What is recorded here

St Mobhis Church stands on the probable site of a monastery founded by St. Mobhi before 544 AD, though the current building dates from 1717. Tradition holds the original huts and church once drifted across the Tolka, a whimsical idea that suits the mutable nature of memory and river water. Skeletons surfaced near the walls in the twentieth century, proving the burial ground stretched farther than anyone imagined. The church remains a layered witness to faith, loss and the quiet persistence of place.

The present Church of Ireland on Church Avenue was rebuilt in 1717, probably on the site of the monastery founded by St. Mobhi (d. 544 AD). The 16th century life of St. Columba by Manus O'Donnell describes a miracle whereby the huts and church of St Mobhi ended up of on the east bank of the Tolka (Killanin & Duignan 1967, 251). During the 13th century this church was part of the homefarm for the Priory of the Holy Trinity, Christchurch (Ball 1920, 124-147). The N wall is thicker in the W tower indicating that it may be earlier than the existing church. In 1941 two skeletons were discovered when a path was being laid in Church Lane and in 1956 a number of skeletons were discovered on a site N of Mobhi Lane, just E of the church. Finds included animal bones and a knife-like iron object (NMI 1956-16). These burials suggest that the burial ground associated with the Early medieval foundation extended much further than the present graveyard wall. Compiled by : Geraldine Stout Upload date: 28 September 2011

St Mobhis Church was likely founded in the 6th century by St. Mobhi, a contemporary of St. Columba, and rebuilt in 1717 on the site of an earlier monastic foundation. It is dedicated to St. Mobhi and reflects the continuity of Christian worship in the area from early medieval times.

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