THE CHURCH ON THE HILL

 A series of short stories......



TOURMAKEADY CHURCH AT LOUGH MASK
COUNTY MAYO, IRELAND

.....through my eyes!

By: Jacqueline E. Hughes


We were as giddy as small children spending the day at Magic Kingdom as we sat at the drop-leaf table for our breakfast of Jameson marmalade on toast and delicious, hot pressed coffee!  Our road trip today included the town of Cong located just north of Lough Corrib.  It was Thursday morning and our stay in Ireland was in its final days....so, we should have been sad, right?  

That day we just allowed the white Nissan rental car to take the lead.  It was an unstructured travel day in the sense that, even though Cong was on our radar, anything else was possible.  Dan and I like this kind of travel day because you never know what you'll find or where you'll end up....

The Quiet Man Bridge

Earlier in the week, we'd discovered the stone bridge featured in the movie The Quiet Man and it existed just to the west of Oughterard and in sight right off of the N59.  We must have gone by it that week at least fifty times.  We imagined the spot John Wayne sat at on the bridge with the rippling river and lush mountains in the background.  I think we came close to his exact position after watching the movie (purchased in Cong) once we returned home to the States.

Cong Abbey

The route to Cong, a small town located practically on the Galway and Mayo County Line, took us around deep mountain lakes, across babbling brooks and wide rivers and through dark, dense forests.  We parked the car right next to the ancient ruins of Cong Abbey and spent the next two hours exploring everywhere.  I enjoy taking pictures of ruins and Cong Abbey did not disappoint.  As I set up a shot, I always imagine the structure in its prime with people going about their business hundreds of years before.  It helps to give me an interesting perspective and a true understanding of the relative importance of things.

Across from the Abbey was The Quiet Man gift shop.....apropos considering most of the 'town scenes' were shot there.  Yes, in case you were wondering, we acquired a few items from the shop to take home!
My greatest discovery was a good-sized used bookshop which was absolutely amazing, as well as dangerous.  I never wonder why our return luggage is red-tagged for exceeding the weight limit!!


After a light lunch accompanied by hot tea, just around the corner from the bookshop, we drove over the boarder into County Mayo.

 
Following the signs to Lough Mask, we discovered the 'scenic drive' around the beautiful lake along the L1612 which took us through several small towns dotting the route until we swung left eventually picking-up the R300 and continuing the loop around the lake.  Feeling mellow and slightly lethargic basking in the repetition of mainly flat roads outlined by stone cottages and occasional glimpses of blue water.....Dan suddenly hit the brakes and merged onto the grassy shoulder of the road before coming to a complete stop. 

The Church of Ireland

 
Our unexpected surprise of the day stood to our left...high on a hill that overlooked Lough Mask to the east with the Partry Mountains lording over it to the west.  We were staring at the most interesting church ruin we'd ever seen....as though its parishioners seventy years before stood-up after Sunday service, filed by the clergyman to shake hands and offer their best wishes and then never to return to this magnificent stone structure again.  The weather...the harsh lake winds, heavy snows and relentless rain that flushed down from the surrounding mountains, as well as Father Time, had become its steady companions and most destructive enemies!

Church On The Hill

If you had the stamina and time to set-up a still camera taking intermittent shots from alongside the road for the past seventy or so years it would be the best way to capture and describe the complete scene that stood before us at that moment.  With sheep grazing and chickens strutting in the valley below its foundation and a fence surrounding them...the large, metal gate was wide open, inviting entry.  "Shall we go in?" Dan asked.  With an enthusiastic affirmative nod from me, we parked next to the moss covered stone wall on the south side of the church.  With the exception of the sheep and chickens, we were in total solitude.  Our shoes crunched along the stone path leading up to the back entry and, I don't think either of us uttered a single word as we gazed in amazement.

Original Wall Tiles

Before us stood a once beautiful and imposing structure that had, seemingly, been left solely to the elements with jagged shards of watery-looking glass still protruding from large arched-top window frames and slate roof tiles piled-up all along the earthen floor.   All of its outer walls still stood proud and tall including the round turret positioned at the main entrance on the south-west side.  At least five percent of these walls remained clad in their original tiles.  The dais of the altar, albeit covered in debris now, sparkled as the afternoon sun streamed through the windows above and reflected off of the broken glass below.

Tournasala Mountain In Distance

Looking out of one of the altar windows that faced west, I attempted to outline the grazing sheep down in the valley with the window as my frame and, as I found out later, Tournasala Mountain surrounded by mist in the distance.  I moved as quickly as possible to get my shot because we had disturbed hundreds of dormant black spiders that had been happily nesting in the piles of debris and they were swiftly making their way towards my sandal-clad feet.

View of the Nave

Because this church had been abandoned, the traditional grave sites that originally ran the length of the nave on either side displayed the scars of bodies having been exhumed and, we assumed, buried in other areas.  This act, however, left an ill feeling in my gut as though grave robbers had intruded just yesterday and taken much more than personal possessions or jewelry.  The writer in me judged it as a punitive act of violence....with the intention of punishing the worshipers who had abruptly forsaken this space so long ago.

Turret

Heading outside via the front entrance, we stopped to gaze up into the tall, stone turret, mostly intact, that served as the main steeple and still proudly displayed the inevitable cross that inhabited its spire and pointed up to the heavens.  Outside we glanced over to the right-side of the church and saw the low, long stone wall that ran from the road up and over the hill towards the lake.  Many trees and low-lying scrub plants had devoured the area beyond the fence-line making it impossible to see the lake from our position. 

Grave of  Bishop Thomas Plunkett

We still had no true idea of the age of the church so, walking outside into the small Churchyard out front was pure joy as we found the grave site of a Thomas Plunkett that stated his death to be on October 19, 1866!  The only rational observation was that the church was built prior to this date thus making it much older than we ever imagined. 
 

Reluctantly, we walked back to the car saying good-bye to our 'mystery church' and, as we slowly made our way back to the main road, I stopped to take a picture of the only signage (other than Mr. Plunkett's grave site) that we ever found.

That evening, after connecting to the Internet during dinner at The Boat House Inn, we were able to discover some of the history behind our 'Church On The Hill, ' as well as a little bit about the area itself, courtesy of the National Library of Ireland.  Much to our surprise, its Born On Date was 1857....much older than we ever imagined!  Its official title is Church at Tourmakeady (Church of Ireland) in Ballyovie Parish, County Mayo.

In ancient times, Tourmakeady was covered in large oak forests and represented the area between the Partry Mountains and Lough Mask. Thomas Plunkett, eldest son of The Lord Chancellor of Ireland, came here in 1807 and gradually bought up the small local landlords and evicted many of the tenants (nice guy!).  Eventually he became Bishop of Tuam and, being Protestant, elected to convert Tourmakeady in an attempt to turn the people away from the Catholic Church.  Utilizing his power and despicable means to evict tenants who failed to conform, he was eventually exposed to the public by the local parish priest, Father Pat Lavelle.  It is indeed the remains of Bishop Plunkett, who died in 1866, that now rests in the Church of Ireland Churchyard in Tourmakeady!!

Lough Mask

We could not find any information to help us understand why it appeared that all of this could have transpired only.....a short time beforehand!  Talking about this over a delicious meal of fish and chips and a pint of Guinness, we decided to take a thoroughly romantic take on our adventures that day, highly suggestive of an idealized view of reality, and proclaim that we had been mesmerized by the varied shades of green comprising the Mayo countryside.  We had been hypnotized by the magical power of this special place called Ireland, along with her people, history and our love for them all.  And, for a short period of time that afternoon, we knew what it meant to be charmed by the mountain mist and live among the faeries in a land where time and place no longer mattered and the present blended seamlessly with the past....

The Mist of  Tournasala Mountain