Development of the Parish
Prior to Catholic Emancipation the very sparsely populated area of Churchtown formed part of three quite remote parishes – Donnybrook, Booterstown and Kilgobbin. Later, however, as more churches were built and new parishes established, the Churchtown district formed part of the parishes of Dundrum and Rathfarnham. In the mid 1950s the population had risen to the point where a parish of its own was clearly needed for Churchtown.
In 1957 the just-completed Church of the Good Shepherd was consecrated. For eight years the church was a Chapel-of-Ease to Rathfarnham Parish, but in 1965 it gained full status as the centrepiece of an independent Parish. Then, in its turn, the Good Shepherd Parish in 1974 became responsible for the development of a new Church at Marley Grange, towards which the Churchtown parishioners contributed £120,000 (or some €150,000). In 1981 Marley Grange itself became an independent Parish
The Parish Boundaries
The Parish boundaries are shown on the sketch map below. They extend from the Dodder River (which forms a natural boundary) at Orwell Gardens and Orwell Bridge, to the top of Beaumont Avenue, past Churchtown House, on the Weston area, and the Upper Churchtown Road to the junction of Lower Churchtown Road; to the west the parish extends to the rear of Grange Road. Major residential areas included in the parish are Braemor, Landscape and Nutgrove
Highlights of the Parish
Good Shepherd Church is naturally the focal point of the parish, but there are several other important highlights which form an integral part of everyday life for parishioners. Adjacent to the church is the Good Shepherd Parish Centre which has become indispensable for a multitude of church and other parish activities.
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 I can add it. Any history of the church and photos on the cache page are always appreciated. Simple as that! Let me know when its submitted and published if you would, just so I can keep track of things.