A History of St Michael’s Church

1822 – 1964

The present St. Michael’s stands on the site of a church of the same name which served Blackrock from 1822 to 1962. This earlier St. Michael’s was by no means the first church in the locality to bear this titular. The late Canon T .J. Walsh noted that reference to a St. Michael’s church in the peninsula can be found in a Papal document as far back as 1199. The location of the church mentioned at that time was likely to have been close to what is now Ballintemple Cemetery. Lauded as a church of size and stature the St. Michael’s of 1822 was the reference point for faith life in Blackrock for nearly a century and a half.