St. George's Church, Dublin

The church

Construction of the "New St. George's church, Drumcondra", at the end of Temple Street, Dublin (the street so named after the church) commenced in 1802 by the Church of Ireland for the parish of St. George, which had been established in 1793. There had been an "Old St. George's church, Drumcondra", in nearby Hill Street erected by Sir John Eccles. The Eccles family were patrons of the "new church". Another "Drumcondra Church" is the St. John Church, in Church Street, Dublin.

The original site acquired for the new church was on Whitworth Road, but then the present site was selected, which at the time was open fields. A temporary chapel was built on the Whitworth Road site and the churchyard was retained when St. George's was completed - this site was later taken over by the Whitworth Hospital (later named Drumcondra Hospital).

Twenty-two years after the church was built, problems developed when the wide roof began to splay further than it should, due to the strain of the wide-span timber trusses. Civil engineer Robert Mallet, whose father ran an iron foundry in Dublin, created cast-iron trusses to haul the church back into shape.

In the 1980s scaffolding had to be erected around the spire because the Portland stone was cracking due to expansion of the iron cramps that held it in place. The Church of Ireland, having tried in vain to raise funds for the restoration of the church, sold the building in 1991 to an actor, Mr Sean Simon, who had plans to turn it into a theatre.

After its deconsecration, the bells (which Leopold Bloom heard ringing in Ulysses) were removed to Taney Parish church in Dundrum, while the ornate pulpit was carved up to decorate Thomas Read's pub in Parliament Street.

The church in Temple Street then became the Temple Theatre, then a night-club, but further attempts were made to raise public funds for its restoration; first, in 1991, to celebrate Dublin's role as European City of Culture, and later from the Millennium Committee.

In 2004 the building found a new purchaser who oversaw extensive restoration and renovation to provide office facilities.

The parish

Shortly after the construction of the church, in 1813, the population of the parish was 5,322 males and 7,690 females (these included Roman Catholics as well as Protestants).

An early Rector of St George's parish was Revd William Bushe, who, in 1823, invited Roman Catholics who were resident in the parish to discuss matters of faith. The church was filled for his series of evangelical Wednesday evening lectures which discussed the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church.

In the 20th century the parish grew steadily and was in the 1950s the largest in the Republic. At the time it was served by three other churches: St. Aidan's, St. Augustine's and the Free Church, in addition to the parish church.

The parish corresponded with the civil parish of the same name.

Notable parishioners

In 1806, Sir Arthur Wellesley, famous a few years later as the Duke of Wellington, married Catherine Pakenham, daughter of the Earl of Longford, in the temporary chapel built on Whitworth Road.

In 1812 the scientist Richard Kirwan was buried in the church.

Roger Casement's mother, Anne, was baptised there on 16 September 1832 as was her sister Grace in 1841.

The architect, Francis Johnston (architect), lived in nearby Eccles Street. In his garden he had built a Gothic church tower, whose bell he enjoyed ringing, but his neighbours persuaded him in 1828 to donate the bell to the new church he had designed. He was buried in St. George's churchyard, which was attached to the temporary chapel on Whitworth Road.

John Sullivan SJ who lived on Eccles Street, was baptised in St. Georges's later in life he converted to Catholicism and became a Jesuit.