with community tor graveyard mass

had connections with Clara Castle. As with other stone uprights, it survived Cromwell’s rampage, as it is dated 23rd December 1562.

On 13th August 2019, the rst mass for at least 300 years was celebrated with appropriate sincerity beside the dominant yew tree opposite the church ruin. People from neighbouring parishes and the local community gathered to honour in prayer, the memory of those who constructed the church on the holy grounds and those who attended mass and the sacraments on the site for so many years. An order of devout monks from Tours, France, in the 11th century, are understood to be the rst religious to inhabit the area. ey too, were mentioned in a special blessing by Fr Willie Purcell, parish priest at Clara. Part of the celebration on that damp August evening, was the promise that the holy sacrament of the mass would join the list of graveyard masses in the parish each year. Once again, on June 6 2023, parish priest of Clara, Fr. Willie Purcell performed a sacred blessing at Templemartin’s church and graveyard, to honour once more the feast of St. Martin of Tours. Fr Willie paid special mention to all interred at the graveyard without a memorial stone or plaque.