''Dublin's charms''

This church - St Audeon's church of Ireland - is actually the oldest Parish church in Dublin; has the quirky coincidence of being next door to another St Audeon’s which is Catholic. Anyway… It has a very nice park within its grounds, has at least two hauntings withing its grounds - not to mention the clergyman who guards a wee monument, I'll mention in a moment - and to the rear, one can see part of the Old City Wall of Dublin - from medieval times. Of course, it is centred in the heart of Old Dublin, at the juncture of the Liberties etc. But housed in the Church - in the porch area - is a very unusual artefact which few people know about. It is called 'The Lucky Stone’ - a rival of the very famous Blarney Stone! But this is a stone with a difference! Dating from the middle ages, it was believed to be a kind of head stone of a religious cleric buried in the graveyard but it is the legend that has grown up around it, that’s most interesting. In the middle ages, merchant traders and business men would come to it as a daily ritual to elicit luck from its stony mass. Despite being the victim of theft, strangely disappearing on a number of occasions to God knows where, even falling off a horse, when someone tried to take off with it, it has still mysteriously turned up in St Audeon’s - come rain or hail - and has now remained there since being retrieved for the last time circa 1830 by that famous antiquarian priest, Father John Spratt - its true home! Legend says that you merely rub off it, instead of kissing it! St Audeon’s church is one of Dublin’s most charming and interesting churches which offers you a free guided tour of its site - a stone’s throw from Christchurch.