Left: Fig. 7- Remains of the Romanesque doorway reset in the north wall of the nave.

Below: Fig. 8- Remains of Romanesque processional doorway between the church and the former cloister.

Visitors today, as they did during the medieval period, approach the abbey from the west, where they are greeted by a large, rather austere gable with three truncated lancet windows (Fig. 3). This tells us immediately that we are missing the upper portions of what was once a tall church. Below this is a medieval- looking doorway, which dates from the early nineteenth century. At that time visitors to the Church of Ireland church at the east end of the abbey entered by this doorway into the unroofed nave, which acted like an open courtyard. Entering the door today, we see the highlight of the abbey, namely an arcade of seven arches that divided the nave from the south aisle (Fig. 2). The piers supporting the arches alternate between square and round, though both forms have large square capitals decorated with distinctive scallop motifs featuring a wide variety of geometric designs (Fig. 4). The bottom of the round or drum piers have decorative spurs projecting over a square pad: notably, these only occur within the aisle. The pointed arches are among the earliest known in Ireland. An unusual feature at Baltinglass is a screen (perpyn) wall that extends between the arcade piers,