RAHAN MONASTIC SITE - Offaly County Council

APPENDICESexternally, seven and a half feet in diameter over all of its five-inches-wide border moulding, whichhas upon its fascia a very lightly wrought, continuous, fern-like motive and a band of minute beadsor pearls. Many bold, hemispherical bosses project from the chamfer. On the faces of the voussoirsand of their splayed returns are thirty-six chevrons, made up of three flattish rolls, separated andbounded by lines of fine beading. The spandrels are filled with anthemion derived and other motivesin a great variety of designs. Most of the not very deep notchings of the arris have small, centralbosses, flanked by beads, but two, at least, have little human masks instead and in a few others thereare floral ornaments. The deep, splayed embrasure is closed by the window proper: flat stoneworkpierced by a very boldly cusped quatrefoil having four lightly etched zoomorphic ornaments (A, B,C, D) only discernible at close quarters near the re-curved points of the cusps. The delicacy of theover-all enrichment of this little masterpiece, combined with the very slight notching of the arris,suggests a place for it in Phase 2. On the other hand the designs of the spandrel ornaments almostas varied as those in the late twelfth- century window at Annaghdown, Galway and the cusping ofthe actual window opening, are suggestive of a late date. On balance the end of Phase 2 appearsto be an acceptable position. 83Figure 38. 19th century drawing of Romanesque round window (Petrie 1845).81