Church

The National Monuments Service's description

North-of-centre in graveyard (CO006-006005-), within an early ecclesiastical enclosure (CO006-006011-). The remains of this rectangular church consists of a nave (15.6m E-W; 9.97m N-S) and chancel (10.25m E-W; 7m N-S). It was the parish church of Tullylease, listed in the Papal Taxation of 1291; by 1615 it was reported 'in repair', and abandoned by 1694 (Brady 1863, vol. 2, 400-1).

Apart from the E gable and the S wall of the chancel, the walls are poorly preserved and fragmentary. The E gable of the chancel has a central window with a double ogee-headed light, in a splayed embrasure with a segmental-arch. The S wall was heavily rebuilt by the OPW in 1934 (Leask 1938, 101). At the E end is a deeply splayed round-arched window embrasure, with a single round-headed light with external rebate. W of this window is a splayed doorway (Wth 0.82m), covered by a segmental arch; the door surround is plain with a round arch, and a D-sectioned impost on the E jamb. The E end of the N wall was reduced to ground level inside but has an external height of 0.85m. The chancel is poorly keyed into the E wall of nave. Only the lower courses of the S jamb of the chancel arch survive; the jambs are limestone, chamfered, late-medieval in appearance; there is a worn carved head on a flat slab that was fixed atop the S jamb in recent times. The S wall of the nave has a splayed window embrasure (Wth 2.65m) at the E end; the sandstone sill for a chamfered narrow light resting on the bed of the embrasure; a single stone of the W jamb survives, of chamfered limestone. A fragment of cut-sandstone hood moulding with stepped terminals was found in the graveyard nearby. There is a gap (L 2.4m) towards the W end of the S wall; Reeves (1858, 272) implies that this was where the 13th-century doorway of the church was located, although Windele (Grove White 1905-25, vol. 4, 270) describes it as a gap in 1851. A stub of wall (L 0.8m) extends out to the S from the W end of the S wall, described by Windele (Grove White, ibid.) as 'an old buttress'. The N wall is featureless, with a crude short batter added over a plinth at the base. There are gaps in the fabric towards the centre (L 2.2m) and at the W end (L 2.75m) of the wall. There is also a large gap in the centre of the W gable (L 4.87m), with grave plots overlying the line of the wall; the SW corner is damaged, and the NW corner is missing. The church shows signs of much alteration; the basal courses at the E end of the S wall, and possibly the N end of the E wall of the nave, are Romanesque in appearance; Leask (ibid.) dated the door and window surrounds in the S wall of the chancel to the early 13th century, though they were re-set later into these positions. The E window dates to the 15th or 16th century, which is likely when the chancel was built.

A number of cross-slabs, graveslabs and architectural fragments were discovered during conservation work, and have been mounted onto the E and S wall of the chancel (CO006-006007-, CO006-006015-, CO006-006016-, CO006-006017-, CO006-006018-, CO006-006019-, CO006-006020-, CO006-006021- and CO006-006022-). Some are reproductions, the originals being kept in the National Museum in Dublin or in the Mallow OPW depot. Three early-medieval graveslabs have been recorded in the graveyard in the past, however only two were identified during the last visit of the monument (CO006-006009- and CO006-006023-); the third (CO006-006008-) was not found.

The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Cork. Volume 4: North Cork' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 2000). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research.

Date of upload: 14 January 2009

 

Date of last revision: 08 September 2025

References

Brady, W.M. 1863 Clerical and parochial records of Cork, Cloyne and Ross, 3 vols. Privately published. Leask, H.G. 1938 Tullylease, Co. Cork: its church and monuments. Journal of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society 43, 101-8. Grove White J. 1905-25 Historical and Topographical Notes, Etc., on Buttevant, Castletownroche, Doneraile, Mallow, and Places in Their Vicinity. Collected by Colonel J.G. White. [With Illustrations.]. 4 volumes. Cork. Guy&Co.