[p. 142] At 5 o'clock on the morning of the 20th I found not the least preparations for my departure and at half past 7 left Galway in a Gort post Chaise which I was lucky enough to meet with. A thick mizzling rain prevented all view and I could only see that I still continued in a low limestone country. After breakfast it cleared up a little and engaging a boy and horse to carry my Luggage I set off on foot to Kilmacduagh. By the time I arrived there the weather was worse than ever and it was in a thick rain that I observed the following particulars.
Kilmacduagh is seated at a considerable distance from the Burrin mountains. The most conspicuous object is the round tower.173 It is nearly perfect but the point of its conical roof has been broken away. The section of this cone appears to have been an equilateral triangle, the base exactly coinciding with the upper diameter of the tower. Immediately below this are five windows two opposite to each other & 2 in one semicircle and one in the other. Lower down are four other windows at different elevations placed as one might suppose them to be if the tower were occupied by a staircase. [p. 143] All these are pointed but not arched. The door which is very considerably elevated is rounded at [the] top but without an arch.
They reckon 7 churches in this place & perhaps including some small chapels this may have been correct but there are at present the remains of only two worth notice.174 The first is almost close to the tower and would combine well with it in a picture. One of the windows is ornamented with the trefoil and quatrefoil but it has nothing of magnificence internally. The other building is at a little distance of about the same size but remarkable by having semi-circular arches to the windows.
[p. 144] Taylor's Map of Ireland had induced me to believe that Kilmacduagh was situated immediately at the foot of the Burrin mountains and I had flattered myself with the hope of examining their vegetable productions at a considerable distance from my former track and especially of renewing my search for Potentilla fruticosa175 but the weather and the distance united to prevent the execution of this plan. There are however one or two Turloughs or pieces of ground of that nature in the neighbourhood where I hunted without success. There are several castles on this road one of which between Gort and Kilmacduagh appears to be larger and of a different form from the usual Irish Castle.176 I slept at Crusheen. At these Irish country inns I have usually found myself very comfortable. The accommodations indeed are sometimes but indifferent but the people are civil and attentive and the best of everything they have is at the traveller's service.