Catholic Churches & Parishes 1830s and 40s

shanew · 30-10-2014 11:02am #1

Might be of interest - I'm working on a project to map Catholic chapels for the 1830s and 40s, based mainly on the details in Lewis 1837 directory and the 1st edition OSI Maps. The data can be searched using a google map selection, by civil parish or by Catholic parish, with the results including links to OSI and google maps for each chapel, and cross links to the associated civil parishes.

see : RC parish - Civil parish search and Chapel and Parish Map Search

p.s. has anyone heard of a Catholic chapel at 'Crinkin', Rathmichael civil parish, Kingstown / Dún Laoghaire RC parish, so presumably somewhere close to Shankill, or a chapel at 'Castletown' somewhere near Bray ?
I suspect the Crinkin reference might possibly be a mix-up with the location of the church at Little Bray (not mentioned in Lewis) which would be Old Connaught c.p., and maybe Lewis noted the CofI church instead by mistake ?

Coolnabacky1873 · 30-10-2014 11:38am

shanew wrote: »

Might be of interest

Shane, you are too modest!!!
What you are doing with this project will make it much easier for people to locate this information. No more having a number of books and websites open at the same time.

A fantastic effort!

Newstreet · 30-10-2014 1:42pm

From 'Recollections of Shankill, during the "reign" of the exterminator, Sir Charles Domville, as related by Mr. Joseph Mills,' c1906:

"...There was a Catholic Church in Crinkin in the year 1822, and opposite the Church, on the other side of the road, was a publichouse, kept by a man the name of Tom Murray..."

"...I have told you there was a Catholic church opposite Tim Murray's publichouse, afterwards Claffeys; so there was, for a while, but in 1834 a gentleman named Magan purchased the ground on which it stood. It was in the parish of Kingstown then, and Father Sheridan, the parish priest, had not a proper lease of the ground on which the church stood, so Magan gave them notice to quit, and gave them three years in which to make their arrangements, and begone. After much trouble the site of a new church was got in Gurtchen's Lane, Little Bray, from a man named Jemmy Coghlan. The people made sure to have a good long lease this time. The first Mass was celebrated in Little Bray, in 1837. There is a cross in Little Bray, the date on it is 1810. That cross was made in Glenchree, and it was to be brought to the chapel in Crinkin. There was no way of bringing it, only on low log wheel cars. They broke down half way on the road, and the men had to get rollers, and work at them night and day till they got it to Crinkin. When the new church was erected in Little Bray, the cross was brought there, and set in the chapel yard, where it now stands..."

This was St.Peter's Church in Little Bray, built in 1837. Prior to this, there had been a small church in the Crinken area, evidently around the area of Crinken Lodge and Shanganagh Castle. No trace remains today. Also nearby were the remains of Kiltuck Church, which had been abandoned and derelict since the 17th century.

The catholic chapel at Crinken and Kiltuck Church were two seperate churches, and I do have some early RC baptisms with Crinken on them. Crinken evidently survived in use until 1837, and was removed quickly after that.

shanew · 30-10-2014 2:30pm

excellent, many thanks for that. Confirms that these were separate chapels, at different dates, one at Crinkin the other in Little Bray. I'll alter the caption for that and move the estimated coordinates for the Crinkin chapel.

Newstreet · 07-11-2014 9:30pm

Taylor's 'Environs of Dublin' map of 1816 appears to give the exact location of Crinken chapel.

It is on the seaward side of the main road, immediately after the corner of Allies River Road, almost exactly half way between the ruins of Kiltuck church and the present day St.James COI. It is now the GAA grounds, about where the wooden built children's playground is, and no trace remains.

I'll scan in the image later if I can, although my scanner doesn't generally talk to my laptop without having an argument with it!

shanew · 08-11-2014 10:02am

brilliant thanks again!

dont go to any trouble with the scan etc, on the basis of your previous research I changed the description and date and moved the coordinates for Crinkin chapel, and based on your Taylor's map finding I can be set even more accurately.

I had access to a Taylor's map at one stage, think it was a reprint of a 1827 edition. Have to see if I can have a look another look at that..

I'll have to add a way to add extended notes to a chapel or parish - too much detail to be included in two lines of notes I have available at present.

shanew · 15-02-2015 4:24pm

shanew wrote: »

...p.s. has anyone heard of a Catholic chapel at .....'Castletown' somewhere near Bray ? ......

just in case anyone comes across this in a search - I believe I've figured out a probable match for the reference to this chapel for Bray parish at 'Castletown'. The 1838 catholic directory lists the chapels for Bray as being located at Bray, 'Kilmacanack' and 'Cuttlestown', which I suspect to be a variation or typo for Curtlestown, which is in Powerscourt civil parish and where a chapel is located. Powercourt civil parish was part of Bray RC parish before Enniskerry parish was established in 1859.

Catholic Churches & Parishes 1830s and 40s

Comments