ST. COLUMBA'S CHURCH TULLOW CO. CARLOW

HISTORY OF ST. COLUMBA'S CHURCH
by William F. Paton, M.A.

St. Columba's Church, Tullow is located at Church Street just off the Market Square and serves what is probably one of the oldest Church of Ireland parishes in Ireland. The present church building is the third of three buildings to stand on this site. The original building dated circa 1530's and was knocked down in 1737 to allow a new building to be erected. The present church was built in 1830/31 at a cost of £1,669.

In 1861 a vestry was added to the side of the church, the cost of which was borne by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners on condition that the parish lodge £17 with them. This sum was forwarded in March 1861 by Rev. John L. Drapes and the vestry was built. In 1886 the sides aisles of the church were removed and the present pews were installed.

Up until 1868 the choir sang at Morning or Evening Prayer unaccompanied when a harmonium was purchased at a cost of £30. Nine years later this was replaced by a second hand organ costing £70, the cost of which was met by organising concerts, a bazaar, subscriptions, sale of the harmonium and by Act of Vestry. While the new organ cost £70 bought from a Mr. Crowley, the parish paid Mr. Browne of Dublin £116 to re-build the organ and place it in its present position. The Bishop of Ossory attended the grand opening on October 25th 1877 and Rev. J. Wilcocks presided at the organ. 

Surviving from the church knocked down to allow the building of the present church in 1830/31 is a magnificent monument carved by the sculptor David Sheehan to the memory of General Clement Nevill. General Nevill served under General Kirk at the Siege of Londonderry and carried the colours for William, Prince of Orange at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. General Nevill was killed at the Battle of Preston in 1744. His mother was the sister of Sir Charles Wolseley of Wolseley, England whose descendents lived in Tullow at Mount Wolseley. The monument was erected in 1745.
(Click on the image to read the inscription)

The magnificent stained glass of the East Window was erected in 1907 by the Wolseley family in the memory of Sir John Richard Wolseley who died in 1874 and to his wife Francis who who died in 1907. The East Window tells the story of the Sermon on the Mount from St. Matthew's Gospel, and the angel holds a banner reading "Blessed are the meek." Other inscriptions from The Beautitudes read, "Blessed are the peace makers for they shall be called the children of God" and "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God."

The English Reformation began with Henry VIII's Act of Supremacy but the Reformation was not to reach Ireland, effectively only the Pale, until the late 1530's and early 1540's when Archbishop Browne was appointed to speed up the Reformation changes in Ireland. St. Columba's Parish, although outside the effective control of the Pale became a "Protestant" Church as early as 1538 when Rev. Thomas Clinche was appointed its first Rector and Revd. William Ritchie is the 25th Rector of Tullow Parish.
(Click on the cross to view a list of the Rectors of Tullow)

Of particular note on the south side of the graveyard is a plain altar tomb bearing the emblems of the Passion which is now almost impossible to read. The inscription in Latin by the sculptor Murtagh Murray reads: "Here lies Edmund son of Charles (or Cathal) Byrne; I once was earth, I am earth again," dated 1625. Another stone slab under the East Window of similar design was erected in 1626 recording the death of Walter Motly's wife Johan. This stone was also carved by Murray. Both stones carry a five armed cross with fleur-de-lys terminals, interlaced with two circles. Walter Motly was the son of Thomas Motly of Athy and married Johan Wise of Carlow. Johan bore four sons and six daughters. He died in January 1638. No other tomb stone exists in the graveyard dated before 1741.

Local tradition tells of an underground passage starting in the graveyard leading to St. Austin's Abbey, situated south of the River Slaney. This passage was used to avoid paying taxes on market day on entering the town as in Medieval times Churches and Abbeys were places of sanctuary and neither were taxable. The second connection with the St. Austin's Abbey is this 11th century granite stone baptismal font which is now sited in the grounds of St. Columba's Church.
 

Click on the picture above to see some
newly added pictures of the interior
of St. Columba's Church from 1910