Saint Gobhan has long been linked with the parish of Seagoe – recorded for instance as Teach dho-Ghobha – in County Armagh, Ireland.

Gobban find mac Lugdach (c. 560 – 639) was primarily known for his abbacy of the monastery of Oldleighlin, County Carlow, where in 633 an important synod was held to debate the timing of Easter. This monastery later evolved into St Laserian's Cathedral, Old Leighlin. This abbot also held authority at Killamery – Cell Lamraide in County Kilkenny. He died in 639 and was buried in either the ancient abbey of Clonenagh: Cluain-Ednech, County Laois or Clooneagh: Cluain Each, County Kerry.

Clans, landscapes and borders

A holy man named St. Gobhan (St Goban-Gobban-Goba) is associated with the foundation c. 600, of a church of Celtic Christianity origins in the parish of Seagoe, Portadown, County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The present St. Gobhan's church is a post reformation Church of Ireland and is located within the Diocese of Down and Dromore (of the Church of Ireland), or alternatively the Roman Catholic Diocese of Dromore. The 17th-century Irish historian and hagiographer John Colgan wrote of this location: "Gobanus – Goba of Teg da-goba – Seagoe, on the bank of the Bann in Iveagh of Ulidia (also) St. Gobanus of Killamery, near the mountain called Slievenaman."

Situated four miles due south of Lough Neagh, St. Gobhan's church stands on a high-commanding ridge overlooking and to the east of the upper river Bann in a region where three counties almost meet – County Armagh, County Down and County Antrim. When St. Gobhan first arrived in this locale almost one and a half thousand years ago he was in the lands of the Uí Echach Cobo whose territory would later become the baronies of Upper and Lower Iveagh, in modern-day County Down.

This boundary remained for many centuries until the Plantation of Ulster when in 1605 "The land east of the Upper Bann on the shore of Lough Neagh, known as Clanbrassilagh was formally annexed to the County of Ardmaghe...becoming eventually the barony of Oneilland East". The continuous spread of urban development and the re-designation of boundaries has masked or obliterated the ancient topography allowing many small and independent hamlets to be swallowed up. Seagoe continued its independent existence until in 1888 the Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898 facilitated its inclusion into Portadown Urban District.

So although present-day Seagoe by definition is in county Armagh, its location and ancient history display an affinity and tenuous bond of ecclesiastical ties with the lands within the historical diocese of Down and Dromore. The original foundation of St. Gobhan's church is in the ancient cemetery some one hundred yards distance from the present church. The old church ruins set amid tall yew trees and ornate headstones are a poignant reminder of many past incarnations.

Whether political upheaval or ecclesiastical differences precipitated St. Gobban's departure from OldLeighlin is unclear. However, prior to the highly important synod of 633, it would appear that he left his monastery and along with numerous monks journeyed into the west of the kingdom of Ossory. Again whether or not he founded or inherited the monastery at Killamery:Cill lamraidhe in Ossory is disputed; however, during his abbacy, its fame and importance flourished. The 9th-century book – "The Martyrology of Oengus states “of Gobban of Cell Lamraide in Hui Cathrenn in the west of Ossory, a thousand monks it had, as experts say and of them was Gobban.", The Killamery High Cross has become famous as part of the west Ossory group of High crosses.