Church in Unknown Townland

The present de-consecrated 19th century Church of Ireland St Andrew's Church and graveyard was built on the site of the 17th-century St. Andrew's Church and graveyard and partially on the 'Site of' the 'Nunnery of St. Mary de Hogges' (DU018-020047-) as annotated on the OSi 25-inch map and on the 1892 OSi City of Dublin: sheet 57. According to Gilbert (1854-9, vol. 3, 305-09) the church was built on an 'old bowling green. He wrote that; ' In April, 1670, the parish resolved that the new church, after an oval model by William Dodson, should be erected on "the old bowling-green" given to them by Henry Jones, Bishop of Meath; the expense of the building being defrayed by subscriptions and parochial assessments. The first register of this parish commences on 3rd of March, 1670, and the vestry accounts in 1671 contain the following entries:-"To entertain the Lord Mayor, 14s.; to the Lord Mayor, the city rent of the churchyard, in lieu of a couple of capons, 5s." Among the holders of seats in the church, in 1674, were the Countess of Clancarty, Sir John Temple, Sir Maurice Eustace, Henry Aston, John Rogerson, and Sir Alexander Bence. Travers contributed twelve pounds per annum to the establishment of a parochial school in 1709, and erected an alms-house for poor widows. In 1745 St. Andrew's parish petitioned Parliament, stating the church to be in so ruinous a condition that an expenditure of £1000 was absolutely necessary to roof it newly; that the generality of the parishioners were unable to pay their proportions of so large a sum, and praying the House of Commons to take their case into favourable considerations, as its Members resorted to this church on all public occasions. On this petition, the Parliament of Ireland granted the parish £500 towards the repairs of the church. Isaac Mann, appointed Vicar of St. Andrew's in 1750, was succeeded in 1757 by Henry Browne; and in 1763 the parish presented a petition to Parliament, setting forth that the church was in a ruinous and dangerous condition, requiring immediate and large repairs; that the church-yard was much too small for the interment of the dead; that the watch-house was most inconveniently placed, obstructing the passage to the Parliament House, and intercepting the view of the College; that rents were so extremely high, this parish being the principal seat of trade in the city, the minister was under great difficulty to provide himself a house convenient for the discharge of his parochial duties. In 1784 the Hon. John Hewitt was presented to the rectory of St. Andrew's; and the church having become ruinous, the parish, in May, 1793, appointed a Committee to carry its repairs into execution. The original foundation was so well built, that it was found unnecessary to take down the walls below the level of the windows, and for the new church, the parish selected the plans of Mr. John Hartwell, to whom they awarded the prize of twenty guineas which they had offered. The Parliament of Ireland granted £500 in 1796, and £1000 in 1799, to enable the parish to complete the repair of the church, and to make proper accommodation in it for the reception of the Members of the House of Commons and their Speaker, when they should attend divine worship there. In 1800 Hartwell resigned his connexion with the building, the completion of which was then committed to Francis Johnston, who designed the front opposite to Church-lane, and devised the plans for the arrangements of the pews and galleries, which, with all the interior work, were executed by James Lever, of the North Strand, a contractor of eminence, and father of our Irish novelist. The Imperial Parliament, in 1805, granted £6000 to be applied towards completing the building of St. Andrew's Church, and the erection of a steeple and spire, the first stone of which was laid in April of the same year'. St. Andrew's Church was referred to in old documents as 'Parochia Sancti Andrea de Thengmothe' (DU018-020132-) which was located across the road to the N of the church. St Andrew's Church on the junction of St Andrew Street and Suffolk Street was described by Wheeler and Craig (1948, 9-10) as follows; 'The parish was founded probably in the the XIth century. The original [medieval] church [DU018-020071-] occupied the site of the present Munster and Leinster Bank in Dame Street, lying therefore just without the walls [DU018-020001-]. At the Reformation the parish was united to St. Werburgh's, and the [medieval] church used as a mint and as a vice-regal stable. Laud attempted to rescue it, but it was not till 1665 that the parish was re-created by Act of Parliament. The church [on Suffolk St.] was built 1670-74: it was 'round' (elliptical) in form, and the architect was William Dodson. A drawing which still exists, was made by Francis Place. It stood almost on the site of the present church, near the Danish Thingmote or assembly mound [DU018-020132-], which was not levelled till 1685. In 1690 it was for a time used as a prison. Dodson was a dishonest contractor, and by 1750 the building was already decaying. Since early in the XVIIIth century it had enjoyed a special position as the parish church of Parliament. Much public money was therefore spent on the rebuilding which began in 1793 and ended with the re-opening in 1807. During this time the congregation was accommodated in the Friends' Meeting House. The church was rebuilt on the old walls, from sill-level upwards, by John Hartwell and (after 1800) by Francis Johnston, who designed the front to Church Lane, and also the gothic tower which (as usual in Dublin) never finished. The ellipse measured 80 ft. [24m] x 60 ft. [18m], and was 43 ft. [13m] in height. Over the porch stood the statue of St Andrew, the only statue on any Protestant church in Dublin. It was the work of Edward Smyth and still stands beside the present W door. It has suffered much from the weather and from having been used for target-practice by a noted duellist. Internally the church was decorated in the Egyptian style. It was regarded as too well-lit, and oiled-silk blinds adorned with transparencies on scriptural subjects were hung over the windows. At the Union the church inherited the great carved wooden candelabra from the House of Commons. This was removed to the Examination Hall of Trinity College in 1852 - fortunately, because on January 8th, 1860, the church was destroyed by an accidental fire. Though the tower escaped destruction, it was immediately pulled down, and the present church, designed by Lanyon, Lynn and Lanyon of Belfast, was built a few yards to the South of the old site, and opened in 1866. It has no features in common with the historic building which it succeeded, but possesses one of the finest broach spires in Ireland. The new design was the result of a competition, in which Lanyon and Lynn won the first two places, Raffles Brown the third, Deane and Woodward the fourth, and Thomas Turner the fifth. Esther Vanhomrigh (Swift's Vanessa) is buried here, but the site of her grave is unmarked'. In recent times it was converted into a tourist information office for Fáilte Ireland, and then a new redevelopment of the building converting it into a licensed food hall. The present church building was described by the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage (NIAH) as a; 'Freestanding cruciform-plan gable-fronted Gothic Revival Church of Ireland church, built 1861-6, now disused. Building has four-bay nave with side aisles, latter with clerestories, gabled porch to west front, two-bay chancel with half-octagonal-plan apse, cloistered porch to north elevation of north side aisle with pointed archways, octagonal-plan tourelle at re-entrant corner of north transept and north side aisle, similar tourelle to southeast corner of tower, lean-to link between south transept and south side aisle, lean-to vestry to chancel side of south transept, and four-stage tower to north side of chancel, with lean-to link to