The present church dates from the 12th century but occupies one of the oldest ChristianChristian Name originally given to disciples of Jesus by outsiders and gradually adopted by the Early Church to designate all members of the church. sites on the island. St Maughold had supposedly been an Irish prince and robber who was converted by St PatrickPatrick, St The son of a town official on the west coast of Britain in the last days of Roman rule, St Patrick was abducted as boy and taken to Ireland, where he lived as a slave for six years. He spent this time in prayer and on his return received some training for the priesthood. He returned to Ireland in 435 as bishop and was one of the most prominent figures in the conversion of that country beyond the Roman Empire to Christianity until his death in about 461. Some of St Patrick's writings survive, including an autobiography. He is generally regarded as the Apostle of Ireland and legends attribute many miraculous powers to him and afterwards sailed to the Isle of Man landing at St Maughold’s Head. According to a late 7th century Life of St Patrick St Maughold helped to convert the Isle of Man to Christianity in the 5th century, and the Life mentions a healing spring and a small monasteryMonastery The house of a religious community at the site of the current church which St Maughold used as a base for his missionMission 1. A group of people sent out to share religious faith. 2. The task of sharing faith.. The church has the largest collection of early medieval sculpture on the Island dating from the 8th to the 10th centuries, and including both runic and Latin inscriptions as well as scenes of saints, animals, and Norse paganPagan Derived from Latin paganus, the Roman term for a rural dweller, this word came to be applied to those who were not Christian, particularly the followers of the classical religion of Greece and Rome and those who followed the pre-Christian religions of Europe stories alongside Christian imagery. Almost all of these pieces came from the area around the church, showing that Maughold may once have been the principal Christian site on the Isle of Man.
References: Kewley, Pevsner Architectural Guides: Isle of Man, pp. 278-86.