Religious house - Benedictine monks

The National Monuments Service's description

St. Brigid's Church of Ireland church (built c. 1806) standing in the centre of a graveyard in the village of Castleknock stands on the site of a medieval priory church associated with the Benedictine Priory of Little Malvern, Worcestershire, England (Ball 1920, 33; De Varebeke 1950).  The priory church was dedicated to Saint Brigid.  St Bridget’s holy well (DU017-009----) stands 55m to the SSE of the church.  The Anglo-Norman masonry castle (DU017-012002-) built by Richard Tyrrel c. 1185 stands on a motte-and-bailey (DU017-012001-) 670m to the SSW of the church site.

Ronan (1941, 33; 1940, 184) recorded that Richard Tyrrell ‘granted certain lands of Castleknock (c. 1185) to endow a religious house there in honour of St. Brigid, the patroness of the church. The Benedictines of Little Malvern, Worcestershire, built their cill or priory beside the church and received a grant (1219) from Archbishop de Loundres of certain tithes of Castleknock for the purpose of adding five monks to the priory’. Archbishop de Loundres, built a church in the churchyard for the vicar of the parish, and erected it as a predend in St. Patrick’s Cathedral in 1227 (ibid).

Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien

Date of Compilation: 25 November 2025

References

De Varebeke, Dom. H.J. 1950 The Benedictines in medieval Ireland. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 80, 95.

Ball, E.F. 1902-20 (Reprint 1979) A history of the County Dublin, 6 vols. Dublin. Gill and Macmillan.

Ronan, Rev. M.V. 1940 Mulhuddart and Cloghran. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 70, 182-93. Ronan, M.V. 1941 Royal Visitation of Dublin, 1615. In Archivium Hibernicum 8, 1-55.