placenamesChurchtown
Tulaigh an Iúir
Churchtown in Tullynure preserves a church shaped by several centuries and archaeological evidence of a much larger ecclesiastical site.
The name
These Irish name elements are associated with this record in the Logainm glossary.
An element’s translation is a clue, rather than a complete explanation of the name. Its form and meaning depend on local history and the full Irish name.
Recorded forms
- Tulaigh an Iúir · Irish · main form · validated name
- Churchtown · English · main form
Place & story
An enclosure beneath the fields
Trial excavation at Tullynure in September 1985 found a substantial ditch associated with the ecclesiastical enclosure around Lissan's church site. It was about 3.5 metres wide and up to 1.5 metres deep. Pottery suggested medieval infilling, although the excavation did not establish when the ditch was first dug. Surviving earthworks indicated an oval enclosure roughly 140 by 190 metres across. [2] [3]
Dates built into the church
Lissan Parish Church contains several visible markers of its history: 1618 is inscribed inside the nave doorway, 1685 appears on the font and a stone sundial bears 1732. The official building survey identifies an early seventeenth-century core with later additions. Its bellcote and some traceried windows reflect eighteenth-century styles, while the gallery may belong to improvements documented in 1861. [4]
George Walker remembered
The church's east window commemorates George Walker, governor of Derry during the siege of 1689. Walker was rector of Lissan from 1688 to 1690, connecting the small rural church with a much wider episode in Irish history. [4]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Population centre
- County
- Derry
- Barony
- Loughinsholin
- Civil parish
- Lissan
- Within
- Tullynure
- Coordinates
- 54.68865, -6.75932 (approximate)
- Logainm ID
- 129725 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Churchtown. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- 1985:17 — Tullynure, Derry · N. F. Brannon, Historic Monuments Branch, Department of the Environment
- Churchyard Field, Clagan — CAF Geophysical Survey Report 30, pp. 8–9 · Dr Siobhán McDermott, Centre for Archaeological Fieldwork, Queen's University Belfast
- Lissan Church of Ireland Parish Church — HB09/03/003 · Historic Environment Division, Department for Communities
- Lissan Parish Church, Churchtown illustration: based on a Lissan Parish Church of Ireland by Kenneth Allen. AI-assisted watercolour and ink adaptation; cream paper margins added, incidental clutter omitted and fine details simplified. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2010-04-19. How this page was prepared.