St. Mary's Church is a Church of Ireland church located in Blessington, County Wicklow, Ireland.[2] The church was built by Michael Boyle, Archbishop of Armagh in the 1670s and 1680s, and dedicated on 17 September 1683.[1] The clock tower houses the oldest surviving set of bells in Ireland,[3] the original bells used since its foundation,[4] cast in 1682 by Bartlett bellfounders of London.[5][6] The tower is also notable for possessing what has been described as the oldest public clock in Ireland,[7] and/or the oldest working turret clock in Ireland.[4]
| St. Mary's Church, Blessington | |
|---|---|
 The church as seen from the town square | |
  St. Mary's Church, Blessington | |
| 53°10′15″N 6°31′55″W / 53.1707°N 6.5320°W | |
| Location | Main Street Blessington County Wicklow W91 PT99 |
| Country | Ireland |
| Denomination | Church of Ireland |
| Website | www |
| History | |
| Founded | 17 September 1683[1] |
| Dedication | Saint Mary |
| Architecture | |
| Architect(s) | unknown |
| Administration | |
| Province | Province of Dublin? |
| Diocese | United Dioceses of Dublin and Glendalough |
| Parish | Christ Church? |
History
editIn 1667, Michael Boyle, then serving as the Archbishop of Dublin, bought the old Norman Lordship of the Three Castles in west Wicklow (as well as an estate in Monkstown, Dublin) for £1,000.[8] Boyle chose to live in his newly acquired Wicklow estate and was granted a royal charter to establish a new town there on a greenfield site, which he named Blessington - or Blesinton as it was more commonly referred to during the 1600-1800s.[9][8] He started building Blessington House in 1673, to designs by Dublin architect and carpenter Thomas Lucas.[8][9] One of the main avenues leading from the house linked it directly to the front of St Mary's Church.[10]
Like nearby St. John's Church in Ballymore Eustace (built 1820), local granite was used in the construction of the church. The church was consecrated by the Bishop of Kildare on 24 August 1683,[11] and subsequently dedicated on 17 September that same year.[1] The dedication was attended by many of the clergy of the diocese, who came "in their formalities to the church... most of them in their surplices and hoods to join the rector, John Sydall".[1] According to Kathy Trant, the procession outside the building was curtailed due to a 'deluge' of rain, which forced the dignitaries to take shelter inside the church where the formal service of convocation and communion took place.[1]
With the burning of Blessington House during the 1798 Rebellion, St Mary's Church became the only extant building in the town associated with Archbishop Boyle, the town's founder.[1]
The building was extended in later years,[2] once in 1856 with the construction of the north transept, and again in 1889 with the addition of the organ transept.[11] The original church organ, donated by Lord Milltown, was later sold sold to Baltinglass Church.[11] The current organ, dating from 1890, was donated by the 6th Earl of Milltown, Edward Nugent Leeson, of nearby Russborough House, to commemorate his brother Joseph Henry, the 5th Earl. The stained glass window in the church was a gift from an anonymous donor in 1876.[11] Numerous memorial plaques are visible on the walls inside the church.[11]
Architecture
editAccording to the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage, the church is "constructed in rubble granite" whereas the "three-stage bell and clock tower is finished in roughcast render". The clock tower has a castellated parapet with tall pinnacles rising from all four corners.[2] Window openings in the church are mostly pointed-arched and frequently arranged in pairs; the glazing for which is leaded.
References
editNotes
edit- ^ a b c d e f Trant 2004, p. 33.
- ^ a b c "Saint Mary's Church (Blessington), Main Street, BLESSINGTON, Blessington, WICKLOW". buildingsofireland.ie. National Inventory of Architectural Heritage. 6 August 2003. Retrieved 26 July 2024.
- ^ "Bells at St. Mary's Church of Ireland are the oldest surviving set in the country: Pealing the age-old bells of Blessington". The Irish Independent. 3 May 2007. Retrieved 26 July 2024.
- ^ a b "Blessington Heritage Trail". heritage.wicklowheritage.org. 30 March 2020. Retrieved 26 July 2024.
- ^ "Songs of Praise Mark 340 Years of Worship in St Mary's, Blessington". dublin.anglican.org. 28 September 2023. Retrieved 26 July 2024.
- ^ "Industries: Bell-founders". british-history.ac.uk. Retrieved 26 July 2024.
- ^ O'Hara, Fiona (18 March 2020). "Blessington". heritage.wicklowheritage.org. Retrieved 26 July 2024.
- ^ a b c Trant 2004, p. 31.
- ^ a b "1673 - Blessington House, Blessington, Co. Wicklow". archiseek.com. 1 January 2023. Retrieved 26 July 2024.
- ^ Trant 2004, p. 32.
- ^ a b c d e "St Mary's Church of Ireland". blessington.ie. 19 June 2018. Retrieved 26 July 2024.
Sources
edit- Byrne, Vincent (2003). The Four Stone Tree. A History of Blessington. Blessington: Blessington Family & Local History Group. ISBN 0-9546248-0-7.
- Cruise, Aidan; Harrington, David; Balfe, Seamus (2023). Left at the Lamb. A Flavour of the History and Heritage of the Blessington Area. Blessington: Lakeside Heritage Group.
- Curran, C. P. (1 September 1939). "Michael Stapleton: Dublin Stuccodore". Studies: An Irish Quarterly Review. 28 (111). Dublin: Messenger Publications: 439–449. JSTOR 30097752.
- Hussey, John (2017). The Quakers of Baltyboys, County Wicklow, Ireland. 1678-1800s. Dublin: The Historical Committee of the Religious Society of Friends in Ireland. ISBN 978-1-911345-56-5.
- James, Dermot; Ó Maitiú, Séamas (1996). The Wicklow World of Elizabeth Smith: 1840-1850. Dublin: The Woodfield Press. ISBN 0-9528453-0-X.
- Kavanagh, Art (1998). Ireland 1798: The Battles. Bunclody: Irish Family Names. ISBN 0-9524785-4-4.
- Phibbs, Maureen (2002). Blessington: Now and Then, Here and There. A Dip into Some of the Historical Background of Blessington, its People and its Surroundings. Blessington: Blessington Local & Family History Society.
- Trant, Kathy (2004). The Blessington Estate. 1667-1908. Dublin: Anvil Books. ISBN 1-901737-51-9.
- de Valois, Ninette (1959). Come Dance With Me. London: Hamish Hamilton.