Drumcondra Church

Drumcondra Church

A view of the church and churchyard, by Daniel Grose, c. 1790, from Antiquities of Ireland, Vol. II
53°22′7″N 6°15′20″W / 53.36861°N 6.25556°W
Location Drumcondra, Dublin
Country Ireland
Denomination Church of Ireland
History
Founder(s) Mary Coghill
Dedication St. John the Baptist
Administration
Diocese Diocese of Dublin and Glendalough
Province Province of Dublin

Drumcondra Church is a Church of Ireland church located in Drumcondra, Dublin, previously in the Civil Parish of Clonturk. The church and its churchyard contain memorials to a number of notable historical figures.

History

In 1743 the dilapidated old church of the parish of Clonturk was rebuilt by a Miss Coghill as a memorial to her brother, Dr. Marmaduke Coghill, who died in 1738.[1] On the north-side of the church is the large tomb of Dr. Coghill, born in 1673 in Dublin, who was a judge of the Prerogative Court and Chancellor of the Exchequer, as well as being an MP in the Irish Parliament. On the tomb reclines his effigy in his official robes, with figures of Minerva and Religion below.[2][3]

By about 1721, Marmaduke Coghill was in control of the interments. In 1733 Henry Hamilton was succeeded as incumbent by Edward Hudson, followed by Robert Johnson in 1740, in 1748 James Edkins, 1781 Charles O'Neill, 1789 Jacob Cramer, 1816 William Barlow, and in 1826, James Duncan Long.[4]

Notable burials

Notable people buried in the churchyard include:

The Birth, Marriage and Death records are held in the Representative Church Body Library in Churchtown, Dublin.

Refurbishment

A report of 1831 stated that the churchyard was in a deplorable condition - no sooner was a body buried but it was removed by body-snatchers. Over the following two years the church and churchyard were renovated and a cottage was provided for a watchman to watch over the graves at all times.[5]

References

  1. Dublin Historical Record
  2. Topographical Dictionary of Ireland
  3. Illustration of the Monument to Marmaduke Coghill, in Southern Fingal - being The Sixth Part of a History of County Dublin (1920) by Francis Elrington Ball, p. 172
  4. Ball, Francis Erlington (1902). A history of the County Dublin; the people, parishes and antiquities from the earliest times to the close of the eighteenth century - Volume 6. Alex Thom. p. 183.
  5. 5.0 5.1 Irish Times, 11 March 1940, p. 4
  6. D'Alton's County of Dublin, p.247
  7. Journal of the Association for the Preservation of the Memorials of the Dead in Ireland, Vol 6. FHL film # 0258795
  8. Dublin Historical Record, vol.3, no.1., Sep-Nov 1940, pp.31-32
  9. (RCB, P328/1/3, book 3, p.91)
  10. (book 3, p.97)
  11. (book 3, p.96)
  12. (book 3, p.98)
  13. (book 3 p.104)
  14. J.R.H. Greeves, King's Printers; notes on the family of Grierson; Irish Genealogists, Volume 2, (1955), pp. 303-307.
  15. Two Irish printing families, proceedings of the Belfast Natural History Society, SER. 2, 4 (1955), pp. 38-44.
  16. CWGC Cemetery Report. Details obtained from casualty record.