Church in Unknown Townland

The medieval parish church of St. Michael le Pole, stood in a churchyard SW of Dublin Castle between Great Ship Street and Chancery Lane. The earliest reference occurs in a letter of Pope Alexander III confirming the possessions of Christchurch c.1179 (McNeill 1950, 7, 29). According to Smith (1857, 1) the church name; ' "Le Pole" or "Le Poole" originated from the church being near the pool, or mill-pond, from which the Castle Mills were worked; or, possibly there was some reference to the name of the "Polls" "Poddle" or "Polebell” River, which ran along the city wall, and from which the millpond was supplied'. On Speed's 1610 map of Dublin City the watermill (DU018-020097-), millpond and millrace can be seen to the N of the church of St Michael le Pole where it runs parallel to the external face of Dublin City Wall. The watermill stood just outside the city wall and the to the S of St. Werburgh's Church and E of the City Gate called 'Pole Gate' (DU018-020021-) which is labelled no. 39 on Speed's 1610 Map of Dublin City. A lease made by the city in 1657, relating to a piece of ground adjoining the city walls, at the end of Ship street, near the mill-pond, there where the water-course runneth; and amongst the covenants of the lease is one : "that the Lessee do leave 'and permit the slip leading into the river, or water-course, then being three yards broad, to be in the place where now it is, "and that it shall not be stopped up at any time during the continuance of the lease' (ibid.). the name "St. Michael's, of Pols," or "de Paludibus," (on the original drawing made in 1751); and to that of the city gate near it, which was called the "Poule gate" and the passage leading to it, which was called "the Poule mill street" (ibid.). Church described by Wheeler and Craig (1948, 28-9) as follows; 'St Michael's "de plaude" (of the pool or marsh) was one of the most ancient parishes in Dublin, possibly more ancient than any of those which lay within the walls. The church having a Round Tower, must have been a celtic foundation. The last mention of the parish as a separate entity occurs in 1634. In 1682 St Michael-le-Pole's and St Stephen's were formally united with St Bride's, during the incumbency of Nathaniel Foy, afterwards Bishop of Waterford. In 1706 the "disused and ruinous'" church was granted to Dr John Jones for use as a Latin school. Dr Jones was at the same time ordered to preserve the Round Tower. In 1787 the building became St Bride's Almhouse. It was apparently not rebuilt till after 1884. The site is now occupied by a red-brick building of 1900 which was until recently St Bride's Protestant National Schools'. Excavations in 1980 uncovered foundations of a 12th century church and integrated round tower type belfry. There comprised the W gable (L 7.2m, Wth 0.9m) and foundation courses of adjoining parts of the N and S walls (Gowen & Campbell 1989-90, 74, Bradley and King 1987, 2, 120-121). The site was used for burial prior to construction. Finds included a jet bracelet, glass bead droplet and Medieval and Post Medieval ceramics. The round tower belfry associated with the medieval church of St. Michael Le Pole, survived until the 18th-century. It had been repaired by the Dean and Chapter of St. Pole in 1738, but was damaged by a storm in 1778 (Barrow 1979, 80-90) and demolished in 1781. Two drawings by Beranger from 1766 and 1776 shows the tower rising through the W end of the roof of a school built on the site. There are foundations extant below ground level in 2002 (Campbell and Gowen 1989-90, 74; Bradley and King 1987, 2, 121-22; Gowen 2002, 13-52; Clarke 2002, 17). The results of the excavations carried out by Kieran Campbell and Margaret Gowen in 1980 were summarised as follows; 'Excavations by the Dublin Archaeological Research Team on behalf of Dodder Properties (Holdings) Ltd. took place over a nine-week period on a large site hounded by Ship Street Great, Ship Street Little, Bride Street, Chancery Lane and Golden Lane. Of the nine cuttings excavated five were concentrated on the site of the church of St. Michael le Pole, where three broad phases were recognised: 1. Pre-12th-century activity represented by postholes, pits, gullies, a lintel grave and other burials. 2. A 12th-century stone church and probable foundations of Round Tower belfry [DU018-020083-]. The west gable of the church. 7.2m long and 0.9m wide, and foundation courses of adjoining parts of the north and south walls were uncovered. 3. Post-1682 reuse of the church as a schoolhouse (1706) and almshouse (1787), and eventual replacement by schoolhouse of 1900. Deposits of medieval and post-medieval date were found in cuttings on the margins of the site towards Bride Street, Ship Street Great and Golden Lane' (1980-84:0099 - St. Michael le Pole, Ship Street, Dublin; www.excavations.ie). See attached watercolour of Round Tower with Schoolhouse and graveyard in the foreground built on site of medieval church by Gabriel Beranger dated 1766. View of the Round Tower of St Michael le Pole beside the schoolhouse, which was built on the site of an earlier church on the condition that the tower was not to be pulled down. The tower was demolished after a storm in 1775. Courtesy and copyright of the National Library of Ireland (https://catalogue.nli.ie/Record/vtls000053498) NLI PD 1958 TX 5, National library of Ireland, The Old Tower of Michael of Pole, Dublin. A Collection of Drawings of the Principal, Antique Buildings of Ireland. See attached Speed's 1610 Map of Dublin showing the church and tower of St Michael le Pole above No. 22 See attached datestone over the schoolhouse doorway which was converted into an almshouse. Smith, J.H. 1857 The Church and Round Tower of St. Michael Le Pole. Dublin. Compiled by: Geraldine Stout Revised by: Caimin O'Brien Date of revised upload: 5 July 2023