The foundation stone for the existing St. Columba’s church was laid in 1872 and the church was originally dedicated to St. Joseph by Rev. Dr. Furlong, Bishop of Ferns, the following year. At some later stage the church was re-dedicated to St. Columba. A thatched church on an adjoining site is reputed to have been burned during the upheaval in the area following the 1798 rebellion.

The ruins of an earlier church, also dedicated to St. Columba, still exist in Monasootagh a few miles to the north of Ballyduff village.