Tallaght Priory

St. Mary's Priory, Tallaght

TallaghtGothic Revival

This church is still ahead. Its chapter will be written when its visit comes.

§What is known

Built: 1886
Style: Gothic Revival
Order: Dominican (OP)
Dedication: St. Mary's Priory

Mass times

Sunday: 8:00 AM · 9:00 AM (Irish Language Mass · Irish) · 10:00 AM · 11:15 AM · 12:30 PM · 4:30 PM · 6:00 PM (Polish Mass · Polish)
Saturday: 8:00 AM (Weekday Mass) · 10:00 AM (Weekday Mass) · 7:30 PM
Monday: 7:00 AM (Weekday Mass) · 8:00 AM (Weekday Mass) · 10:00 AM (Weekday Mass) · 1:00 PM (Weekday Mass) · 8:00 PM (Weekday Mass)
Tuesday: 7:00 AM (Weekday Mass) · 8:00 AM (Weekday Mass) · 10:00 AM (Weekday Mass) · 1:00 PM (Weekday Mass) · 8:00 PM (Weekday Mass)
Wednesday: 7:00 AM (Weekday Mass) · 8:00 AM (Weekday Mass) · 10:00 AM (Weekday Mass) · 1:00 PM (Weekday Mass) · 8:00 PM (Weekday Mass)
Thursday: 7:00 AM (Weekday Mass) · 8:00 AM (Weekday Mass) · 10:00 AM (Weekday Mass) · 1:00 PM (Weekday Mass) · 8:00 PM (Weekday Mass)
Friday: 7:00 AM (Weekday Mass) · 8:00 AM (Weekday Mass) · 10:00 AM (Weekday Mass) · 1:00 PM (Weekday Mass) · 8:00 PM (Weekday Mass)
Holy Days: 7:00 AM (Holy Day Mass) · 8:00 AM (Holy Day Mass) · 10:00 AM (Holy Day Mass) · 1:00 PM (Holy Day Mass) · 8:00 PM (Holy Day Mass)

§Where

Address: Main Street, Tallaght, Dublin 24

Open route ↗ Official website ↗ Return to the map

No photographs yet — the essay appears only after the visit.

§Notes

Fragments gathered while researching this church: stories, curiosities, people and dates.

Surviving features of the archbishop's estate

The priory grounds retain older features from the site's time as an archbishop's estate, including the archbishop's bathhouse, the Friar's Walk, and St Maelruain's Tree, described as a Persian walnut of the eighteenth century.

Timeline

792
Death of St Maelruain, founder of the original monastery St Maelruain, who founded a monastery on this site in the third quarter of the eighth century and is described as instrumental in monastic reform efforts, died in 792.
811
Viking raids begin The monastic community at Tallaght began suffering Viking raids from 811.
1324
Castle built on the monastic site Archbishop Alexander de Bykenore, also Justiciar of Ireland, built a castle on the site of the earlier monastery, forming part of the defences of the Pale.
1842
Dominicans arrive in Tallaght The Dominicans came to Tallaght in 1842 and established a priory, initially converting a former brewery building into a chapel.
1883
New church built A new church, associated by name with Fr Tom Burke, was built in 1883, replacing the converted brewery chapel; the source consulted states it now forms the older part of the present parish church.
1972
Dominicans entrusted with parish care In September 1972, Archbishop Dermot Ryan entrusted the Dominicans with pastoral care of St Mary's Parish, Tallaght.
1985
Parish reorganised into four parishes The wider Tallaght parish, which had grown to include daughter churches built in 1975 and 1976, was reorganised into four separate parishes in 1985.

People

Maelruain (d. 792) Founder of the original monastery on this site — St Maelruain founded a monastery on the site in the third quarter of the eighth century and died in 792; the source consulted describes him as instrumental in monastic reform efforts. The Dominican priory church is a much later, distinct Catholic foundation on the same historic ground.