the great eastern window, as in a picture. |
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