Marks of Time
Historic Buildings as  illustrations of the past.
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Gothic


The arrival of the Normans, (who are so closely associated with Romanesque  architecture in England that  it is referred to there as ‘Norman’) was quickly  followed by the first use of the pointed arch in Ireland. This is  the defining characteristic of Gothic architecture. Over the next three hundred  years the style developed and went through a number of phases, and these are  likely to have been reflected in the buildings of the city. Though these are now  gone revivals in the Nineteenth Century have left examples of the three main  types: First Pointed c.13th C; Decorated  c.14th C; Perpendicular c.15th C.


It is difficult to know what the gothic buildings of medieval Derry really looked like, but one surviving fragment nearby clearly indicates that its sophisticated use in the city should  not be discounted. This is the tomb reputed to be that of Cooey Na-Gall O’Cahan (who died in 1395) in the chancel of  Dungiven Priory. It is decorated with images of Scottish Galloglasses  (mercenaries) and set within a niche vaulted by a Gothic arch supported by very  fine stone tracery. This work is in a developed form of the Decorated Style with  full curves and scrolls. 


Ordinary medieval buildings are indicated as small, white structures with hipped thatched
roofs in some of the campaign maps of the English in the 1600’s. This mud walled  building in Fermanagh is the best example of the type to survive in  Ulster. Manus O’Donnell’s life of  Columkille, written in the 1530’s, reveals a first hand knowledge of Derry referring to a tavern and naming places were  miracles had occurred. Buildings such as this would have made up the ordinary  fabric of the place at this time.
 


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