Tallaght St. Maelruans and County Library

The western bell tower of the demolished medieval church at Tallaght

Outing to Tallaght
by Conleth Manning

About thirty Antiquaries braved a bad weather forecast to meet up at St Maelruain’s Church at Tallaght on Saturday 8 November 2008. We were welcomed there by Tomás Maher, a Tallaght historian, who by arrangement had opened the church for us. Sitting in the pews of this fine John Semple church we were treated to a characteristically insightful account of the early history of Tallaght by Hon. General Secretary, Charles Doherty. It was one of the most important monasteries of the Céli Dé reform and a remarkable amount of written material survives from the monastery.
Tomás Maher continued with an account of the history up to the present day and guided us around the graveyard where we saw the St Maelruain’s Losset, which is a massive basin stone possibly connected with baptismal ceremonies; Moll Rooney’s Loaf and Griddle, which is a small cross sitting on a millstone; part of the vallum of the monastery, which forms the boundary of the graveyard on one side, and a number of interesting modern graves, including those of Evie Hone and Oisín Kelly. While we were visiting the medieval church tower the rain started in earnest and we decided not to visit the modern Dominican Priory, which is on the site of and contains some remains of one of the palaces of the archbishops of Dublin.

Our next and last stop was Tallaght County Library where we were given a warm welcome, including much-appreciated tea/coffee and biscuits, by Kieran Swords, the County Librarian. The library is a very fine one and has a good local history section. Kieran and South Dublin County Council have also been active in publishing books of local historical interest including three based on typescripts of the late Paddy Healy on Tallaght, Rathfarnham and Glanasmole.


St Maelruain’s Losset in Tallaght graveyard


Tomás Maher speaking at the cross and millstone known as Moll Rooney’s Loaf and Griddle