Religious house — Dominican friars in Unknown Townland

Part of the Four Courts occupies the site of the Chapel of St. Saviour which was given to the Dominicans in 1224 (Clarke 1978, H7). It was located on the E side of the N end of the medieval bridge across the Liffey (L 36m, Wth 34.2m) (De Courcy 1996, 347). Its precinct extended to Church Street, Chancery Place, and from Chancery Street to the river. The Friary Church was opened in 1238 (Gwynn and Hadcock 1970, 224). In 1285 the King granted 30 oaks for the fabric of the church (Bradley & King 1988, 145-146). In 1304 a fire in Oxmanstown burned down much of the priory, which was later re-built. Shortly afterwards Eustace le Poer laid the foundation stone of a new Dominican church and John le Decer, the mayor (provost), was a great benefactor in 1308 (Gwynn and Hadcock 1970, 225). According to Gwynn and Hadcock (1970, 225); 'When the Citizens of Dublin thought that Edward Bruce was about to occupy the city in 1315 (1316) they pulled down parts of the friary, which lay beyond the river and outside the city walls [DU018-020001-], in case he should occupy it, and they used the stones to strengthen the walls, St. Audoen's Arch and Wine-Tavern Gate; after Bruce had turned aside from Dublin, Edward I ordered the citizens to restore the friary'. Kenwrick Sherman, mayor before 1349, built the east window of the church and the bell-tower, below which he was buried in 1351; the steeple was blown down in a gale ten years later. In 1380 there appear to have been at least 29 friars. The church was consecrated in 1402 and in 1428 a bridge, called "the Old Bridge' [DU018-020042-], was completed to connect the friary with its schools of St. Thomas Aquinas on the other side of the river, where philosophy and divinity were taught. In 1459 parliament granted an annual payment of £10 for repairs. According to Kenny (1986, 108) in 1520 the 'Convent hall' of the Dominicans had been one of the locations to which the courts were then temporarily removed from Dublin Castle (DU018-020488-). Patrick Hay, the prior, surrendered the friary 8th July 1539. On 12th March 1541 the extent into the dissolved 'House of Friars Preachers near the city of Dublin' recorded that; 'The priory church can be thrown down; the value of the timber, glass, iron and stones is not known. The other buildings on the site etc. with a cemetery and other accomodations cont[ains]. 3 acr[es]., and are worth nothing above repairs' (White 1943, 53). The priory church could be pulled down and the materials sold, and that other buildings on the site of 3 acres were worth nothing above repairs; the possessions included c. 93 acres, two messuages, 21 tenements or cottages, etc., val. £12 17s. 10d., excluding two tenements then waste (Gwynn and Hadcock 1970, 225). In 1542 the priory was granted, with the friaries of Trim and Skreen, to Sir Thomas Cusack, 8s. 5d. after payment of a lump sum. In 1578 the priory, church and site of 3 acres were granted to the Earl of Ormond. In 1582 Queen Elizabeth ordered her lord deputy to 'remove the Courts to the Inns, called the King's Inns in Dublin, which place was formerly a monastery belonging to the Dominican's' (Kenny 1986, 108). In 1609 the Black Book of the King's Inns recorded that the Court of Chancery had been lately kept in the Fryars Hall, the Exchequer in the Dortor (Dormitory), the Common Pleas in the North end of the Dortor and the King's Bench in a place that was 'sometimes Sir Robert Dillon's Chamber' (Kenny 1986, 111). In 1758 the Rolls Office at the King's Inns was 'vulgarly called the Cloysters' (Kenny 1986, 115) which may suggest that the King's Inns was built on the cloister of the 13th century Dominican Priory. The present Four Courts designed by Cooley and Gandon opened in 1796 and was completed in 1802. Kenny (1986, 107) stated that the 'new courts [Four Courts] were constructed on part of the site of the old King's Inns, where earlier had grown the gardens and orchard of a dissolved Dominican friary known as Blackfriars'. A narrow tall rectangular building (No. 3) aligned on a N-S axis with S gable facing the quays is annotated 'The Innes' on Speeds map of Dublin, 1610, where it is shown standing in the W quadrant of a battlemented walled enclosure/gardens of St Saviour's Dominican Priory (DU018-020050-) (Speed 1611-12; https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/PR-ATLAS-00002-00061-00001/38). On the map this building appears to have formed the E line of a rectangular walled bawn or courtyard (possible cloister of Dominican Priory) the W side of which is formed by a row of houses facing onto Church St. with 'The Bridge' (no. 5) crossing the Liffey immediately to the S. Excavations revealed 13th-14th stone fragments (McMahon 1988, 307-8; Clarke 2002, 19, B8). See attached Speed's Map of Dublin 1610 which shows the King's Inns Number 3 that was built on the site of the Dominican Friary Compiled by : Geraldine Stout Revised by: Caimin O'Brien Date of revised upload: 22 November 2022