2005:162 - TULLA: St Mochulla's Church, Clare

A volunteer crew excavated four trenches and undertook a preliminary survey of the graveyard on this multi-period site occupying a hilltop in the centre of the county. The work was undertaken prior to a conservation scheme which has preserved the structure as a ruin by removing ivy growth and consolidating and repointing the masonry.

The church was built in 1702 on the site of the medieval parish church and an associated tower-house. The battered exterior walls of the latter are still occasionally seen when certain graves are opened. Despite Westropp’s (1911, 5–19) assertion to the contrary, there is nothing to be seen in the aboveground remains of the medieval parish church, although it is likely that some of the masonry was reused in the later structure. A fragment of a sandstone door or window moulding was recovered from the rubble over the collapsed wall, suggesting it is the well-endowed church referred to in the historical sources.

The construction of a Board of First Fruits church at the far side of the town in 1816 rendered the hilltop church redundant. It appears to have become derelict soon after this date, although it was never demolished, as its 19th-century replacement was in 1965.

Three trenches were excavated along the robbed-out window opes in the south wall in order to find a solid footing from which to rebuild the reveals and arches. It was found that each of the trenches had been severely disturbed by stone robbing. In only one trench was it necessary to cease excavation over an articulated skeleton; an in situ concrete beam was cast over the remains and the wall rebuilt from this level.

A fourth trench was located over the western wall and the modern rubble wall was reduced to its 18th-century foundation course. There was no evidence for an entrance and further work will take place in this area prior to the conservation of the wall to establish a structural relationship between the masonry envelope and the brick vault underneath the western half of the nave.

A curious aspect of the church’s more recent history was recovered at the south-western corner of the church, where tar appears to have been poured down the wall from the level of the wall plate. The tar came from a barrel which was placed on top of the wall and lit to celebrate the election of Pat Houlihan for Fianna Fáil in the January 1933 general election (Sheedy 1993). Houlihan was from Flagmount and had lost his seat on the previous outing. His election helped de Valera achieve an overall majority in the Dáil, if only by a single seat. Houlihan’s victory was celebrated in Tulla in particular, as the town was considered staunchly pro-Cumann na nGael. The barrel apparently burned for weeks afterwards, probably causing the south-western corner of the church to fail in the process.

References
Sheedy, K. 1993 The Clare elections. Dún Laoghaire.
Westropp, T.J. 1911 St Mochulla of Tulla, County Clare, his legend and the entrenchments and remains of his monastery. JRSAI xli, Part 1, 5–19.

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