Not ruined in the usual sense, not marked by tumbled stonework or a roofless gable, but simply gone from sight, its foundations readable only in the grass during the driest summers, when the soil above the buried walls dries faster than the ground around them and the vegetation betrays the outline below. It is a kind of archaeology by drought.

The tradition was recorded by Carrigan in 1905, who noted that the church, known as Thomple-Vweahal or the parish church of Mothell, once stood within Mothell rath, a substantial ringfort, which is an enclosed circular earthwork of early medieval origin, typically used as a farmstead or seat of local power. According to this tradition, the church was destroyed by the Danes during one of their raids into the region, and its foundations have remained buried ever since. O'Kelly, writing in 1985, adds that the church was dedicated to St Nicholas and continued in use for Protestant worship until around 1800, when it was finally abandoned. A graveyard was also located within the ringfort, though like the church itself it has left no visible trace at ground level. When the Office of Public Works examined the interior of the ringfort in February 1972, surveyors noted irregular depressions, slight banks, and curvilinear features to the east of centre, but could not identify any definite structure among them.

The flat-topped hill commands wide views across the surrounding pasture in all directions, and the ringfort's interior is now heavily overgrown, partially given over to conifers. In a dry summer, if the conditions are right, the grass itself may still sketch the outline of a building that has not been seen above ground for centuries.