City Quay Church in Dublin looks forlorn among the new tower blocks and offices on the banks of the River Liffey

City Quay Church, or the ‘Dockers’ Church’ on the south bank of the River Liffey in Dublin, overshadowed by 21st century office developments (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Patrick Comerford

In my coach journeys to and from Dublin Airport along the quays in recent days, I realised how often I have passed City Quay or the ‘Dockers’ Church’ on the south quays, but I have never visited it.

City Quay Church, or the Church of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, on City Quay, Dublin, is a small Catholic church perched on the waterfront on the south bank of the River Liffey. When it was built it was opened in 1863, primarily to minister to the dock workers and merchants who lived in the area, and to the sailors passing through the port. But today it is dwarfed by the rising office blocks that symbolised the regeneration and transformation of Dublin’s quays.

City Quay Church was built in 1861-1863 as a chapel of ease to Saint Andrew’s Church, Westland Row, on the initiative of Father Joseph Christopher McCann (1807-1867), and City Quay Church became a parish church in its own right in 1908.

The church was designed by John Bourke, who worked on several churches, convents, schools and hospitals throughout Ireland. He was awarded first premium by Dublin Corporation for his design for Dublin baths and wash houses in 1847, and was one of the earliest members of the Dublin Mechanics’ Institute.

His other works include the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Chapelizod, the tower and spire at Saint Peter’s Church, Phibsborough, the completion of Saint Mel’s Cathedral, Longford, and the Mater Hospital in Eccles Street, Dublin.

Bourke lived at 27 South Richmond Street, Portobello (1845-1854) and 13 Lower Charlemont Street (1855-1871). He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland (FRIAI) in 1863. He died suddenly on 10 November 1871 in Dr Hayden’s consulting room in Harcourt Street, having gone there feeling unwell. He was buried at Glasnevin cemetery on 14 November 1871. His obituary in the Irish Builder praised his ‘unswerving integrity’ and said he ‘was justice personified between contractor and client.’

The belltower and spire at City Quay Church were added in 1888-1890 to a design by the Dublin-born architect John Loftus Robinson (1848-1894). His father John Joseph Robinson (1819-1895) owned a tailoring and drapery business at 13 College Green in the 1850s; he later lived in Booterstown and was a member of Blackrock Town Commissioners.

John Loftus Robinson received his architectural training in the office of Edward Henry Carson. From an early stage, he was interested in sketching and drawing mediaeval English and Irish architecture, and many of his drawings were published in The Architect.

Robinson had his own office by 1872 at 198 Great Brunswick Street, where he continued to practise until he died in 1894. His commissions were mainly for Catholic churches and religious houses in the Dublin area, although he did some commercial and domestic work.

Robinson played an active part in public life and represented Trinity Ward on Dublin City Council. An ‘ardent Parnellite,’ he was an active member of the National Liberal Club in London and was secretary to the Nationalist Party on Dublin Corporation. He also chaired Kingstown Township Commissioners for many years, and as chair was largely responsible for the creation of the People’s Park in Dun Laoghaire.

Robinson was a member of the Architectural Association of Ireland, and honorary secretary (1873-1875), a Fellow of the Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland (FRIAI), a member of the Royal Hibernian Academy (RHA), and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland (FRSAI). He died of typhoid fever on 12 October 1894. His funeral in Glasnevin Cemetery was attended by Archbishop Walsh, the Lord Mayor of Dublin, several MPs, and members of Dublin Corporation, the Royal Hibernian Academy, and ‘nearly every leading architect in Dublin.’ His son, John Joseph Robinson, was also an architect.

The Church of the Immaculate Heart of Mary was first built as a chapel of ease for Saint Andrew’s Church, Westland Row. The foundation stone was laid on 25 September 1861 by Archbishop Paul Cullen, later Cardinal Cullen. church was completed in a short time and was blessed by Archbishop Cullen on 20 September 1863. Robinson’s bell tower and spire were added in 1888-1890, and the three-storey presbytery, designed by Lucius O’Callaghan and James Henry Webb, was built in 1914-1915.

City Quay Church became a parish church in 1908. It was known as the ‘Dockers’ Church’, catering for the seamen and dockers working on City Quay, and for over 160 years, the church has been a central hub in Dublin’s docklands, a haven in the community it has served for six generations.

The church’s neo-Gothic style was typical of Catholic church design in the late 19th century. With the adjoining presbytery and gate screen, it forms part of an interesting group of church-related structures.

City Quay Church is a freestanding gable-fronted double-height church, built in 1863. It has a 10-bay nave with a square-plan three-stage bell tower west of the entrance or front elevation. There is a pitched slate roof with carved limestone cross finials. The cut limestone wall at the entrance front has a shallow projecting central breakfront with shouldered buttresses.

There are pointed arch windows, a trefoilated five-light window with trefoil tracery, trefoilated lancet windows with carved tracery, stained glass windows, a projecting pedimented porch, a pointed arch doorcase, timber battened doors, carved tracery, statue niches, a decorative mosaic in the tympanum, carved timber confessionals and timber painted Stations of the Cross, carved timber pews, a timber altar and lectern, a carved white marble altar rail, a reredos, side altars, and a gallery with an organ.

A Calvary scene inside reputedly made by William Pearse adds artistic interest, as does a mosaic that may have been designed by Arthur Gibney.

In the mid-1950s, the parish had a population of 30,000, but within a decade that figure had fallen to just 2,5000 residents, as the majority of residents were moved under protest to newly built suburbs on the north and south sides of the Liffey into houses built by Dublin Corporation.

In recent years, office blocks and apartments have reached heights far greater than the church spire that once dominated the skyline along the south quays. Above and behind the church, glass buildings symbolise the property developments and economic changes in Dublin 2.

Towering above the church on its east side, No 13-18 City Quay is a nine-storey office block designed by Henry J Lyons & Partners in 2018 on a site bounded by City Quay, Prince’s Street South and Gloucester Street, with 13,5000 sq metres of commercial office space. The façade is primarily factory-fabricated curtain walling panels with floor-to-ceiling glazing front by a series of deep bronze anodised aluminium extruded fin profiles. It is now the headquarters of Grant Thornton.

Many office workers in the surrounding buildings have moved into the area and now use the church as a space to reflect and pray, meaning City Quay Church has become unique among Dublin inner city churches with its growing numbers.

Ten years ago, people in the community objected to developments in the area in 2016, and parishioners objected to disturbances, infringement and an eight-storey building blocking natural light in the church and the adjoining school. A settlement was reached with the developer TIO in 2018 on paying €3.5 million for some work. The first phase of the project, involving the restoration of the courtyard in front of the church was completed in 2019.

City Quay National School beside the church was upgraded at a cost of €1 million and €2 million was available for work on the interior of the Church. But the work has yet ti start, an inside, I understand, the church is in a poor state. Plaster is falling off the walls, it is damp-ridden, it needs rewiring and the sacristy is in an unfortunate state.

• City Quay is one of four mensal parishes in Dublin where the Archbishop of Dublin is the parish priest, and Archbishop Dermot Farrell has been in this role since February 2021. The priests assigned to these parishes are the administrators, and Father Alan Hilliard is the administrator of City Quay Parish. Sunday Masses are at 6 pm (Saturday vigil mass) and 11:30 am.

The Church of the Immaculate Heart of Mary on City Quay, Dublin, was designed by John Bourke and the belfry was added by John Loftus Robinson (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Five photographs of Dublin are included in a new pocket guide for visitors and tourists

The new 100-page ‘Dublin Visitor Guide 2025-2026’, edited by Sally Davies, includes five of my photographs

Patrick Comerford

I was back in Dublin last week for a family visit, and naturally there was a rush of memories even in the short gap of five of six hours, between arriving in the airport and leaving for the airport once again.

I visited the house in Knocklyon where I lived for over 20 years from 1996 to 2017, and Christ Church Cathedral, where I had been a canon for 10 years. But I also saw schools and I had attended, childhood and family homes, the church where I had been confirmed, streets I had played on, suburbs where I spent some of my childhood and teenage years, places where I had worked, and bookshops I once frequently browsed in.

It is not a good idea to have fly-in/fly-out-again to places you have once lived in, and not to have time to meet family members, friends and former colleagues and neighbours. I need time to amble around, to stop and talk, to sit and sip coffee, to stroll through old haunts.

When I moved back to Dublin in my mid-20s, from the Wexford People to The Irish Times, I felt out of place, and it took many years to adjust to life there. I left this time with memories and a small degree of feeling out of place, but also the hope of being back again in the weeks or months ahead, for family visits and perhaps the possibility of a reunion of the 1969 year from Gormanston.

But I left too with the pleasure of knowing that five of my photographs have been used by Sally Davies in her new slimline 100-page Dublin Visitor Guide 2025-2026, which she has edited for Smarttraveller.

Three of these photographs were taken last year, and my photographs in this new guide include churches, street art and photographs of the Portobello and ‘Little Jerusalem’ area of Dublin.

Last year, she used nine of my photographs in her Co. Clare Visitor Guide and one photograph in her County Kerry Visitor Guide, both also published by Smarttraveller365.

The Dublin Visitor Guide 2025-2026is a 100-page publication produced as a comprehensive directory for tourists. It features travel ideas, local business listings and discount coupons and covers a wide range of visitor essentials, including where to eat and stay, directories of restaurants, pubs, and accommodation, and highlights of major historical landmarks, museums and hidden gems, as well as special deals, exclusive offers and service discounts.

In her introduction, Sally Davies says ‘we have a deep passion for Ireland and have crafted this guide to share the hidden gems and unforgettable experiences to be had in the city’.

Saint Bartholomew’s Church, Ballsbridge (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

My photograph of Saint Bartholomew’s Church, Ballsbridge (p 24), has this accompanying text:

Close to the US Embassy, and Herbert Park, is St Bartholomew’s Church, designed by Thomas Henry Wyatt, built in the Gothic revival style with sandstone facings and Dublin granite. The stairway to the clock tower is in the shape of an Irish round tower, the influence of the Celtic Romantic period. It is also known for its fine music and the choir of boys and men is the only remaining all-male parish church choir in the Church of Ireland. Formed in 2003, the girls choir also plays a prominent role.

Saint Ann’s Church, Dawson Street, Dublin, seen from Grafton Street and Ann Street (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

My photograph of Anne Street (p 30) has this accompanying text:

Home to John Brereton Jewellers, which has five star reviews for their excellent customer service and help with choosing from their unique pieces of diamond jewellery. The street has pharmacies, several cafés one of which is Dolce Sicily, serving showstopping delights from poached cod with orange and fennel salad to pistachio tiramisu, delicious!

Sheridan’s Cheesemongers, which is a rustic shop selling a huge array of cheeses, and accompaniments, who teamed up with the Centre of Food Culture and Samhain Festival to create a mouthwatering festival every November. The imposing St Ann’s Church faces you, known for its concerts, recitals and stained glass windows.

Sir David Attenborough in street art on the corner of Longwood Avenue and the South Circular Road in ‘Little Jerusalem’ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Three of photographs from the Portobello, ‘Little Jerusalem and Rathmines areas (pp 44-45) are published with these paragraphs:

Portobello, meaning “beautiful harbour” in Irish, came to be in the 18th century.

So folks say …

In 1861 there was a terrible tragedy on Portobello Bridge. Horses pulling a horse-drawn bus reared up and broke through the bridge railings and plunged the bus down into the canal lock. All but the driver and conductor drowned. One was the father of the Gunne brothers who opened the Gaiety Theatre and one was the niece of Daniel O’Connell. It is said this was the work of the vindictive ghost of the lock keeper, who himself drowned after being sacked for drunkenness. All passengers had to alight before crossing the bridge and walk over after the incident.

In the 1800s, the land round Portobello was part of the Kingsland estate with parkland and fountains before the developers built housing on it, and many entertainers performed there. One of which was Charles Blondin -who had previously crossed the Niagara Falls on a tightrope and cooked omelettes on a stove on the tightrope, which he distributed to lookers-on. His performance in Dublin though, ended in disaster, when his tightrope broke, leading to the scaffolding collapsing which killed two workers, who fell.

In 1858, the Portobello Gardens was leased and while a band played, acrobats entertained and fireworks were set off.

In the mid 1900s, Ever-Ready Batteries was the main employer for the area at Portobello Harbour. When the factory closed, small businesses took over the area and the remainder of the harbour was drained and mainly filled in.

During the late 1900s, many Ashkenazi Jews, fleeing Russia and Eastern Europe settled in Portobello, which was given the nickname “Little Jerusalem”.

The area is vibrant with many walls covered in street art, this one of David Attenborough.

Or this on the side of a Chinese restaurant.

A mural on the side of a Chinese restaurant in Rathmines on the corner of Lower Rathmines and Richmond Hill (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

You must visit the fabulous Bretzel Bakery, who strongly believe in the nutritional goodness of sourdough bread.

The Bretzel Bakery & Cafe serves award winning breads, pastries, cakes, sandwiches & coffee until 4pm every day of the week on Lennox Street, Portobello.

Along the western edge of Portobello, you will find cafés and bars along Clanbrassil Street Lower and dozens on the eastern side at St Kevins Camden Street Lower and Harcourt Street.

The Bretzel on Lennox Street has survived the many social changes in ‘Little Jerusalem’ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

In her acknowledgements towards the end of the guide (p 94), Sally Davies is generous in her tribute to me when she writes:

‘Thank you for your continuing support with your incredible knowledge (of the world!) and help in allowing me to use your photos Patrick Comerford’

She also provides a link to this blog: www.patrickcomerford.com

I hope she produces more of these guides to other parts of Ireland.

Saying goodbye to Dublin at Dublin Airport last week (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Arthur Fields, ‘The Man on the Bridge’, is a bridge between Dublin and Kyev, and with Jewish refugees from Ukraine

The photographer Arthur Fields (1901-1994), known affectionately to generations of Dubliners as the ‘Man on the Bridge’

Patrick Comerford

Tuesday next marks the fourth anniversary of the Russia’s launch of a large-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, expanding its war against Ukraine and creating Europe’s largest refugee crisis since World War II.

Of course, the Russia-Ukraine War began eight years earlier, in February 2014, with Russia’s covert invasion and annexation of Crimea. The conflict escalated significantly with Russia’s full-scale invasion on 24 February 2022, which expanded the existing conflict in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region.

The life story of the photographer Arthur Fields (1901-1994), known affectionately to generations of Dubliners as the ‘Man on the Bridge’, provides a link between Ireland and Ukraine, a link between Dublin and Kyiv, and is a reminder of the sufferings of Jewish refugees who fled pogroms, antisemitism and oppression in the Russian Empire and of the positive contributions refugee families to countries that receive and welcome them.

Arthur Fields was born Abraham Feldman on 27 October 1901 in Dublin to Ukrainian Jewish parents Malka, also known as Molly or Mary (Sweed) and Simon Feldman, a draper, of 6 Raymond Street off the South Circular Road. He had four brothers: Oran, Jacob, David and Moses, and a sister who died in infancy.

Simon Feldman was originally from Kyiv, Ukraine, where his father had been a prosperous rabbi. Simon Feldman fled Ukraine with his wife and their two eldest sons, in 1891 or 1885, escaping the pogroms that spread across the Tsarist empire following the assassination of Tsar Alexander II of Russia. About two million Jews fled the Russian empire between 1881 and 1914, with around 3,500 arriving in Ireland, the majority settling in Dublin.

Feldman is family name found in a number of Jewish refugees who fled Ukraine at the time, and a number of Feldman families were living in Dublin by the end of the 19th and the early 20th century; the comedian Marty Feldman (1934-1982) was a son of Myer Feldman, an East End gown manufacturer who was a Ukrainian Jewish immigrant from Kyiv.

Simon Feldman left Kyiv in the middle of the night with his family in a horse-drawn carriage, taking whatever valuables they could manage. Like many of the new ‘foreign Jews’ who arrived in Dublin, they settled around the South Circular Road and Portobello area of Dublin, and lived at a number of addresses in the ‘Little Jerusalem’ area, including 20 Windsor Terrace (1897), 24 Saint Kevin’s Road (1899) and 6 Raymond Street (1901), when Arthur was born as Abraham Feldman on 27 October 1901.

The Feldman family later changed their name to Fields and the children took on English-sounding versions of their Hebrew-sounding names: Oran became Harry, Jacob became Jack, Moses became Morris, David remained David, and Abraham became Arthur, although continued to be known to his family as Abby.

Arthur Fields went to Saint Catherine’s School, Donore Avenue, and then to Wesley College on Saint Stephen’s Green, before going into the tailoring trade. As a young man, he visited his elder brother Jack who had a successful real estate business in the US and his brothers Harry, Morris and David in England.

For a time, he lived in Chalkwell in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, where he and his brother David Fields (1897-1956) bought a house. He met his wife-to-be, Doreen Cracknell (1917-1990) from the East End in London, at a dance in Southend in 1934. Doreen was 17 and Arthur was 33 when they married and moved to Dublin. They first lived Sandymount, but then lived for the rest of their married life at 602 Howth Road, Raheny. They were the parents of one daughter, Norma, and three sons, Bernard, Philip and David.

Doreen was an Anglican, and Arthur was largely non-observant as a Jew, but he retained a strong personal religious commitment and attended Adelaide Road Synagogue on high days and holy days.

Arhur Fields began working as a street photographer in the 1930s and worked on O’Connell Bridge for half a century

Arhur Fields left the tailoring business and moved into street photography in the 1930s. Alongside other street photographers jostling for customers, Arthur established his patch on O’Connell Bridge, but also worked on O’Connell Street, particularly at night to photograph young people visiting the street’s cafés, ballrooms and cinemas, at a time when the street was at the heart of bustling night life in Dublin

He would approach potential customers, take their photograph, ask whether they would like the picture, give them a ticket for a local studio, where they could pay for the photograph have it posted out to them. His wife Doreen developed the photographs – first in premises on Pearse Street, then in a darkroom at home – and posted the prints out to customers.

Arthur was a sturdy and committed man, and would walk from Raheny to the bridge each day and back home again, a 10-mile round trip. He was cautioned for peddling or selling with a licence on several occasions in the early days. But he persevered and was eventually tolerated by the gardai. He began using a Polaroid camera in the 1960s so he could give customers their photographs on the spot.

For almost half of his 50-year career on the bridge, Fields worked one side while his older brother David worked the other. The brothers shared a close bond, David lived with Arthur and his family in Raheny, and the two spoke Yiddish to each other at home. Their mother Molly died at Kilworth Road, Drimnagh, in 1940.

David died on 13 June 1956, leaving his younger brother bereft: Arthur had a breakdown and was given a course of electric shock treatment, before returning to work on the bridge. He travelled further afield at times, taking photographs in resorts like Bray, Co Wicklow, and Bundoran, Co Donegal, or at the Spring Show at the RDS, Ballsbridge, or at the Ploughing Championships.

The ‘Man on Bridge’ multimedia project was launched in 2014

Privately, Fields did not have good social skills, nor did he have close bonds with many other people outside his family circle, nor did he take part in family occasions or attend any of the weddings of his four children, choosing to work instead.

But, while Arthur Fields may have been just one among the many street photographers in Dublin in his day, he was the most prominent and had the lengthiest career. He finally left his pitch on O’Connell Bridge in 1988 at the age of 87. Doreen died two years later on 2 April 1990. He continued to live alone at home in Raheny with the help of his neighbours and family. He died of heart failure in Beaumont Hospital on 11 April 1994 at the age of 92. At his funeral and cremation in Glasnevin Cemetery, many people brought photographs he had taken to share with his family.

The Irish Times described him as ‘one of Dublin’s best known characters’, while the Evening Herald called him a ‘Dublin institution for thousands of people visiting the city’. Declan Kiberd wrote in the Irish Press: ‘Those who mourned the Man on the Bridge … may have been lamenting not just their lost youth, but the lost innocence of an era which Arthur Fields in a way symbolised.’

The legacy of Arthur Fields is his archive of city life in Dublin. During his 50-year career from the 1930s to the 1980s, it is estimated, he took at least 182,500 photographs. These photographs chart the many changes in the city, from fashions in clothing and changes in hairstyles to the disappearance of Nelson’s Pillar. The many celebrities he photographed on O’Connell Bridge or on O’Connell Street include Noel Purcell, Gene Tierney, Bing Crosby, Margaret Rutherford, Brendan Behan, Jack Doyle and George Harrison.

Fields never kept any negatives or copies of his images. His archives survive primarily in homes across Ireland. To bring some of these images together, the ‘Man on Bridge’ multimedia project was launched on the Late Late Show on RTÉ in 2014, asking people to submit their photographs. This resulted in a book of 250 images and an exhibition of 3,400 photographs at the Gallery of Photography in Dublin later that year.

RTÉ broadcast a documentary, Man on Bridge on 28 December 2014. A further book, Man on the Bridge: more photos by Arthur Fields, was published in 2017, when the archive had reached 6,000 photographs.

Shabbat Shalom, שבת שלום‎

Daily prayer in Christmas 2025-2026: 2, Friday 26 December 2025, Saint Stephen’s Day

Saint Stephen before the Council … a window by CE Kempe (1837-1907) in the south aisle in Lichfield Cathedral in memory of John Toke Godfrey-Faussett (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

On the second day of Christmas my true love sent to me … ‘two turtle doves, and a partridge in a pear tree’.

Christmas is not over; this is the second day of Christmas and today is Saint Stephen’s Day, the feast of Saint Stephen the deacon and first martyr. Before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, to reflect, to pray and to read in these ways:

1, today’s Gospel reading;

2, a short reflection;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.

An image of Saint Stephen in Saint Stephen Walbrook, London … on the site of a seventh century Saxon church (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Matthew 10: 17-22 (NRSVA):

[Jesus said:] 17 ‘Beware of them, for they will hand you over to councils and flog you in their synagogues; 18 and you will be dragged before governors and kings because of me, as a testimony to them and the Gentiles. 19 When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you at that time; 20 for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. 21 Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death; 22 and you will be hated by all because of my name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.’

On the second day of Christmas my true love sent to me … ‘two turtle doves, and a partridge in a pear tree’ … Christmas decorations at a house in Padbury, Buckinghamshire (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Today’s Reflections:

The Gospel reading in the lectionary for the Eucharist today tells us nothing about the martyrdom of Saint Stephen. Instead, the story of his martyrdom is found in one of today’s other readings (Acts 7: 51-60).

About 55 years ago, when I was training to be a chartered surveyor with Jones Lang Wootton and the College of Estate Management then part of Reading University, a file for an investment or development property in Dublin went missing one day. It was an important portfolio, and ought to have been filed under ‘S’ for ‘Saint Stephen’s Green.’

Eventually, the file was found under the letter ‘G’.

‘I filed it under G for Green,’ the person who did the filing explained.

But for many Dubliners, it is probably not Saint Stephen’s Green, but ‘Stevenses Green,’ as in ‘Dr Steevenses Hospital’ and ‘Stevenses Day.’

I find it hard to call today ‘Boxing Day.’ For me, 26 December is always going to be Saint Stephen’s Day.

Stephen is a family name: my grandfather, father, eldest brother and a nephew were all baptised Stephen – four successive generations with the name Stephen Comerford. But my reasons for insisting on retaining the name of Saint Stephen’s Day is not some quirky genealogical sentimentality or some misplaced filial loyalty.

It is theologically important to remind ourselves on the day after Christmas Day of the important link between the Incarnation and bearing witness to our Resurrection faith.

Saint Stephen’s Day today (26 December), Holy Innocents’ Day two days later (28 December), and the commemoration of Thomas à Beckett on 29 December are reminders that Christmas, far from being surrounded by sanitised images of the crib, angels and wise men, is followed by martyrdom and violence. Close on the joy of Christmas comes the cost of following Christ. A popular expression, derived from the leading 17th century Quaker William Penn, says: ‘No Cross, No Crown.’

Saint Stephen the Deacon is the Protomartyr of Christianity. The Greek word or name Στέφανος (Stephanos) means ‘crown’ or ‘wreath’ and the Acts of the Apostles tell us that Saint Stephen earned his crown at his martyrdom when he was stoned to death around the year 34 or 35 CE by an angry mob encouraged by Saul of Tarsus, the future Apostle Paul.

Stephen was the first of the seven deacons chosen in the Apostolic Church in Jerusalem. While he was on trial, Saint Stephen experienced a theophany: But filled with the Holy Spirit, he gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. ‘Look,’ he said, ‘I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!’ (Acts 7: 55-56).

The Lion’s Gate in the Old City of Jerusalem is also known as Saint Stephen’s Gate because of the tradition that Saint Stephen was stoned there. In 415 CE, a church was built in Saint Stephen’s honour in Jerusalem to hold his relics. The relics were later moved to Constantinople. Today, those relics are said to be buried under the altar of the Church of San Lorenzo fuori le Mura in Rome.

The ‘Feast of Stephen’ is inextricably linked with Christmas through the English carol Good King Wenceslas, although during my visits to Prague, I have been aware that the Czechs have a far better claim than the English to Good King Wenceslas.

Today is a public holiday in the United Kingdom as Boxing Day. But as Saint Stephen’s Day, today is still a public holiday in Ireland and many other countries, including Australia, Austria, Canada, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, Poland, Serbia, Slovakia, and parts of France, the Philippines and Spain. In the Orthodox Church, Saint Stephen’s Day is celebrated on 27 December, and is known as the ‘Third Day of the Nativity.’

Saint Stephen Walbrook, a Wren church in the heart of the City of London, has been listed by Sir Nikolaus Pevsner as one of the 10 most important buildings in England.

Saint Stephen’s Church in Mount Street Crescent, Dublin – popularly known as the ‘Pepper Canister Church’ – is one of the last churches built in the classical style in Dublin. Saint Stephen’s, which opened in 1824, was designed by John Bowden and Joseph Welland. The tower and portico were modelled on three elegant monuments in Athens: the Erechtheum on the Acropolis (the portico), the Tower of the Winds (the campanile), and the Monument of Lysicrates (the cupola). But the Victorian apse, which was added in 1852, owes its inspiration to the Oxford Movement.

However, the most impressive church I have visited that is named after the first martyr is the Stephansdom, the Cathedral of Saint Stephen, in Vienna, which dates back to 1147.

I first visited the Stephansdom many years ago, while I was a panellist at a seminar organised by the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna in 2002, and I have returned to visit the cathedral a number of times since then.

A memorial tablet there recalls Mozart’s relationship with the cathedral. This was his parish church when he lived at the ‘Figaro House’, he was married there and two of his children were baptised there. He was named an adjunct music director in the Stephansdom shortly before his death, and his funeral was held in the Chapel of the Cross in the cathedral in 1791.

The Stephansdom has 23 bells, and it is said Beethoven realised the full extent of his deafness when he saw birds flying from the bell tower and realised he could not hear the bells toll.

I have also visited Saint Stephen’s House, the theological college in Oxford popularly known as ‘Staggers,’ which is firmly rooted in the Anglo-Catholic tradition, maintaining high standards of liturgy and intellectual rigour.

Saint Stephen’s House was founded in 1876 by leading Anglo-Catholics members of the Anglo-Catholic Movement, including Edward King, then Regius professor of Pastoral Theology at Oxford and later Bishop of Lincoln.

King was one of the outstandingly holy men of his time. Other founding figures included Henry Scott Holland, one of the leading figures in the development of the Christian social teaching of the time. It was he who suggested the name of the house.

Saint Stephen’s has moved since its foundation, and since 1980 it has been located at Iffley Road in East Oxford in the former monastery of the Cowley Fathers, where it is said Dietrich Bonhoeffer decided to return to Germany where he met with martyrdom.

Bonhoeffer’s martyrdom illustrates how none of this architecture or grandeur, nor the extension to the Christmas holiday provided by this saint’s day, would have any meaning today without the faithful witness of Saint Stephen, the first deacon and first martyr, who links our faith in the Incarnation with our faith in the Resurrection.

A tranquil morning in Saint Stepehen’s Green, Dublin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Friday 26 December 2025, Saint Stephen’s Day):

The theme this week (21 to 27 December 2025) in Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘Love Brings Life in Tanzania’ (pp 12-13). This theme was introduced on Sunday with a Programme Update by Imran Englefield, Individual Giving Manager, USPG.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Friday 26 December 2025, Saint Stephen’s Day) invites us to pray:

Gracious God, we give thanks for the mothers and babies at Mvumi Hospital who are HIV-free. We celebrate this gift of life and health, and pray that you will continue to be present by your Spirit.

The Collect:

Gracious Father,
who gave the first martyr Stephen
grace to pray for those who took up stones against him:
grant that in all our sufferings for the truth
we may learn to love even our enemies
and to seek forgiveness for those who desire our hurt,
looking up to heaven to him who was crucified for us,
Jesus Christ, our mediator and advocate,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

Merciful Lord,
we thank you for the signs of your mercy
revealed in birth and death:
save us by the coming of your Son,
and give us joy in honouring Stephen,
first martyr of the new Israel;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s Reflections

Continued Tomorrow

The interior of the Stephansdom or Saint Stephen’s Cathedral, Vienna (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

How the Pro-Cathedral in Dublin became Saint Mary’s Cathedral 200 years after it was completed

Saint Mary’s Cathedral, Marlborough Street, Dublin, was the ‘pro-cathedral’ for 200 years until last month (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Patrick Comerford

During my visit to Dublin last week, I visited three churches in the north inner city: Saint Mary’s Cathedral, known for almost 200 years as the ‘Pro-Cathedral’, on Marlborough Street; Saint Francis Xavier Church, the Jesuit-run church popularly known as Gardiner Street Church, between Mountjoy Square and Dorset Street, which I wrote about on Wednesday (3 December 2025); and the former Welsh Church on Talbot Street, which I wrote about last night (6 December 2025).

Saint Mary’s Cathedral was known for 200 years as Saint Mary's Pro-Cathedral, until it was designated as the Roman Catholic cathedral for the Archdiocese of Dublin last month (November 2025).

Until 2025, Dublin had two cathedrals, both belonging to the Church of Ireland: Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, which is the National Cathedral of the Church of Ireland, and Christ Church Cathedral, which is the diocesan cathedral of Dublin and Glendalough. In contrast, the Roman Catholic Church had no cathedral in Dublin until last month (November 2025).

Last year, the Greek Orthodox church on Arbour Hill, the Church of the Annunciation, began serving as the cathedral of the new Holy Orthodox Metropolis of Ireland, established in 2024 under the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople and with the appointment of Metropolitan Iakovos. Then this year, the Romanian Orthodox Church upgraded the former Christ Church on Leeson Park as its cathedral in Dublin.

Inside Saint Mary’s Cathedral, Dublin, looking towards the liturgical east and the High Altar (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Pope Leo XIV granted cathedral status to Saint Mary’s last month (November 2025). Until then it was a ‘pro-cathedral’, meaning it was a provisional or acting cathedral. It had that title officially since 1886, although Saint Mary’s Church had used that designation unofficially since the 1820s.

Saint Mary’s Cathedral dates back to the repeal of the Penal Laws in the early 19th century. But for centuries, Roman Catholics in Dublin had been without a cathedral.

Many of the Penal Laws were cancelled by the late 18th century and early 19th century, and a number of early churches were built in the city centre, including Saint Francis Xavier Church, Gardiner Street (1829) and Saint Nicholas of Myra, Francis Street (1829-1834).

One of these ‘sprinkling pots’ or holy water fonts from Liffey Street Chapel can be seen in an outside wall of the cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Saint Mary’s name is a reminder of Saint Mary’s Abbey, the great Benedictine and later Cistercian house in Dublin founded in the 12th century. Saint Mary’s was closed in 1539 at the Dissolution of the monastic houses during the Tudor Reformations. Marlborough Street, named after the 1st Duke of Marlborough, was the furthest eastern boundary of the abbey lands that were broken up and built on.

A new Church of Ireland parish of Saint Mary’s was formed in 1697, and Archbishop Edmund Byrne, who was in hiding, formed the Roman Catholic Parish of Saint Mary 10 years later in 1707. Father John Linegar (1671-1757), who had been ordained in Lisbon in 1694, became the first pastor of the new Saint Mary’s parish, a parish without church or chapel. He opened Saint Mary’s Chapel on Liffey Street in 1729.

Although it was listed officially as ‘Liffey Street mass-house’, it was a fine chapel with an altar, pulpit, paintings, confessionals, two galleries, several pews and two ‘sprinkling pots of black marble in chapel yard.’ One of these ‘sprinkling pots’ or holy water fonts is now inserted in the wall of the cathedral.

John Linegar became Archbishop of Dublin in 1734, and died in office on 21 June 1757.

Peter Turnerelli’s recumbent figure of Archbishop Troy is modelled on Isaia da Pisa's tomb of Pope Eugene IV in San Salvatore in Lauro, Rome (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

When John Thomas Troy, a Dominican friar and Bishop of Ossory, was appointed Archbishop of Dublin in 1786, he petitioned Pope Pius VI to make Saint Mary’s his mensal parish, and he began to plan for a ‘dignified spacious church’ in a central location. Troy formed a committee that bought Annesley House, Lord Annesley’s Dublin townhouse on the corner of Marlborough Street and Elephant Lane (later Tyrone Place and now Cathedral Street), close to Sackville Street (now O’Connell Street) in 1803. The site was chosen as the location for a new cathedral, pending the erection, when funds and the law allowed.

Troy announced a public competition in 1814, inviting designs for the new church. Lord Annesley’s townhouse was demolished in June 1814. The new church, built between 1815 and 1825, combines a number of styles: the exterior is in Greek revival style, while the interior is more Renaissance in style, based on the Church of Saint-Philippe du Roule of Paris.

Some believe the architect, known on the plans only by the initial ‘P’, was John Sweetman from Dublin, who had been living in exile in Paris since the 1798 Rising. A more likely opinion is that, although Sweetman sent the plans to Dublin, the architect was the French architect Louis Hippolyte le Bas, whose Church of Notre Dame de Lorette in Paris closely resembles Sain Mary’s, and that his identiry was kept secret as le Bas was Napoleon’s architect and Britain was at war with France.

The portico of Saint Mary’s is a copy of the Temple of Theseus or Theseion in Athens (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The design of Saint Mary’s combines a variety of styles: the exterior is Greek revival at its best, the front portico is a copy of the Temple of Theseus or Theseion in Athens, and the fluted Doric columns rise without bases from the podium or floor of the church; the interior is more Roman in style than Grecian.

A major alteration was the addition of a dome. One objector declared that ‘artistically and practically the dome was a mistake; it is no help to the preacher and constitutes a serious and unhappy departure from the graceful lines and principles of Grecian art.’ Another critic described it as ‘a beautiful deformity’.

A flag was flown from the dome in August 1821 to show that the shell of the building was completed. But money was scare, morale was low and in a renewed fundraising drive, Archbishop Troy, at the age of 83, went collecting from house to house.

Archbishop Daniel Murray celebrated the completion of the ‘Metropolitan Chapel’ 200 years ago on 14 November 1825 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The committee passed a resolution that this ‘splendid edifice be considered a National or Metropolitan rather that a Parish Chapel’ and in March 1823 Pope Pius VII sent a gold chalice, commissioned ‘for the new Cathedral being built in Dublin’. Dr Troy died two months later, on 11 May 1823. He had been the driving force behind the project, and his funeral Mass was the first Mass in the unfinished building.

Archbishop Daniel Murray of Dublin celebrated the completion of the Roman Catholic Metropolitan Chapel, as it was then called, 200 years ago on 14 November 1825, the feast of Saint Laurence O’Toole, patron saint of Dublin. The choir was directed by Haydn Corri and sang Mozart’s Grand Mass in C Minor, Ave Verum and Graun’s Te Deum. Most of the Irish hierarchy were present, and the preacher was James ‘JKL’ Doyle, Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin. Daniel O’Connell (1775-1847) spoke at the reception afterwards.

To mark the end of the Penal Laws and the legislation for Catholic Emancipation, a special thanksgiving High Mass was celebrated in the cathedral in 1829. It was attended by Daniel O’Connell, who had taken took his seat as MP for Clare, having been elected the previous year.

As the first Catholic Lord Mayor of Dublin in centuries, O’Connell celebrated his election in 1841 by travelling in state to ‘the Pro-Cathedral’ for High Mass. When he died in Genoa on 15 May 1847, his heart was buried in Rome while his body was brought back to Dublin and laid in state in Saint Mary’s for four days before he was buried in Glasnevin Cemetery.

State funerals of major political figures there include Michael Collins, former presidents Seán T O’Kelly, Éamon de Valera and Patrick Hillery, and a former Lord Mayor of Dublin, Kathleen Clarke.

Cardinal Cullen’s marble monumenent is one the finest works by Sir Thomas Farrell (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Architects who worked on the cathedral over the past 200 years include Sir Richard Morrison and William Virtuvius Morrison, John B Keane, John Bourke, George Papworth and Ralph Byrne. The sculptures on the pediment by Thomas Kirk were completed in 1845 and depict the Virgin Mary flanked by Saint Laurence O’Toole and Saint Kevin of Glendalough.

Archbishop Murray and Cardinal Cullen are commemorated with two monuments in marble, among the finest work of the sculptor by Sir Thomas Farrell (1827-1900). Murray is seen in a kneeling pose. Around the base of the standing figure of Cullen are scenes depicting his life and work as archbishop, including his concern for the sick and poor, for training priests and for Catholic education.

John Hogan and other leading sculptors of the day carved memorials to the benefactors of the diocese. Among the gifts of altar plate is a silver-gilt chalice, paten and cruet set presented in 1856 in honour of Saint Laurence O’Toole by Mary Teresa Talbot, Countess of Shrewsbury, a descendant of the O’Toole family.

Inside Saint Mary’s Cathedral, lookingtowards the liturgical west from the apse behind the sanctuary (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Saint Mary’s was never intended to be anything other than a temporary acting cathedral, until funds were found to build a full cathedral, and a number of locations for a new cathedral were proposed. WT Cosgrave, President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State (the equivalent of taoiseach or prime minister) from 1922 to 1932, once suggested the General Post Office on O’Connell, which had remained a burnt-out shell since the 1916 Rising. But the idea was not acted on and the GPO was restored as a post office.

John Charles McQuaid (1895-1973), who was Archbishop of Dublin in 1940-1972, bought the gardens in Merrion Square with plans to build a cathedral. But his proposals were never acted on and the gardens were eventually handed over to Dublin Corporation and opened to the public. At times, there were suggestions that one of the two Church of Ireland cathedrals in the city might be transferred to the Roman Catholic Church, but this never happened either.

In the meantime, most of the funds collected for building a new cathedral were spent on building new churches in the 1970s and 1980s in a fast-growing diocese.

Pope John Paul visited Saint Mary’s in 1992 and Pope Francis visited in 2018.

The front panel of Turnerelli’s original altar was incorprated in the new altar when it was moved after Vatican II (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Architecturally, the cathedral’s dramatic mixture of Greek and Roman styles has been controversial in the past, with different critics describing it as either an artistic gem or an eyesore.

The main aisle leads up to the High Altar, and behind it is a stained glass window of the Blessed Virgin Mary or Saint Mary. The stucco alto-rilievo of the Ascension is the work of John Smyth, while the High Altar was carved by Peter Turnerelli, a Belfast-born, Dublin-based sculptor with Italian parents.

In preparation for the Centenary of Catholic Emancipation in 1928 and the Eucharistic Congress in 1932, the floor space the church was extended on both sides in another unhappy alteration of John Sweetman’s original design. The elegant portico on the Cathedral Street side was walled up between the Doric columns, and what had once been Saint Kevin’s chapel in the north flank became simply open space within the church.

For most of its time, Saint Mary’s had a massive Victorian altar and reredos by Peter Turnerelli. They were removed in the late 1970s during reordering following the liturgical changes introduced at the second Vatican Council. The architect for these changes was Cathal O’Neill, Professor of Architecture in University College Dublin.

The reredos was removed, leaving just the tabernacle, although the front panel of the original altar was reinstated in the new altar, which was moved to the centre of a new paved area in an expanded sanctuary. The altar rails were also removed. The pulpit was moved too, to a position in a corner of the building.

The cathedral went on fire in the early 1990s, and although the fire was brought under control, there was considerable smoke damage in one corner of the building.

Looking towards the liturgical west end of Saint Mary’s Cathedral and the organ from the High Altar (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The original organ was built by the Dublin organ builder John White in the late 19th century. The present organ has some of White’s original pipework. The present façade of the organ dates from William Hill’s work around 1900. Later work was carried out by Henry Willis & Co in the 1930s, before JW Walker’s major rebuild in 1971 and a more recent refurbishment in 1995. The newly refurbished organ was inaugurated in a gala concert by Olivier Latry on 20 March 1996.

The organ is one of the finest examples in Ireland of the late 19th century grand Romantic organ, and many great organists have played it: Daniel Chorzempa, Xavier Darasse, Sir David Lumsden, Daniel Roth, Dame Gillian Weir, Arthur Wills, Olivier Latry and others.

The Titular Organist of Saint Mary’s Cathedral, Gerard Gillen, was appointed in 1976; David Grealy was appointed Associate Organist in 2017. A chancel organ built by John White is on on the epistle (right) side of the High Altar.

The stucco alto-rilievo of the Ascension is by John Smyth (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Saint Mary’s is known for the resident choir, the Palestrina Choir, which had its origins in a boys’ choir formed in the 1890s by Vincent O’Brien, and Edward Martyn was the founding sponsor. Pope Pius X promoted the music of Palestrina as the standard to which liturgical music should aspire.

The Palestrina Choir was installed in the cathedral in 1903 and Vincent O’Brien was the director until 1946. The Palestrina Choir has attracted notable singers over the years, including Count John McCormack who was a member in 1904-1905. The present director of the choir is Blánaid Murphy.

During the school term, the Palestrina Choir sings at Sunday morning Solemn Latin Mass (Novus Ordo), Friday Vespers and Benediction (5:15 pm) and Mass (5:45 pm). A girls’ choir was formed in 2009.

Inside the dome of Saint Mary’s Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

More recently, there were proposals to name Saint Andrew’s Church, Westland Row, as the cathedral, but with last month’s decision, Saint Andrew’s has been declared a basilica and Saint Mary’s is now officially the cathedral of the city, the diocese and the archbishop – although it is likely to be known to generations to come in Dublin simply as ‘the Pro’.

As the architectural historian Christine Casey says, it ‘still ranks among the most powerful Greek Revival Church interiors in these islands.’

‘The Dublin Martyrs’, Margaret Ball (1584) and Francis Taylor (1621), bronze figures (2001) by Conall MacCabe (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Further reading:

Christine Casey, Dublin (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2005, Pevsner Architectural Guides, Buildings of Ireland series).

Peter Costello, Dublin Churches (Dublin: Gill & Macmillan, 1989).

Dermod McCarthy, Saint Mary’s Pro-Cathedral Dublin (Dublin: Eason, 1988, the Irish Heritage series).

Saint Mary’s Cathedral seen from the grounds of the Department of Education, the former Model School and Scoil Chaoimhínon Marlborough Street (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The former Welsh Chapel on Talbot Street, Dublin, is beginning to look better four years after my last visit

The former Welsh Chapel on Talbot Street, Dublin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Patrick Comerford

During my visit to Dublin this week, I visited three churches in the north inner city: Saint Mary’s Cathedral, known for almost 200 years as the ‘Pro-Cathedral’, on Marlborough Street; Saint Francis Xavier Church, the Jesuit-run church popularly known as Gardiner Street Church, between Mountjoy Square and Dorset Street; and the former Welsh Church on Talbot Street.

I last wrote about the former Welsh Church on Talbot Street almost four years ago (5 January 2022), describing the sad decay of the building and how it was covered with graffiti.

In recent months, comments were posted saying my photographs of the building had become outdated and that work and painting of the two connecting buildings had been completed at the end of last year and the start of this year (2024-2025).

Another reader commented on how just before last Christmas the building had been greatly improved, many of its original fixtures could now be seen, including the stone carving with the words ‘Welsh Church’, graffiti had been removed, and further work was in progress.

So, after visiting the colourful murals by on ‘Memory Lane’ by Fionnuala Halpin in Talbot Lane, I returned to see the former Welsh Church that tells an important part of the story of the cultural diversity of church life in Dublin for many generations.

The lettering ‘Welsh Church’ has been restored on the pediment facing onto Talbot Street (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Welsh chapels are not confined to Wales. I once received a warm welcome in a Welsh chapel in Chester when I was in my teens, and I have since come across Welsh chapels and churches in London and Birmingham. But I was surprised to learn last week that there had been a Welsh chapel in Dublin from 1838 for more than a century.

For over a century, from 1838 to 1942, a Welsh chapel in Dublin, with services in the Welsh language, was a meeting place for sailors in Dublin port and a hub for Dublin’s resident Welsh community.

Before the chapel was built, religiously-motivated Welsh sea-captains, such as Israel Matthew from Holyhead and John Williams from Caer, went from ship to ship and pub to pub inviting Welsh seamen to prayer meetings on board ships in Dublin port. Then, a Welsh congregation began using the Dutch Lutheran chapel on Poolbeg Street, although all collections went to ‘the Dutch.’

The Calvinistic Methodists in North Wales, later known as the Presbyterian Church of Wales, decided in the 1830s to build a chapel in Talbot Street, Dublin, close to the junction with Lower Gardiner Street and close to the port. At first, it was mainly for visiting Welsh sailors, and it was hoped sailors from Holyhead would spend an extra hour in prayer and an hour less in the pubs.

The site for the chapel was secured by John Roberts, a Holyhead businessman, thanks mostly to the efforts of the first pastor, the Revd Robert Williams. The foundation stone of the chapel was laid in 1838, and the new church, named Bethel Church, was 40 ft x 27 ft, built of brick and cornerstone of Whitland granite from south-west Wales, at a cost of £500.

When the chapel opened in 1838, there were 18 registered city members, but it had a seating capacity of 300. Because it was so close to the docks, visiting Welsh seamen could go to church there, finding opportunities to meet other people from Wales and to socialise in their own language.

The sailors mainly worked on merchant and passenger ships from Holyhead, but some also came on ships carrying slate from quarries in Penrhyn and Y Felinheli, beside the Menai Strait. By the mid-19th century, the chapel attracted not only Calvinistic Methodists but sailors from other denominations.

The congregation also drew from the 300 Welsh soldiers stationed in Dublin, patients coming from Holyhead for treatment at the Adelaide Hospital, and Welsh people who moved to Dublin to work as maids, nurses, and other professionals, or who found Trinity College Dublin was the nearest university to many parts of North Wales.

The services were conducted in the Welsh language and the chapel remained under Welsh supervision throughout its existence. Ministers were normally sent from Wales, but at times when the chapel had no resident minister it relied on ministers sent for short periods or who travelled from Holyhead on Sundays to lead the service.

The chapel became a focal point for the small Welsh community in Dublin, and numbers reached 77 by 1861. By then, the chapel was too small for the numbers attending, and a gallery was built over the chapel door in 1862, with additional seating for another 60.

The background of the sailors who went to church there was reflected in the customs in the chapel. The ground floor was referred to as the ‘Main Deck,’ and there the men sat on the ‘starboard side’ to the right and the women on the ‘port side’ to the left. The gallery was known as the ‘Quarter Deck’ and only sailors were allowed to sit there. At each end of the gallery were spittoons filled with sawdust so sailors could smoke or chew tobacco during the services.

In fact, only sailors were allowed on this quarterdeck. The story is told of a captain visiting with his wife, but when she tried to enter the gallery she was told: ‘Main deck for you my girl!’

The Revd Evan Lloyd was the chaplain of the ‘Welch Methodist Preaching House’ in 1862. He was popular, although another city centre chaplain accused him of being ‘the father of all the Welsh girls in Dublin.’

The chapel was linked to Anglesey from 1865 on. Further building work in 1894 was supported by donations from Methodists across Wales, a ‘Wesleyan nobleman,’ and a member of the Moravian Church, and ‘even received help from the Papists.’

In the 1901 census, the chaplain, the Revd John Lewis (42), was living at 77 Talbot Street with his wife Elizabeth and their son Alun (1). Later, the Lewis family lived behind the church in Moland Place. Lewis was known to Dubliners as the ‘Welsh bishop,’ and wore a wide, flat hat on his missions around the city. His hat is said to have been hit by a bullet during the Civil War.

There were almost 40 members in 1902, and 60 in 1910. The chapel had 57 baptisms between 1839 and 1923 and 18 marriages, the first in 1892 and the last in 1936.

Members of the chapel came from all social classes. Clerks, domestic servants, sailors, hotel-owners and tailors featured in its records. For example, the chapel members in 1914 included the housekeeper, housemaid, parlourmaid and cook employed by Sir John Purser Griffith (1848-1938), a senior civil engineer and politician, at his home in Rathmines Castle. Almost all these servants were from Anglesey, like their employer. Purser Griffith did not belong to the chapel but he gave it substantial funds.

The housekeeper at Rathmines Castle, Caernarvon-born Mary Parry, married the Revd Owen Selwyn Jones, a widower and Minister of the Gospel with an address at Llanrhos, North Wales. The wedding took place in the Welsh chapel in 1916 and the witnesses were John Lloyd-Jones, who was Professor of Welsh in University College Dublin, and Elizabeth Roberts, the parlourmaid at Rathmines Castle.

The Welsh Chapel on Talbot Street closed in 1942 and was sold in 1944 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Ernest Blythe (1889-1975), the Minister for Finance (1923-1932) and later managing director of the Abbey Theatre (1941-1967), also had an interest in the Welsh language. He was born into a Church of Ireland and Unionist family near Lisburn, and also became a key figure in the Blueshirts and other pro-fascist and antisemitic organisations.

When Blythe joined the Gaelic League to learn Irish, another member told him of the Welsh community in Dublin with its own church and services in the Welsh language. ‘I went there one Sunday morning to revel in the sound of a language closely related to Irish,’ he later recalled. To improve his knowledge of the Welsh language, Blythe occasionally attended the chapel and took Welsh classes in the 1930s from the minister, the Revd John Lewis.

Chapel membership declined during World War I and fell again after Irish independence, and the church may have been damaged during the War of Independence. There was an explosion outside nearby Moran’s Hotel in July 1922, and several houses and businesses on the street claimed compensation. The many claims in the area at the time include one from William Griffith, a boot merchant next door at 78 Talbot Street.

By the 1930s, the chapel had only about 20 members. The last resident minister, the Revd John Lewis, was minister from 1894 until 1934, when he retired to Wales after 40 years of ministry. After Lewis, visiting ministers came from Anglesey to conduct services in the chapel in Dublin. The last service was held in 1939, before the outbreak of World War II made the crossing between North Wales and Dublin too difficult.

A decision was taken to close the chapel in 1942. When it was sold in 1944, there were only 13 members.

In June 1944, the Irish Independent reported that ‘a regrettable break in the few remaining links binding the Irish people with their fellow Celts, the Welsh, will follow on the closing down of the Welsh Church, Talbot Street. This church, the only one of its kind in the country, will be offered for sale on June 20.’

Professor John Lloyd-Jones said that when the chapel closed ‘the heart of the Welsh community in Dublin had been taken out’. Howell Evans wrote in 1981 that ‘looking back … had there been no Welsh Church I would have lost my language and Welsh interest.’

For many years, the building was used as a shoe shop under the name Griffith’s. The name Griffith’s survives in the tiling at the entrance door.

Today the former chapel is a brightly-coloured ‘Five Star Internet Café,’ with a pool room upstairs. the outline of the original chapel can be seen on the Talbot Street façade. Inside, computers and telephones on the ground floor and pool tables upstairs hide the previous life of this former chapel.

Following a campaign by the Welsh Society in Ireland, the building now has protected status and the sign of the former ‘Welsh Church’ can be seen once again.
 

The Welsh Chapel on Talbot Street, Dublin, as it looked almost four years ago in January 2022 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2022)

Additional reading:

Blythe, Earnan P, ‘The Welsh Chapel in Dublin,’ Dublin Historical Record, Vol 14, No 3, Old Dublin Society, 1957, pp 74-79, http://www.jstor.org/stable/30102651.

‘Memory Lane’, colourful street art on Talbot Lane, brings new life to a corner of north inner city Dublin

James Joyce depicted in ‘Memory Lane’ on Talbot Lane, off Talbot Street in Dublin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Patrick Comerford

I was in north inner city Dublin earlier this week, to see the Pro-Cathedral on Marlborough Street, which has become Saint Mary’s Cathedral in recent weeks, to look again at the Welsh Chapel on Talbot Street, which is being saved from deterioration, and to visit Saint Francis Xavier Church on Upper Gardiner Street.

For too many years, Talbot Street has been a neglected, unattractive street in the northside inner city, and was hardly an inviting welcome to visitors to Dublin walking from Connolly Station on Amiens Street to O’Connell Street and the heart of the city centre.

But Dublin City Council is looking at the causes and effects of these realities. Dublin has a vibrant street art scene and the Talbot Lane Mural is a bright and colourful addition to Dulin’s public art scene and part of a positive initiative to make the area more attractive and inviting.

‘Memory Lane’ on Talbot Lane celebrates the area’s history and heritage of the inner city (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

‘Memory Lane’ is a vibrant work of street art on Talbot Lane by Fionnuala Halpin that depicts the area’s history, with images of amusement arcades, a jarvey, Georgian doorways, literary figures such as James Joyce and Sean O’Casey, and the revolutionary suffragette Countess Markievicz.

The Talbot Lane mural was supported by Dublin City Council and celebrates the history, architecture and literary and political legacy of the north inner city, as well as recalling Barney’s Arcade in nearby Marlborough Place, the site in the 18th century of the Marlborough Green Synagogue, from about 1762 to 1790 or 1791.

Countess Markievicz depicted in ‘Memory Lane’ on Talbot Lane, off Talbot Street in Dublin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Talbot Lane is a small, narrow cobbled alleyway between Talbot Street and Marlborough Place, features a collection of bright new street art murals, and this work of art is part of the city council’s regeneration project to brighten the area.

The artists who contributed to the art in the lane are Fionnuala Halpin, Inkfun, 23mGraphics, Kayde Middleton, and M50signs, working with the Lucky Bag collective as project manager and designer.

The artist Fionnuala Halpin works with businesses, schools, community groups and the city council to bring high quality art to the streets and neighbourhoods of Dublin.

Sean O’Casey depicted in ‘Memory Lane’ on Talbot Lane, off Talbot Street in Dublin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Dublin City Council is rolling out its plans to revamp laneways in the north inner-city, and Talbot Lane is a colourful example of how this plan is working out. The council is also exploring the idea of opening up city-centre laneways for people to play cricket, inspired by a similar initiative in Melbourne, and Leinster Cricket has been invited to examine the viability of the ‘laneways cricket’ initiative.

A Green Party councillor Janet Horner said recently the initiative would be ideal for lanes that are closed to the public, like Harbour Court, which runs from Abbey Street to the quays. ‘We are starved of inner-city sports spaces,’ she said.

Brendan Doggett, a council administrative officer, pitched the idea for cricket in the laneways after people from Cricket Ireland pointed out that some laneways in Australia are used like this. Michael Darragh MacAuley, community sports engagement manager with the council, has pointed out that in Mountjoy Park the council organises tape ball, a kind of Pakistani street cricket that uses a tennis ball wrapped in electrical tape.

Dublin City Council is investing €2.5 million to revamp the Talbot Street area (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Dublin City Council is investing €2.5 million to revamp Talbot Street and plans to breathe new life into five nearby inner city laneways named in an action plan drawn up by the architect Seán Harrington. The idea is to get businesses that back onto laneways to open up their entrances, and to encourage people to make positive use of these smaller back streets, including Abbey Cottages, Byrne’s Lane, Coles Lane, Talbot Place and Jervis Lane Upper. Talbot Lane was the first of these laneways to be completed.

James Joyce went to school nearby in Belvedere and there is a sculpture of him by Marjorie Fitzgibbon at the O’Connell Street end of Talbot Street, while Sean O’Casey was born on Dorset Street. Constance Markievicz is quoted as saying: ‘Consciousness of their own dignity and worth should be encouraged in women.’ Sean O’Casey is depicted saying: ‘When it was dark … you carried the sun in your hand for me.’

Appropriately, the quotation from James Joyce that is part of his portrait by Fionnuala Halpin in ‘Memory Lane’ on Talbot Lane is: ‘When I die, Dublin will be written in my heart.’

‘Memory Lane’ is a vibrant work of street art on Talbot Lane, off Talbot Street by Fionnuala Halpin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)