Kilgobbin Church

Kilgobbin Church

There is some debate over the date for the church and its associations with Gobbin. Who was Gobbin? Perhaps he was a master builder (Goban Saor) or a Saint from Kerry. The church is located on a steep hillock, perhaps indicating a passage tomb or another site there also. Following quarrying in the eighteenth century the area around the mound was removed, thereby creating the steep hill. A Rathdown Slab was discovered over one of the church doors.

Kilgobbin Church

Kilgobbin Church

There is some debate over the date for the church and its associations with Gobbin. Who was Gobbin? Perhaps he was a master builder (Goban Saor) or a Saint from Kerry. The church is located on a steep hillock, perhaps indicating a passage tomb or another site there also. Following quarrying in the eighteenth century the area around the mound was removed, thereby creating the steep hill. A Rathdown Slab was discovered over one of the church doors.

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Kilgobbin church follows the trend of these early churches, in that there is some debate over dates. The name Kilgobbin suggests an early date but there are a number of theories. Who was Gobbin? Perhaps he was a master builder known as Goban Saor or maybe a Saint from Kerry who founded Kilgobbain, near Tralee.

Dublin County Council commenced restoration of the site in 1983 and the porch at the north side was rebuilt, having been deemed structurally unsound.

There was a very interesting discovery made following the removal of a lintel over one of the doors in the church, namely a grave slab. It is believed to be from the Viking period and other similar artefacts were found in the area.

Kilgobbin church is located on a hillock and the mound is very steep. It was believed that perhaps the mound indicated a passage tomb or other site. However a simpler explanation is the land around the area was quarried during the eighteenth and nineteenth century and so the area around the mound was all removed, hence the steep slope.

This is a good example of man's influence on the landscape. The settlers during the Early Christian period built the church and there would have been an area around the church of consecrated ground. However during the quarrying process, the surrounding area was stripped bare. Manmade changes to the landscape can be constructive or destructive as evidenced in Kilgobbin. Due to the large number of churches in the Rathdown area it is possible to conclude that there was quite a dense population at the time.