St. Matthew’s Church In 1703, because Ringsend had grown popular with the many officers of the port living there, and many fishermen and sailors, it was decided to build a Protestant Church nearby in Irishtown.

At this time, the nearest Protestant Church was in Donnybrook, but it was quite often impossible to travel there from Ringsend due to the flood tides of the sea and the flooding of the Dodder over the salt marsh and the existing roads out of Ringsend.

By an Act of Parliament in the reign of Queen Anne, the church was built in 1704, and a government grant to be paid to build the church. This made it a Royal Chapel.

Years later, the Pigeon House Fort garrison, from 1813, marched to Ringsend, with Protestants dividing off to St. Matthew’s and Catholics to Haddington Road Church.

Soldiers from the Beggar’s Bush barracks, from 1827 also marched to St. Matthew’s for service, as the church could accommodate 500.

Strangely enough, notes one writer, almost everyone who has written about this Irishtown church states that it was built for the use of garrison of the Pigeon House Fort, whereas the Pigeon House Fort was not built until 1813, almost 100 years later than the Church.

St. Matthew’s originally stood at the edge of the sea and acted as a landmark for ships entering Dublin Port.

Attached to St. Matthew’s Church is an ancient graveyard in which the remains of many notable people have been buried. Foremost among these is the 18th century Parish Priest of Donnybrook, Irishtown and Ringsend, Fr. Peter Clinch, who died in 1791, after an accidental blow from an oar which broke his jaw.

He was only 29 years old and lived in Irishtown near the Catholic Chapel in Chapel Avenue – almost at the back of St. Matthew’s. Up to recently a headstone marked the grave, but these headstones have now been placed round the walls of the graveyard.

Lundy Foot, who was a famous snuff and tobacco dealer at the corner of D’Olier Street and Westmoreland Street – facing O’Connell Bridge – is also buried in the graveyard. His factory which stood at the comer of Parliament Street and Essex Gate can still be seen today, embossed on an outside wall with his initi – L.De F. He was murdered in 1835 by one of his tenants.

Many shipwrecks occured in Dublin Bay and very probably the bodies were recovered from the marshland and buried in St. Matthew’s. On the wall of the church there is an old coat of amis, proving that at least one English Monarch worshipped there.

Tile church was built on a site of two acres conveyed by Viscount Merrion, at a cost of £l,000 of which the inhabitants of Ringsend were able to contribute only £22. It was completed in 1707 but without the tower or steeple which was ordered to be built in 1712 at a cost to Dublin Corporation.
After the passing of the Irish Church Act (1869) the royal chaplaincy ceased and Canon R.B.

Stoney became the first rector in 1870. He restored the church and rebuilt it, as up to this it could only hold 300 and many parishioners could not sit in with comfort, due to the many military from the Pigeon House Fort and Beggar’s Bush barracks. The enlargement cost £3,900 and there are galleries on each side and over the entrance porch.

Burials in the churchyard continued up to 1872 when a petition was made by the Rector and Churchwarden to the Privy Council (i.e. Queen Victoria’s council of advisors and ministers representing the Crown – as opposed to Parliament) on July 19th 1872. Although it contained certain burial rights for a few families, there is no evidence of any further burials after 1872.
Irishtown Boys’ School was built beside the church in 1832 at an expense of £800, having been begun in 1824. The building also contained an almshouse for Protestants and a general dispensary.
A new Girls’ National School was built across the road in 1904, the Rectory (now the Garda Station) in 1928, and a new mixed school was built by the Government in 1959-60.

In the graveyard are also buried the Cranfields (who are remembered in Cranfield Place), the famous stonecutters who also owned Cranfield Baths.

Another burial is that of Edward Edwards, who is described as Master of the Prince of Wales Packet. He died in 1807 at the age of 32 in the great sea disaster in which the ‘Prince of Wales’, loaded with 300 passengers, mostly military being transported during the Napoleonic Wars, which was wrecked off Dun Laoghaire. It was probably as a result of this disaster that a floating lightship was placed off the coast in 1811.

Captain Edward’s gravestone had the following inscription: ‘Life’s voyage is now ended, his dangers have passed,his ship is safe moored, and he’s landed at last. His treasures are safe in the mansions on High…’

Also buried there are the Vavasour family, the Foxes of Tully, etc.

Up to 1869 the church had an annual grant from the Government of £100 to accommodate the Customs and Excise officials who had offices in the King’s Yard and Revenue Stores in Thorncastle Street.

The vaults of St. Matthew’s were said in living legend to have been the base for smuggler’s trove. In later years, until recently, there were preserved bodies there, but these were buried about 15 years ago.

The photograph shows former Rector of St. Matthews, Rev. Williams in the vaults of the Church.