History
The land on which St Mary's church stands has an ecclesiastical history going back to 500AD.
The last surviving disciple of St Patrick, Saint Machutus the first Abbot of Louth, founded "The White Church of Saint Machutus" (a Benedictine order) in Coolmine early in the first part of the 6th century.
Clonsilla was a cell of the Coolmine Church but there is little documentary evidence of a building or church in Clonsilla until 1215/17. The lands were then owned by the "priory of Little Malvern" to which all revenues were sent.
Archbishop Henry de Londres (1212-1228) consecrated the Priory of St Brigid's, Clonsilla. The priory was completed in 1221. The place of worship at Coolmine had declined gradually and had disappeared by 1490.
Clonsilla was a place of considerable trouble from the Irish clans in the early 15th century and by 1468 the lands were made over to the Cistercian Abbey of St Mary's Dublin from the Prior of Little Malvern. For 50 years, St Mary's held tenure.
Following the dissolution of the religious houses, the lands became available to be leased. Chief Justice Luttrell tenanted the lands from 1506 and on his death in 1544 he was buried in the grounds. The Luttrell Family came to Ireland in 1204 and held lands in Clonsilla until the end of the 18th century. The priory church was then known as "The white chapel of St Machtus of Clonsilla".
In the early 1600's, conflict on the state of repair of the church was reported. Little documented history remains of the church during the 1700's.
The present church was built in 1845 with the tower added in 1850 during the office of Archbishop Whateley (1831 - 1863). The bell in the tower is dated 1747 and was cast in Gloucester. It was a gift from St Werburg's church, where it formed part of a ring of six bells. St Werburg's is situated beside Dublin Castle and its tower, which overlooked the Castle, was removed on security grounds in 1836.
In 1907 Sir Arthur Vickers, the Ulster King at Arms, following the advice of a medium he had consulted, came to Clonsilla to search for the stolen insignia of Saint Patrick (the Irish State Crown Jewels). The visit ended in failure. Rumours still persist that the jewels are hidden somewhere in the grounds.
In 2005, an extension to St Mary’s was completed to provide Clonsilla Parish Centre, and to bring running water into the church. The new centre was opened, and the church rededicated, by Archbishop John Neill on 11 September 2005.
The cache
The cache is located outside church grounds, there is few parking spots right close to GZ. Beware - at peak times there could be lots of muggles going to or from the station or waiting in cars for their relatives to arrive. There is also few windows directed straight to GZ so stealth is highly recommended. Please replace the cache as you found it. I've averaged the coords few times but readings were jumpy due to tree cover.
The Series
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 he can add it.