Castle - unclassified

The National Monuments Service's description

Situtated in the W corner of Tulla graveyard (CL035-022004-), just W of the early 18th-century church (CL035-022003-) and the site of an earlier church (CL035-022003-), on top of Tulla Hill. There is little or no visible surface trace of this structure, except the potential remains of a low wall (L 3.9m; min. Wth 0.47m; H 0.39m) which are partially incorporated into the base of the graveyard enclosing wall at N, where it abuts a laneway, to W of the two churches. The remains of this wall (long-axis ENE-WSW) are poorly preserved, comprising limestone rubble bonded with the residue of a washed-out lime mortar. There is no reference to Tulla Castle on the 1840 edition OS 6-inch map or the 25-inch map. ‘Tulla Castle (site of)’ is depicted and named on the 1921 edition OS 6-inch map, within the historic graveyard, adjacent to W of the extant 18th century church (CL035-022003-) and St Mochulla’s Church (site of) (CL035-022002-), which is confirmed by local information. It appears to be depicted by Westropp (1911, 18) at the WSW-end of the laneway, which is a little further to W, albeit still within the ecclesiastical enclosure (CL035-022001-). According to Ua Croinin and Breen (1997, vol. 6), no extant evidence could be found of the castle on Tulla Hill, although they note a number of dressed limestone blocks built into the churchyard wall with the only identifiable castle feature being a portion of a doorway jamb built into the wall of the ruined church. Furthermore, Myles (2009, 58, no. 257) indicates that, ‘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 width, which may well constitute the bawn of the tower-house’. According to Westropp (1911, 14), Tulla Castle was built by the MacNamara clan and was located on Tulla Hill near the NW corner of the old graveyard. He recorded that a fragment had remained in the 1830s, having cellars and a door looking straight to Garruragh House and Castle to the NE, however there was nothing extant by 1911 (ibid.). Having not appeared in the 1570 castle list, it is recorded in the 1574 list, as being owned by Donell Reogh MacNamara. In 1839, Curry (OSL, vol. 2, 139) recorded it as having been in ruins by 1613, indicating that it did not survive for long.

The following items have been uploaded:
CL035-022005-_01.jpg From W. Wall footing incorporated into base of graveyard enclosing wall at NW, abutting laneway.
CL035-022005-_01.pdf Details from Risteárd Ua Cróinín and Martin Breen, The Castles and Tower-houses of Co. Clare (unpublished report). Uploaded courtesy of R. Ua Cróinín and M. Breen.

Revised by: Mary Tunney and Alison McQueen

Date of revision: 9 January 2018

References

OSL - Ordnance Survey Letters. Letters written by members of the Ordnance Survey's 'Topographical Department' (T. O'Conor, A. O'Curry, E. Curry, J. O'Donovan and P. O'Keeffe) sent to headquarters from the field (1834-41). MSS in Royal Irish Academy.

Ua Cróinín, R. and Breen, M. 1997 The castles and tower-houses of Co. Clare, 6 vols. Unpublished report submitted to the National Monuments Service, Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Dublin.

Myles, F. 2009 St Mochulla's Church, Tulla. In I. Bennett (ed.), Excavations 2006: summary accounts of archaeological excavations in Ireland, 58. Bray. Wordwell.

Westropp, T.J. 1911 St Mochulla of Tulla, County Clare: his legend and the entrenchments and remains of his monastery. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 41, 5-19.