The old Church of St. Berach (Cill Bharróg Kilbarrack) The ruins of Kilbarrack Church stand on the north coast of Dublin and can be viewed from the Howth Road. The Church was built for the assistance of shipwrecked sailors and is sometimes known as ‘the Mariner’s Church’. . For a period, ships entering Dublin Bay paid duties to the authorities in order to maintain the Church.
The Parish of St John the Evangelist, Kilbarrack/Foxfield is situated on the north shore of Dublin Bay just over 5 miles from the city centre. The Parish was founded in 1971 but its roots go back to the early years of Christianity. Kilbarrack means the Church of Berach named after the Monk who founded a religious community here in the 6th century. The first church was probably of wood and thatch and has long gone but on its site, a church of local stone was erected in the 13th century. The church ruins are still to be seen in the grounds of Kilbarrack Graveyard as mentioned above.
Kilbarrack was mentioned in a Bull of Pope Alexander III in 1171 when he confirmed the church to Archbishop Laurence O’Toole “for the endowment of the Sea of Dublin” Michael, Chaplain of Kilbarrack, was listed in a calendar of documents of Ireland in 1252.
The Reformation led to the dissolution of the monasteries and the medieval parish became a Civil Parish of the Protestant Church in 1540. The last mention of a Chapel in Kilbarrack was in 1615 and after that it was abandoned.
From the early 1800’s, Catholic parishes were again established and the Kilbarrack area was included in the Parish of St. Peter and Paul, Baldoyle. From the 1960s onwards new housing in and around Kilbarrack meant that Baldoyle could no longer cope with the growing population and in December 1971 a temporary church of St John the Evangelist was opened on Greendale Road. On the 31st October 1982 the present Church was officially opened and dedicated by Archbishop Dermot Ryan.
