ABOUT - St John the Evangelist, Coolock

A Brief History

1,300 years of Christian Worship

We are on an ancient Celtic site dedicated to St Brendan (the Navigator) on the banks of the Santry River at Tonlegee Road, opposite to the site of St Brendan's Well. Inside the church there is a granite stone cross and the base millstone from a horizontal water mill, both of which are thought to date from the 9^th century. The earliest dated gravestone is from 1688.

The present church building was consecrated on 21st September, 1760 by the Lord Archbishop of Dublin, Most Reverend Charles Cobbe D.D., of Newbridge House, Donabate It was built on the site of a former ruined church. This new church was dedicated to St. John the Evangelist. In 1792, a tower and spire was erected and around 1815 the two transepts and an apsed chancel were added to increase the capacity.

In 1820, the Rev'd Henry Moore was appointed as Vicar by his relative, the Earl of Drogheda. From 1828 to the 1879, the office was held by Rev. William Maconchy, who is recorded as marrying Anna King, from Donaghmede House, in the parish church in 1823.

At that time it served a small rural community interspersed with some 'big houses'. Now 250 years later, the area has seen dramatic changes and particularly over the last 50 years, with massive urban development. Many of the former 'big houses' have become suburban areas in their own right, e.g. Darndale, Beaumont, Bonnybrook and Kilmore.

Coolock was eventually placed in Union with Raheny in 1960. The Rector of Raheny was appointed in charge of both in March 1960, and the union was completed when he became Rector of Coolock in July of that year. From then on, there was to be a rector in Raheny, a curate in Coolock (the first was appointed in 1963), two churches, and a shared school (now Springdale National School, Raheny). For over twenty years, the Select Vestries of the parishes were also united, but this ended in 1981.

The next rector of the United Parishes was Rev Wilbert Kelly, appointed in 1970, and he was succeeded in 1975 by Canon Cecil Wilson, then Rev James Carroll, followed by the Rev Norman McCausland. The current Rector is the Rev Kevin Ronne..

Some famous Irish people from or associated with the area include the following:
     Arthur Guinness from Beaumont House,
     Catherine MacAuley (Founder of the Sisters of Mercy), Coolock House
     St. Brendan,
     Henry Grattan
     Francis Caulfield (Second Earl of Charlemont).

Parish Bounds

Our parish covers the large area between Raheny and Santry, which until the 1960s was mainly rural. It includes some or all of the the relatively new neighbourhoods of Coolock, Artane, Kilmore, Bonnybrook, Darndale, Ayrfield, Clare Hall, Priorswood, Beaumont and Harmonstown.

St John’s was built as a small country church in 1760, has artifacts from the 9^thC, has associations with St Brendan the Navigator, and has small but beautiful examples of stained glass by Edward Burne-Jones & William Morris, Alfred E Child & Sarah Purser (An Tur Gloine) and Mayer and Co. (Munich).

On the other hand, All Saints’ Church is a magnificent, ornate building, erected in 1866 on the corner of St Anne's estate, thanks to the generosity of Lord Ardilaun of St Anne's, a member of the Guinness family.