Church (in Ruins) — Garristown

This late 19th century church (1888) of Garristown (Baile Gháire/Ballyogary/Villa Ogari) stands within a walled graveyard (DU003-011003-) on an elevated position in the village of Garristown and was probably built on the site of or in close proximity to the the medieval parish church (Lewis 1837 1, 650; Walsh 1888, 245). Today the church stands in the parish of Garristown, in the barony of Balrothery West, in the Diocese of Dublin. D'Alton (1838, 495) recorded that 'The church here vas dedicated to the Blessed Virgin. It is a small, plain edifice, presenting at the left side of the communion table a mural monument, of black and white marble, to the memory of Robert Alexander, who died in 1827, aged eighty years. The Ecclesiastical Commissioners have recently granted £61 13s. 7d. for the repairs of this structure. Garristown gives its name to the deanery and parish in which it is situated. The latter, the rectory being impropriate, ranks as a single vicarage, and extends over 5,315a 1r 19p.'. According to Ronan (1941, 23) around the year 1200, the church dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary was granted by Archbishop Comyn to the priory of Lanthony, Gloucestershire who surrendered it shortly after 1212, it was then appropriated to the Hospitallers of Kilmainham [DU018-020286-] who appointed the vicar. A year before this in 1211, the following churches in Ireland which were ‘formerly communally and jointly held in Ireland’ by the priory of Lanthony, Gloucestershire, were granted solely to Llanthony Prima, Augustinian Priory in Monmouthshire, Wales, ‘Llanthony in Wales should have the ‘church of Naul and chapel of the vill of Ralph de Nugent [Kilsharvan ME027-009----], and in Fingal the church of Garristown, and the church of Palmerstown, and all churches which they likewise had in Delvin’ (Hogan 2006, 103). The medieval church of Garristown or Villa Ogari stood in the Gaelic territory of the O’Cathasaigh or O’Casey’s which was co-extensive with the barony of Balrothery West. The extent of Ocathesi's country is ascertained from a composition between John Archbishop of Dublin, and Galfridus Prior of Lanthony (Registrum Alani , fol. 110 a), concerning the ecclesiastical rights of terra O'Kadesi [O’Casey’s territory], in which a partition is made, and the Archbishop grants to the Prior the churches of Villa Ogari [Garristown DU003-011001-] cum capella de Palmerstown [DU007-013001-]; de Sancto Nemore [Holywood DU004-023001-] in Fingall; capella terre Regredi alias Riredi, scilicet Grathelach [the Grallagh DU007-001001-]; Ecclesia Ville Stephani de Cruys or Nalle [the Naul]’ (O’Donovan 1862, V). The 1302-07 Ecclesiastical Taxation of Ireland recorded that in the Deanery of Swords the church 'De Balyogary' [Garristown] was valued at £20 per annum with the tithe valued at 40s. (Cal Doc Irel. Vol. 5, 239). In 1315 King Edward II agreed that 'Master William de Wodeford be presented to the church of Baliogari' (Cal. Chancery Warrants, 415). According to D'Alton (1838, 497-8) 'in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries the manor was the property of the D'Arcy family, from whom it passed to the Talbots. In 1410 Thomas Corre, Vicar of Garristown, had leave to absent himself for five years from his benefice, for the purpose of studying at Oxford. In 1536 the king presented Edward Doyne to this vicarage, which in 1539 was taxed to the First Fruits at £ 7 11s. 2d. Irish. In 1540 the Prior of Kilmainham granted to Patrick Barnewall of Fieldstown, the church and parsonage of Garristown, with the tithes of corn and hay thereunto belonging , for eighty-eight years, at the annual rent of £6 13s. 4d. Irish'. In this year after the Dissolution of the Monasteries in Ireland by Henry VIII, an extent into the monastic estate of the Hospitallers of Kilmainham (DU018-020286-) listed the 'R[ectory]. of Garyeston' along 'with the glebe, held by Bartholomew Blanchfeld of Dublin Merchant' (White 1943, 88). In 1542 the king presented Richard Duffe to the parish church of Garristown, vacant by the death of Simon Geoffry (D'Alton 1838, 498). In 1615 the Royal Visitation of the Dublin Diocese recorded that in the Deanery of Garristown, there was the; 'Vicaria Garestowne et Palmerstowne annexa' which was served by the curate Terentius Iwers, the vicarage was worth 20 marks, and had a reading minister with no books (Ronan 1941, 23). D'Alton (1838, 498) recorded that;'in 1616 Sir Patrick Barnewall passed patent for the rectory and rectorial tithes of corn of the parish church, together with the glebe lands thereto belonging, parcel of the possessions of the Priory of St. John of Jerusalem'. In 1630, the Visitation of Dublin Diocese by the Protestant Archbishop, Dr. Bulkeley recorded that the tithes in the Deanery of Garristown were worth £224 and the stipend to the vicar and curate was £26 (Ronan 1941, 57). In this visitation, Dr Bulkeley stated that; 'the church of Garestown is ruinous. There is in the towne of Garestowne a great voyde howse, of nine couples [rafters] longe covered with strawe whereunto the parishioners doe resort to heare Mass. John Mooney clarke is vicar' (Ronan 1941, 68; Walsh 1888, 215). The terrier of the 1654-56 Down Survey map of Garristown parish recorded there 'stands in Garrestowne an old Church' (NLI, MS. 714). The 1654-56 Civil Survey of Dublin recorded that in Garristown; 'The Moyety of ye great tyth belonged to the Lord Barnewall of Turvy the other Moyety thereof wth ye small tythes belonged to ye Vicar thereof wth a little stone house comonly called the Bartasse & another Tenement worth fourty shillings wth six acres of Arable land valued to be then worth one pound foure shillings' (Simington 1945, 17). D'Alton (1838, 499) wrote that in '1697 the Rev. Robert Taylor was returned as the parish Priest of Garristown and Ballymadun [DU006-002001-]'. A small punch-dressed stone of 16th-century date now built into the tomb surround in the SE corner of the graveyard was probably taken from the medieval church and reused in the building of the graveyard wall and the family vault in the 19th-century. At least five rainwater drainage stones/chutes are visible as reused grave-markers in the graveyard and these may have come from the medieval parish church of Garristown. To see a 3D model of the rainwater chute from Garristown graveyard visit; https://skfb.ly/oDUWN Hogan, A. 2006 The lands of Llanthony Prima and Secunda in Ireland 1172-1541. Thesis, Trinity College (Dublin, Ireland). Department of History. Compiled by: Geraldine Stout Updated by: Christine Baker Revised by: Caimin O'Brien Date of revised upload: 7 March 2023