Church (in Ruins) — Glebe (newcastle By., Lucan Ed)

St. Finian's medieval parish nave (int. dims. 13.9m E-W x 5.5m N-S; ext. dims. 12.7m E-W x 7.1m N-S) and chancel (int. dims. 12.8m E-W x 5.5m N-S; ext. dims. 13.6m E-W x 7.1m N-S) church ruins stands in the W quadrant of a rectangular-shaped graveyard (DU017-022002-), 100m NE of King John's Bridge (DU017-078----) crossing the Griffeen River. The S wall of the graveyard forms the townland boundary with Esker South. The church stands on the S boundary of the townland of Glebe situated between the townlands of Esker North and South. The church is named after the esker between Leath Conn and Leath Mogha (the divisions of ancient Ireland), and was granted with Clondalkin to St. Patrick's Cathedral and Prince John reserved Esker as one of the royal manors of Dublin. The medieval parish church ruins stands in the parish of Esker, diocese of Dublin in the barony of Newcastle. The parishes of Esker and Crumlin originally formed part of the demesne in the Vale of Dublin, which Henry II annexed to the Crown and which was under John organised as the four royal manors of Newcastle Lyons, Tassagard or Saggard, Esker and Crumlin and these were ruled for the Crown by Seneschals whose office continued into the nineteenth century (Simington 1945, xxvi). The 1615 Royal Visitation of the Diocese of Dublin recorded the following details about Esker church which was then standing in the medieval deanery of Newcastle-Lyons; 'Richardus Wiborow curatus. Vicarius deprivatus propter non residentiam. Vacua ergo sequestrantur fructus' (Ronan 1941, 27). In 1630, Archbishop Bulkeley's Visitation of Dublin recorded the following details about Esker Church; 'The church is altogether ruinous: nothinge upp but the walls. The great tythes belonge to the Deane of St. Patricks. The vicariadge by reason of the nearness of it to Clondalkan, is united to Clondalkan, the said Mr. Ware being vicar of both, whose meanes there is worth xx libri per annum. Mr. Lamoruke Nottingham, of Ballyowen, is a principal abbettor and maintainer of preists and fryers in that parishe, who resort to his house' (Ronan 1941, 71). The 1654-56 Civil Survey of Dublin recorded that the Vicars Chorals of St Patrick's Cathedral (DU018-020269-) were the owners of 20 acres in 'Esker Glebeland in Esker 15 acres' (Simington 1945, 307). Poorly preserved remains consist of a long undivided single cell rectangular building (ext. dims. 29.2m E-W x 7.18m N-S) aligned ESE-WNW, built of roughly coursed masonry that has been heavily repointed in modern times with ribbon pointing by the county council (HAW report 13/07/1978). The church was extensively rebuilt in the 16th-century when it was re-roofed in timber but by the 17th century it had been considered ruinous (Ball 1906, 82-3). The W gable has two tall buttresses (H c. 6.5m) supporting a segmental arch (H c. 6m) which appear to be a later addition that may have supported a bellcote. The church (int. dims. 26.5m E-W x 5.8m N-S; wall T 0.73-0.9m) is entered through opposed doorways at the W end of the N and S walls, now missing their stone surrounds and now visible as large broken out gaps. The interior of the church is lit by an unglazed twin light, cusped-trefoil headed window with sunken spandrels in the centre of the S wall which Henry A. Wheeler dated to c. 1400 (SMR File 17/06/1976). This fine window is set into a round-headed emrbasure. Above this window has been placed the spandrel of a second twin light window, the original location of which is unknown. There is a narrow slit ope with rough transom set into a deep embrasure in the W gable. There is a plain square-shaped ope of a late date appears to the S of the buttress at first floor level. Two putlog holes visible near W end of n wall may have supported a timber floor or wooden staircase. The E end of the church survives to foundation level only. The E end of the church may have been lit by window located off centre to E in the S wall, now visible as a broken out gap in the wall. Patch of herringbone masonry visible on the internal face, at E end of N wall of the church. Esker Church ruins was described by Ní Mharcaigh (1997, 267-8) as follows; 'The church is situated within a graveyard on a raised site near a housing estate. Conservation work included extensive repointing of the stonework and reduction of the eastern end of the two side walls and of the east wall to neat flat-topped foundations of 0.5m high for about half of their lengths. There is no apparent division between nave and chancel but broken areas opposing each other in the stonework of the two side walls indicate the position of a chancel arch. The west wall stands to a height of c. 7m. In the centre is a long, narrow slit window c. 2.5m from the ground, with splayed top and sides on the inside and a straight sill under a segmental arch. The window is divided horizontally at about one-third of its length from the top. On the outside, the west wall is buttressed on each side of the central window and the buttresses join to form an arch projecting over the window. In the west wall on the south side of the southernmost buttress is a plain opening 0.5m2 at a slightly lower level than the centre window. A ledge above the window is indicative of a loft. The south and north walls stand to a height of 2m for half of their length and to 0.5m for the remainder. In the south wall is an opening of 2m wide, which may have been an entrance. Between the west wall and the opening, the line of the wall stones at the top of the remaining wall may indicate the site of a window. In the north wall a gap 3m wide, almost opposite that in the south wall, may be the site of another entrance. In the south wall there are two windows. The first is a two-light window, each light having a cusped trefoil head under a slightly ogee arch with flat border and a concave spandrel in each corner. Two wide undecorated, stones, chamfered, frame the sides of the window, which has a straight, slightly projecting sill. The centre mullion is in two parts of different sections and has been reconstructed. The window, which is splayed on the inside, was in the chancel. Over the two-light window in the south wall, a piece of worked stone with concave spandrels, similar to those of the window, has been placed upside down. Neither this nor the central mullion appears in the picture in Ball (1906, 82). It is evidently part of another window and was placed there during conservation work. The second window, further east in the south wall, is a narrow round-headed one without moulding. It is splayed inside under a segmental arch. At the west end of the north wall are two square putlog holes (c. 20cm) at different levels. There is a section of herringbone stonework at the east end of the north wall. Ball (1906, 82-3) refers to the west wall as the belfry gable but there is no sign of a bellcote now. He also quotes documentary evidence for a wooden (Berry 1905, 328-9). The two-light window in the south wall is of fifteenth-century date. The other two windows are not sufficiently distinctive to permit close dating. A fifteenth-century date for the church is suggested'. See attached Rocque's 1760 map of Dublin County showing Esker Church Ruins See attached colour photograph of the external face of the west gable of Esker Church taken by Patrick Healy https://hdl.handle.net/10599/8016 © South Dublin Libraries Images. See attached plan of church taken from Ní Mharcaigh 1997, Fig. 6 Berry, H. F. 1905 The Dublin Gild of Carpenters, Millers, Masons and Heliers in the sixteenth century. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 35, 321-7. Compiled by: Geraldine Stout Revised by: Caimin O'Brien Date of revised upload: 10 May 2023