Free Church, Great Charles Street, Dublin

Free Church, Great Charles Street, Dublin was a proprietary episcopal chapel in Summerhill, off Mountjoy Square in Dublin.

Free Church, Charles Street Great, Dublin (formerly Wesley Chapel methodist church)

Built by Methodists, in 1800, designed by architect Edward Robbins, and initially known as the Wesley Chapel.[1] Following a schism in the congregation in 1816, a group called the Primitive Wesleyan Methodists split from the Methodist Church, it became known as the free church. Due to the free church being too large for their numbers,[2] the Primitive Wesleyan Methodists opened a new Chapel nearby in Langrishe Place, Summerhill, in 1825.[3]

The Free Church was used by the Anglican congregation from the nearby St. George's Church, Dublin while it was being constructed.[4]

It was reconsecrated a church within the Anglican Community on 4 May 1828 by Archbishop Magee. The landlord, the Methodist printer (who was treasurer of the Primitive Methodist Society Home Mission)[5] R. Bennett Dugdale(1756-1826),[6] wanted to prevent it becoming a Catholic church,[7] and sold it in 1826, to the Church of Ireland.[8] After this it was sometimes referred to as the Free Episcopal Chapel, Great Charles St.. Rev. John Hare was Chaplain, assisted by the organist the Rev. Richard William Beaty, from 1828 until 1877, he was succeeded by his pupil Richard Harrison.[9] Rev. Oswald Garrow Fischer BA, who served as chaplain to the forces was attached to the Free Church for a time, as was Rev. Ernest Fischer who was Chaplain. C.R.R. Magrath who preached at and was Honorary Secretary of the Free Church (Dublin) wrote a short history of the church.[10] It served as a chapel of ease for St. George's Church, Dublin during its popularity in the early 20th century.

It closed as a church in 1988. It was refurbished and adapted around 1990 becoming Pavee Point,[11] for use as Dublin Travellers' Education and Development Group.[12]

References
  1. Former Free Church Great Charles Street Buildings of Ireland.
  2. Great Charles Street Dublin City Council, www.dublincity.ie
  3. An Irishman's Diary, Friday, January 6, 2006.
  4. History of the City of Dublin: From the Earliest Accounts to the Present Time, Volume 2 By John Warburton, James Whitelaw, Robert Walsh, published by Cadell and Davies, 1818.
  5. 'History of Methodism in Ireland Vol. III - Modern Development' by C. H. Crookshank, MA, London, 1888.
  6. Dugdale R. Bennett A dictionary of Methodism, in Ireland and Britain.
  7. Great Charles St and Summerhill Areas, Dublin
  8. Index of Irish Methodist Churches Methodist History Ireland.
  9. Obituary: Richard Harrison, The Musical Times Vol. 55, No. 856 (Jun. 1, 1914), p. 390. Published by: Musical Times Publications Ltd. JSTOR 906945
  10. A short history of the Free Church, Great Charles Street, Mountjoy Square, Dublin by C.R.R. Magrath, printed by Falconer, 1928.
  11. An Irishman's Diary Irish Times. January 6, 2006.
  12. Pavee Point Dublin City National Inventory of Architectural Heritage.
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