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The ruined church of Killiney has been pronounced by Dr. Petrie to be coeval with the oldest of the buildings at Glendalough, and to date from the 6th century. The original structure consisted of the nave and chancel, and to these were added, many centuries later, an aisle on the northern side. The primitive doorway in the western end, which bears on the soffit of its lintel a cross, the choir arch, and the east window are all very characteristic of early Irish church architecture. | ||
The name of Cill-inghen-Leinin, the early form of Killiney, indicates that the church was founded by Leinin's daughters, five holy women, whose names, according to the Martyrology of Donegal, were, Druigen, Luigen, Luicell, Macha, and Riomhtach, and who are supposed to have flourished about the 6th century. Together with the lands, the church came into the possession of the Priory of the Holy Trinity before the English Conquest, and was subsequently confirmed to it by the Archbishop of Dublin and the Pope. | ||
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After the dissolution of the Priory it became portion of the dignity of the Dean of Christ Church, and appears to have been served, in the 16th century, by the chaplains of Dalkey. At the beginning of the 17th century, in 1615, it was in charge of the vicar of Bray, the Rev. Morris Burne, but was subsequently held by the same curates as Dalkey - the Rev. William Morris Lloyd, the Rev. John Wilson, and the Rev. James Bishop. The tithes which the Dean enjoyed amounted to £24, and the curate's stipend was only £6 per annum. | ||
The church was then roofless, as it has since remained, and there was not a Protestant in the parish. The Roman Catholics, who, at the close of the preceding century, had made an effort to build themselves a chapel, had service constantly performed in the house of the owner of Loughlinstown, and had a school for their children, in which they were taught by one of their faith. | ||
At the beginning of the 18th century there was a parish priest of Killiney, the Rev. William Dardis, who lived at Kill-of-the-Grange. Towards the close of that century, owing to the lethargic condition of the Established Church, the Methodists held revival meetings in the neighbourhood, and, in 1782, the Rev. Edward Smyth, one of their clergymen, came to reside at Killiney, and there was, his wife writes, "a noise and a shaking among the dry bones." | ||
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