A small cruciform church, now mainly 17thc-18thc. with some earlier features including a Crucifixion plaque of 1625. The church comprises nave, shallow, apsidal chancel and N and S transepts. There is a round tower (h. 22.86 m) to the SW of the S transept, barely a few feet away. This is probably 12thc. and has a blocked round-headed doorway several metres above ground level and a later doorway, also blocked, at the base of the tower. There are two triangular-headed windows at the top of the tower, and some square-headed windows below. The only Romanesque sculpture is found on a loose fragment locked in the S transept.

Gwynne and Hadcock suggest that a church on this site may have been built by St Patrick. There is a well nearby, where the saint is supposed to have performed baptism. The Primates of Armagh, who styled themselves successors of St Patrick, claimed title to sites thought to have been founded by the saint. Turlough was among these, part of 'Patrick's lands in Connaught'.

There was a monastery at Turlough of some importance. This was held by Armagh from early times until the 13thc., although Archbishop Felix O'Ruadhan of Tuam maintained in 1210 that the church was built and maintained by his predecessors.

The Annals of Loch Ce record that the church was pillaged by Mac William in 1236.

Gwynne and Hadcock list Turlough only in an appendix of early sites thought to have ceased to exist before the 11thc.

There are no known examples of local sculpture related to the Turlough fragment although the device of a pellet lying between leaves is not uncommon - examples may be found at Lismore Cathedral (Waterford) and Mellifont (Louth).

Killanin and Duignan is the only source which mentions the carved fragment.