The building that stands there today replaced an earlier church on the same site, and of that predecessor nothing now survives above the surface. No carved stonework, no tumbled wall, no grassed-over foundation ridge. It is the kind of site that rewards the historically curious precisely because there is, in the conventional sense, nothing to see.

The layering of religious sites one upon another is not unusual in Ireland, where early medieval foundations were frequently reused by later communities who recognised the sanctity, or simply the convenience, of an already-established place of worship. In the case of Bohernabreena, the earlier church at Friarstown Upper is noted in two separate historical sources: William Handcock's work on the history and antiquities of Tallaght, published in its relevant edition in 1991, and Myles Ronan's ecclesiastical research from 1943. Both place an earlier structure on the ground now occupied by St Anne's. The name Bohernabreena itself, derived from the Irish, gestures at the area's long history of habitation and movement through this valley of the River Dodder.

For anyone making their way out to the site, St Anne's church at Bohernabreena is the visible landmark, and that is, in practice, what you are visiting, since the earlier structure left no trace that can be observed. The value here is less visual than conceptual: the knowledge that the present building sits on accumulated centuries of use, its foundations pressing down through layers the eye cannot read. The surrounding landscape of the Glenasmole valley is quiet and relatively uncommercialised, which makes the outing worthwhile on its own terms. Those with a particular interest in ecclesiastical archaeology or early church geography may find it useful to bring the relevant passages from Handcock or Ronan as a frame for what is, otherwise, an unmarked and entirely ordinary-looking parish church.