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St Mary's Church, Blessington

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Coordinates: 53°10′15″N 6°31′55″W / 53.1707°N 6.5320°W / 53.1707; -6.5320
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St. Mary's Church, Blessington
The church as seen from Blessington town square
St. Mary's Church, Blessington is located in Ireland
St. Mary's Church, Blessington
St. Mary's Church, Blessington
53°10′15″N 6°31′55″W / 53.1707°N 6.5320°W / 53.1707; -6.5320
LocationMain Street
Blessington
County Wicklow
W91 PT99
CountryIreland
DenominationChurch of Ireland
Websitewww.ireland.anglican.org/find-a-church/parish/14940/blessington-st-mary
History
Founded17 September 1683[1]
DedicationSaint Mary
Architecture
Architect(s)unknown
Administration
ProvinceProvince of Dublin?
DioceseUnited Dioceses of Dublin and Glendalough
ParishChrist Church?

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]

History

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In 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, which was completed some years later.[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 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]

On Sunday 24 September 2023, parishioners marked 340 years of worship at the church, with a Songs of Praise service.[12] Joan Griffith, honorary secretary of Blessington Union of Parishes described it as a "much loved church."[12]

Architecture

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According 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.

[edit]
  • Looking east towards the altar and stained glass windows
    Looking east towards the altar and stained glass windows
  • Looking west towards the entrance
    Looking west towards the entrance
  • Stone arch and wooden roof supports
    Stone arch and wooden roof supports
  • Old lock and key
    Old lock and key
  • Memorial plaque erected by Edward Leeson, 6th Earl of Milltown
    Memorial plaque erected by Edward Leeson, 6th Earl of Milltown
  • Retro-fitted heating system
    Retro-fitted heating system
  • The altar
    The altar
  • Roman numeral numberings on the different pews
    Roman numeral numberings on the different pews
  • One of many memorial plaques in the church
    One of many memorial plaques in the church
  • Looking northwards towards the church from within the graveyard
    Looking northwards towards the church from within the graveyard
  • Gravestones from different centuries
    Gravestones from different centuries

References

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Notes

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  1. ^ a b c d e f Trant 2004, p. 33.
  2. ^ 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.
  3. ^ "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.
  4. ^ a b "Blessington Heritage Trail". heritage.wicklowheritage.org. 30 March 2020. Retrieved 26 July 2024.
  5. ^ "Songs of Praise Mark 340 Years of Worship in St Mary's, Blessington". dublin.anglican.org. 28 September 2023. Retrieved 26 July 2024.
  6. ^ "Industries: Bell-founders". british-history.ac.uk. Retrieved 26 July 2024.
  7. ^ O'Hara, Fiona (18 March 2020). "Blessington". heritage.wicklowheritage.org. Retrieved 26 July 2024.
  8. ^ a b c Trant 2004, p. 31.
  9. ^ a b "1673 - Blessington House, Blessington, Co. Wicklow". archiseek.com. 1 January 2023. Retrieved 26 July 2024.
  10. ^ Trant 2004, p. 32.
  11. ^ a b c d e "St Mary's Church of Ireland". blessington.ie. 19 June 2018. Retrieved 26 July 2024.
  12. ^ a b "Songs of Praise Mark 340 Years of Worship in St Mary's, Blessington". dublin.anglican.org. United Dioceses of Dublin and Glendalough. 28 September 2023. Retrieved 3 November 2024.

Sources

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  • 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.
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