2006:257 - TULLA: St Mochulla’s Church, Clare

A second season of excavation was undertaken by a volunteer crew over a weekend in July, to facilitate the conservation of the church as a ruin. A single trench, 3.5m by 3m, was opened across the collapsed western wall to locate its foundations and to investigate the possibility of there being a primary entrance there. The church was constructed in c. 1702 on the site of a medieval parish church and adjacent to a tower-house on a hill commanding extensive views of the surrounding countryside. The first season of excavations was reported in Excavations 2005 (No. 162).

Evidence for the medieval church was found ex situ in the rubble masonry removed prior to the excavation of the trench; this comprised several moulded sandstone fragments of a Romanesque door surround. A stair passage through the wall was recorded (though not accessed). This extended along the interior of the north wall and appeared to give access to a primary vault towards the chancel area. The opening was found on the exterior of the west wall, with the original blocking stone and twin iron pull-rings still in situ.

Additionally, it was found that a brick barrel vault had been inserted in the interior of the church after its abandonment in c. 1816, which partially blocked the splayed entrance ope. A plausible though disturbed entrance to the vault was recorded through the foundation of the south wall during the previous season’s excavation.

Burials continued in the church after its abandonment and one complete skeleton was exposed, recorded and left in situ. Another grave-cut was located alongside; however, it would appear that this individual’s grave had subsided into the subterranean passage below.

The removal of ivy growth revealed a carving of an angel’s head and wings on one of the quoins on the exterior south-western corner, the presence of which had been lost to the village’s folk memory.

The site is of some significance, with evidence of counter-scarping on the eastern side of the hill suggesting its deliberate fortification. Field systems and roads on the flat land below suggest an early ecclesiastical enclosure of some magnitude, while the immediate church enclosure has a surviving sub-division. An interesting phenomenon is evident over the northern side of the hill, where an extension to the graveyard has been developed. Here the new graves respect the line of a subsurface masonry wall, at a depth of c. 1.5m and possibly 0.9m in width, which may well constitute the bawn of the tower-house. The physical presence of an earlier church was noted by Westropp in 1906 (5–19), but none of the early fabric is evident on the ground, although there are reused blocks of masonry visible in the walls of the church. An earlier tradition suggests that the shrine or even the grave of St Mochulla was located at the crest of the hill, where the chancel of the medieval church was probably situated. This area is now occupied by a substantial vault occupied by deceased members of the Moloney family, which will eventually be conserved as part of the grander scheme. Funding for the conservation works has been provided by Clare County Council, the Heritage Council and Leader.

Reference
Westropp, T.J. 1906 St Mochulla of Tulla, County Clare, his legend and the entrenchments and remains of his monastery, JRSAI, xli (1911), Part 1.

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