A County Clare parish priest has quoted a famous ballad about his parish in an effort to get planning permission for a graveyard extension.The image of the windswept Hill of Tulla in County Clare which was made famous in writer Brian McMahon's famous ballad Lament for Tommy Daly has been recalled in a planning application from Tulla Parish Council to extend the cemetery around the ruins of St Mochulla's Church.
With the existing graveyard almost full , the proposed extension would accommodate 87 double graves.
Speaking this week, local parish priest Fr Martin O'Brien said that the graveyard extension would complete the circle of the Windswept Hill and was the only sensible use for the site.
He added, “I grew up with the ballad of the windswept hill of Tulla where the Clare men place their dead, so it is a suitable spot to extend the graveyard.”
Tulla church was founded about 620 by Mochuille, or Mochulla, son of Dicuilm, and was fortified by his converts.
He was consecrated a bishop and died in the late 600's. The ruins are said to be among the oldest in County Clare.
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