What is recorded here

St. Patrick's Island in County Dublin held an early Christian monastery for St. Mochonna, marked by a roughly circular enclosure about 75 metres across. Danes burned the monastery in 798 after breaking the shrine of Dochonna, yet the island still bears the faint outline of that sacred boundary. The violence did not erase the place; it sharpened the memory of what people valued enough to lose.

Early Christian monastery associated with St. Mochonna (Doconna, or Conna), venerated on the 13th of January. The Danes are recorded to have burned the monastery in 798 when the shrine of Dochonna was broken (D'Alton 1838, 223). Recent aerial photography of St Patrick's Island (Inis Pádraig) shows traces of a roughly circular enclosure around the church (diam. c. 75m; OS 8/9269) (DU005-019002-). Compiled by: Geraldine Stout Revised by: Caimin O'Brien Date of revised upload: 13 March 2023

Ecclesiastical enclosure in St. Patrick's Island is a ringfort or rath associated with an early Christian monastery linked to St. Mochonna (Doconna or Conna), likely dating to the 7th–9th centuries. It is noted for being burned by the Danes in 798, when the shrine of Dochonna was destroyed, reflecting its significance in early medieval religious and monastic life.

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