St Mary's Church - Glen of the Downs

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St Mary's Churh Downshill outside Delgany

Geneahelene, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

This church is located in the townland of The Downs in the Glen of the Downs, outside Delgany. It is also referred to as Downsmill Church and Woodlands Church, and in the Guide to the national monuments in the Republic of Ireland is referred to as a small medieval church, which possibly dates from the 16^th century. The east gable contains a small window from the 16^th century and the west gable end has a belfry.

Kathleen Turner suggests that this church is the long-lost Kilmaccabirn, which was mentioned frequently in medieval church lists. The first mention of Kilmaccarbirn is in a charter of 1172 – 4. In medieval times Kilmaccabirn was in the Archbishop’s manor of Shankill and was then ranked as a town only one of three in the manor. In 1326 Kilmaccarbirn’s lands lay waste and untilled of no value due to the raids of the Byrnes and the O’Toole’s.

Bibliography

Turner, Kathleen If you seek Monuments, A guide to the antiquities of the Barony of Rathdown, Rathmichael Historical Society.

Scott, Canon George Digby The Stones of Bray, Cualann Publications, Bray, 1984

Harbison, Peter Guide to the national monuments in the Republic of Ireland; including a selection of other monuments not in state care, Gill and MacMillan, Dublin, 1975