Church

The National Monuments Service's description

On a low N-S ridge in undulating terrain, surrounded by pasture. Buolick tower house (TS048-020001-) is visible 166m to the ENE and a ringwork and bailey (TS048-020003-) is visible 376m to the E. Buolick is mentioned in the Register of the Hospital of St. John the Baptist without the New Gate throughout the 13th century, from c. 1210 up to the early 14th century (Brooks 1936) and is listed in the Papal taxation records in c. 1302 and 1306 (Sweetman and Handcock 1886, vol. 5, 285, 317). A multi-period nave (ext. dims. 23.4m x 10.22m; wall T 1.06-1.15m) and chancel (ext. dims. 9.65m x 7.68m) church, orientated E-W, with a three-storey tower (ext. dims. 4.72m E-W; 6.24m N-S) at the W end. It is constructed of limestone rubble, roughly coursed, with occasional blocks of sandstone. There is a base-batter which varies in height and depth (H 1.3-2.4m; Wth 0.2-0.48m) and a projecting basal plinth (H 0.2m; Wth 0.3m) in places. The chancel is a later, possibly 14th or early 15th century, addition as it clearly abuts the pre-existing harled surface of the E wall of the nave. The church was re-modelled in the late 15th/16th century as the doorways and windows have punch-dressing within drafted margins, typical of this period. The church has two opposing pointed doorways at the W end of the N and S walls, both with hanging-eyes on the W side. Internally, immediately E of the S doorway and projecting from the wall, there is an unusual limestone stoup with a circular basin within a semi-decagonal surround resting on a similarly profiled pyramidal corbel. The nave is lit by two single-light ogee-headed windows towards the E end of the N and S walls. The chancel is entered through a pointed arch with chamfered edges with an inner chamfered arch resting on pyramidal corbels. The chancel is lit by three windows consisting of a round-headed window in the N and S walls, the latter with a hood-moulding, and a two-light ogee-headed window in the E gable within a chamfered box surround with hood-moulding. The E window has been inserted into an earlier embrasure. The sandstone piscina, which has a slightly pointed surround with a rounded edge, is probably contemporary with the building of the chancel. The basin is missing and a slate base has been inserted. The church has been heavily reconstructed and the SW angle of the nave appears to be a complete rebuild. The W tower was probably added at the same time as the chancel. Originally it appears to have been lower with a gabled roof, the outline of which is visible in the external W face below the present crenellated battlements. Most of the E and S wall of the tower have collapsed. The crude loops in the surviving W wall of the tower suggest that this was a bell-tower rather than a residential tower. The ground floor was lit by a loop in the S wall and another, now blocked internally by a wall monument, in the W wall. Over the ground floor a pointed vault has been which partially blocks a first-floor loop in the W wall, visible externally, and there is a loop in the S wall. The second floor has a larger loop in the W wall and one in the N wall. High up in the second floor, in the E wall, there are the remains of the voussoirs and side wall of an arched opening. Within the church there are headstones dating from the 18th to the 20th centuries.

Compiled by: Jean Farrelly

Date of upload: 09 January 2012

References

Brooks, E.St.J. (ed.) 1936 Register of the hospital of St. John the Baptist without the New Gate, Dublin. Bodleian Ms. Rawl. B. 498.

Sweetman, H.S. and Handcock, G.F. (eds.) 1886 Calendar of documents relating to Ireland, 1302-1307.