In Celbridge, a stone trough, dated 1783, bearing St.
Mochua’s
name and image stood at the roadside next to the mill.
It
possibly stood over the “Tober Mochua” which was used
by
the saint to baptize his converts. Rev. O’Hanlon in his Lives of
the Irish Saints states that according to local tradition, people
living in or near Clondalkin formerly held a patron or
festival
at St. Mochua’s Well near Celbridge in the parish of
Kildrought,
Co. Kildare.
Former
site of the stone trough from St. Mochua’s Well, Celbridge, Co. Kildare.
Stone
trough which probably stood over “Tober Mochua” and was later relocated close to the mill in Celbridge,
Co. Kildare.
St. Mochua is attributed with the foundation of the
church at
Kildrought, now known as the Tea Lane Churchyard. An
entry
in the County Kildare Chancery Inquisition that was
taken at
Kilcock on the 22nd October 1604, when translated
states:
“There is one messuage with close, and two cottages with
their
closes, and eighteen acres of land in the town land
of
Kildrought called ‘St. Magho his land’, which were
granted in
mortmain to the church at Kildrought without license
from the
Crown, and for that reason they are now in the King’s
hands.
Balraheen Church, now a disused churchyard south of
Maynooth, was also dedicated to St. Mochua. Balraheen
today
is in the Catholic Parish of Clane/Rathcoffey. The local
church
for this area is situated at Rathcoffey, two miles south
of the
ancient burial ground. Here the local school, built in
1930, is
dedicated to the honour of St. Mochua.