The east arm of the building is thus modern, though a fragment of the S.E. angle of the fourteenth-century choir may still be seen and portions of the great St. Mary Chapel, originally seventy feet long, are incorporated in the building to the N.E. The transept is largely of late twelfth-century date and retains the original arches opening into the choir-aisles. The N. wall of the nave dates from early in the thirteenth century, with a rather later W. bay, but the lower parts of the pillars are restorations.
The fittings include a lectern thought to date from 1520, and a series of monuments of which the most important are the following:

(a) the mid thirteenth-century effigy bearing arms, but with no evidence to identify them with Strongbow’s, which are unknown (nave), perhaps brought from Drogheda in the sixteenth century;

(B) a demi-figure ascribed without the smallest justification to Strongbow’s son ;

© a slab with the effigy  of a lady, found in the Chapter House

(d) the effigy of a twelfth or thirteenth century archbishop ;

(e) effigy of a lady and

(f) the monument of Robert 19th Earl of Kildare, 1743 ;

(g) the notable ‘John Lumbard ‘inscription of c. 1300 in the O’Toole chapel

(h) in the same chapel, a coffin-lid of an archbishop of c.  1200, with the mitred head, right arm and cross-shaft alone rendered in relief.



The crypt  is the most remarkable part of the existing building. It dates in its eastern parts from late in the twelfth century and was extended under the nave when that portion was built. It is the only crypt in the British Isles which extends practically under the whole building. It is roofed with groined vaults and its east end preserves the original plan of the cathedral above. In it are preserved the carved figures (1684) of Charles I and III formerly on the city Tholsell, pulled down in 1820.
The monastic buildings lay to the south of the cathedral and the site is now laid out as a garden. The chapter house, excavated in ‘886, was a thirteenth-century building, with a vault of four bays (Christ Church Cathedral, W. Butler, 1874.)



images hand drawn in Fireworks by Megan