The Bethesda Chapel, Dublin, was an Episcopal

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland ( ga, Eaglais na hÉireann, ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Kirk o Airlann, ) is a Christian church in Ireland and an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the second ...

, church on Granby Row and

Dorset Street, Dublin Dorset Street (; ''Sráid Dorset'' in Irish) is an important thoroughfare on the northside of Dublin, Ireland, and was originally part of the ''Slighe Midh-Luchra'', Dublin's ancient road to the north that begins where the original bridging poin ...

.Bethesda Chapel, Granby Row, Dublin
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History

Chapel

The Bethesda chapel was founded by Dublin merchant William Smyth, nephew of the

Bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

of the same name, in 1784. Its development was part of the evangelical movement within the

. It did not secure episcopal recognition until 1825. The Bethesda Chapel was sometimes known as the ''Bethesda Mission'', or the ''Bethesda Episcopal church''. The original 1785 chapel on the site was burned down after a great storm in January 1839: a new chapel was built on the site, designed by Frederick Darley and opened in December 1840. The Bethesda Female Orphan School at 77 then 23 Upper Dorset Street was affiliated to the Chapel from 1787. On the 19th of March, 1794, the Lock Penitentiary was opened by Mr. Walker: it housed females leaving Lock Hospital: as a result of it being part of the site, the church was sometimes called Locks Chapel. The penitentiary or asylum was funded by benefactors and by church collections; also its inmates made a living washing and mangling clothes.

Arthur Guinness Arthur Guinness ( 172523 January 1803) was an Irish brewer, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. The inventor of Guinness beer, he founded the Guinness Brewery at St. James's Gate in 1759. Born in Celbridge, County Kildare around 1725, Guinness ...

and his wife served on the governing committee of the Penitentiary, as did J.D. La Touche. The penitentiary was also destroyed in the 1839 fire. The founder of Methodism,

John Wesley John Wesley (; 2 March 1791) was an English people, English cleric, Christian theology, theologian, and Evangelism, evangelist who was a leader of a Christian revival, revival movement within the Church of England known as Methodism. The soci ...

, preached at the chapel on a number of occasions in April 1787, during his tour of Ireland. The chapel would have been supported by Lady Huntingdon who supported many non-conformists in Ireland and Britain. Following the death of William Smyth, the control of the Chapel was passed in 1794 to a board of five trustees, all members of the clergy. Chaplains to the Chapel included Rev. Edward Smyth (Brother of founder William Smyth, who was a friend of John Wesley and perceived as a Methodist though he had been expelled from his position in Ballycutter in the Derry Diocese), Rev. William Mann, Rev. John Walker from 1793 until 1804 (a dissident who left to found ''The Church of God''), gave the Chapel a more Calvinistic ethos, other ministers at the church were Rev. Henry Maturin, Rev. Benjamin Williams Mathias (pastor from 1805 until 1835), John Gregg (future Bishop of Cork; chaplain from 1835 until 1839), the noted preacher Rev.

William Henry Krause William Henry Krause, (1796-1852) was a Church of Ireland priest and noted preacher. Krause was born on the island of Saint Croix in the West Indies in 1796.''Evangelical Protestantism in Ulster Society 1740-1890'' By David Hampton, Myrtle Hull. B ...

(from 1840 until his death in 1852; many of his sermons were published after his death), Rev. John Alcock AM, (chaplain/perpetual curate from 1852 to 1866). and Rev. Charles H. H. Wright, D.D. In 1878, Rev.

Ambrose Wellesley Leet Ambrose of Milan ( la, Aurelius Ambrosius; ), venerated as Saint Ambrose, ; lmo, Sant Ambroeus . was a theologian and statesman who served as Bishop of Milan from 374 to 397. He expressed himself prominently as a public figure, fiercely promot ...

D.D. was appointed to the Bethesda Church, Dublin. The evangelical hymn-writer Thomas Kelly was a trustee and preached at Bethesda.Thomas Kelly
Hymnology Archive. Bethesda ceased to be a chapel and was secularised in 1908.

Later uses

In 1910 the building was converted into a cinema, under various names: ''Shanleys Picture Hall'', ''The Dorset Picture Hall'' and ''The Plaza Cinema''. It got a major facelift in the 1960s and in 1981 it closed as a cinema and was later reopened as the National Waxworks Museum, owned by former TD and Senator

Donie Cassidy Daniel Cassidy (born 15 September 1945) is a former Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as Leader of the Seanad from 2007 to 2011. He served as a Senator for the Labour Panel from 1982 to 2002 and 2007 to 2011 and a Teachta Dála (TD) for ...

. The building was demolished in 2005, and the site was redeveloped by Cassidy as a hotel. The Maldron Hotel owned by the

Dalata Hotel Group Dalata Hotel Group PLC is a hotel company which owns and operates hotels across Ireland and the UK. It is the largest hotel operator in Ireland with 7,101 rooms available across owned, leased and managed hotels. As of February 2020, the company ...

operate the hotel as of 2022.

Publications associated with Bethesda

* ''Hymns, to be sung in Bethesda Chapel, on Sunday morning, the 4th of February, 1798'', J. Charrurer, printer, 128, Capel Street, Dublin, Ireland, 1798.Hymns, to be sung in Bethesda Chapel, on Sunday morning, the 4th of February, 1798
J. Charrurer, printer, 128, Capel St, Dublin, 1798. * ''A Choice Collection of Hymns, Psalms, and Anthems'' by the Rev. Edward Smyth, printed by Bennett Dugdale, 150, Capel St., Dublin 1785. * ''A selection of hymns, used in Bethesda Chapel, Dorset Street'', printed by Robert Napper, Capel St., Dublin, 1819. * ''Memorials of Rev. B.W. Mathias, Late Chaplain of Bethesda Chapel'', by William Curry, Dublin, 1842.

References

{{reflist Church of Ireland churches in Dublin (city) Former churches in the Republic of Ireland Demolished buildings and structures in Dublin Buildings and structures demolished in 2005 Former cinemas in Dublin (city)