Its dedication may stem from the medieval church now in ruin in the village which was known as The Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Up to the days of the Reformation, Catholic services were held in this old church. Sometime after that, Catholics were given use of a wooden structure on the site of the present Garda Station.
Building of “the Chapel” – as it was then a “Chapel of Ease” to Clondalkin - began in 1835, but it wasn’t until 1840 that the roof was in place. In the meantime, Mass and other services were held within the roofless building. It is said that the great temperance priest, Fr. Matthew, preached here on the evils of alcohol, before the roof was in place. In 1953, St. Mary’s Lucan became a Parish in its own right.
Because of the growing population of Lucan it was decided to build an extension. Through the Planned Giving Campaign which started in 1968, other fund raising activities, and the sale of the ‘Priest’s Field’ (where Brookvale is now), enough money was collected. The old Church building was renovated, and an extension was completed in early 1975. The Church extension is built over the old graveyard. In order not to disturb the graves, a raft of concrete and steel was laid over the area, and the building stands on that. The headstones, which were still intact, were saved and can now be seen around the car park.
Over the subsequent years a number of serious shortcomings were identified with the extended church including the position of the altar and tabernacle, the visual and physical disconnections between the old and the new sections of the church, a cold, spartan atmosphere, an inadequate heating system, poor acoustics and uncomfortable seating. Accordingly a major refurbishment was embarked upon in 2005. Nick Smith was the architect. The sculptors and liturgical designers were Chris and Mark Ryan and Maree Hensey designed the tapestry and glass.
In the redesigned church the altar is carved of granite and is the focal point. Local Dublin granite has been used because of its sense of permanence and also its significance to our history of the Mass rock. The shapes and forms used have been so designed to give a feeling of spiritual uplifting and organic growth.
The Cache
The cache is a micro and has been placed with the permission of the parish priest. There is a church car park, however, it is not always open. The number 66 bus stops right outside the church. Please be stealthy here, especially at mass times.
I want to place my own Church Micro cache....
The Church Micro IE series is open to everyone; if you have a church you would like to place a cache at then please contact THE_Chris through Geocaching.com. This is to keep track of the numbers of the churches and give you the general format for the cache page. In the UK there are thousands in the series so we have some catching up to do! Also, if you currently have a published cache at a church that you would like to include in the series, get in contact and we can add it.
(Above history of the church is taken from the parish website, http://www.stmarysparishlucan.ie/ )
***Congrats to Moonshiner Extraordinaire for FTF!!***