Baldoyle has evidence of settlement since 1500-500BC, but little is known about the area until the Viking invasion in 898AD. The name 'Baldoyle' is derived from 'Dubh Gaill' meaning dark stranger/foreigner named after the dark-haired Danish invaders. Another band of fair-haired Norwegian settlers, the 'Fionn Gaill', or fair foreigners, settled from Fairview to Balbriggan and gave the area the name Fingal.
The Church was built in 1831 and was originally given the title "The Church of Saint Mary of the Assumption and of Saint Peter". For 100 years it was one of a few church for miles and some people walked a long way to and from mass. The population explosion that began in the late 1960's led to the building of a second church less than 1K away.
In the summer of 1952 a bolt of lightning struck the church during Sunday morning mass and part of the roof fell in. The priest celebrating the mass gave Conditional Absolution to those present but thankfully no one was seriously injured!
The Cache
The cache is not hidden on the church grounds or the building to the South. Safest parking is directly opposite the cache on Main Street, then use the pedestrian crossing..
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.