Coolock is an ecclesiastical parish of the

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 ...

located in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. It is one of two successors to the ancient

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

of that name, the other being the ongoing Roman Catholic parish of

St Brendan Brendan of Clonfert (c. AD 484 - c.577), is one of the early Irish monastic saints and one of the Twelve Apostles of Ireland. He is also referred to as Brendan the Navigator, Brendan the Voyager, Brendan the Anchorite, Brendan the Bold. The ...

Early years

The parish came into being sometime from 1536 on but the first clerical records related to it are later. One, the calendar of Bishops of Waterford, notes that

Marmaduke Middleton Marmaduke Middleton (died 1593) was an English bishop. Life He was educated at the University of Oxford, but left before graduating. He was vicar of Coolock and Dunboyne, in Ireland, and then rector of Killare, County Meath. In 1579 he became bi ...

, Vicar of Coolock (and

Dunboyne Dunboyne () is a town in Meath, Ireland. It is a commuter town for Dublin. In the 20 years between the 1996 and 2016 censuses, the population of Dunboyne more than doubled from 3,080 to 7,272 inhabitants. Location Dunboyne is centred on the ...

, as well as Rector of Killure), was consecrated as

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 ...

in 1579 (he resigned from that office in 1581). The second, from 1615, refers to one John Credlan as "Rector of Coolock and Curate at Rathenny" (

Raheny Raheny () is a northern suburb of Dublin, Ireland, halfway from the city centre to Howth. It is centred on a historic settlement, first documented in 570 CE ( Mervyn Archdall). The district shares Dublin's two largest municipal parks, Saint Anne ...

). It is believed that the predecessor of the older

St. Assam's Church St. Assam's is the name of two historic churches in the village of Raheny, Dublin, one a ruin in the middle of the village, one the structurally sound but no longer primary church built for the local Roman Catholic community of the area after ...

in Raheny was built in the same period, c. 1609. By 1641, the Vicar of Coolock (and again, also Curate at Raheny) was Thomas Seele, who was also during his career Dean of St. Patrick's Cathedral and Precentor of Christ Church Cathedral.

New church

In 1760, a Parish Church, the Church of St. John the Evangelist (locally just "St. John's") was built on the site of the ruined Church of St. Brendan, on the banks of the

Santry River Santry River ( ga, Abhainn na Culoige) (formerly ''Skillings Glas'') is a fairly small river on the north side of Dublin city, one of the forty or so watercourses monitored by Dublin City Council. Course The Santry River rises at an elevat ...

at Tonlegee Road, opposite the Holy Well of St. Brendan, and later, a parochial hall was added. In 1820, the rector was Henry Moore, and from no later than 1837 to the 1860s, the office was held by William Maconchy, who is recorded as marrying Anna King at the parish church in 1823. In Samuel Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, the summation for 1837 is:

The living is a vicarage, in the diocese of Dublin, and in the patronage of the Marquess of Drogheda, in whom the rectory is impropriate: the vicarial tithes amount to £249. 4. 7½. There is a glebe-house, with a glebe comprising 17a. 2r. 25p. The church, dedicated to St. Brandon, a neat edifice, was partly rebuilt and enlarged, by aid of a loan of £500 from the late
Board of First Fruits The Board of First Fruits () was an institution of the Church of Ireland that was established in 1711 by Anne, Queen of Great Britain to build and improve churches and glebe houses in Ireland. This was funded from taxes collected on clerical inco ...
, in 1818. ... The parochial school, for which a house was built at an expense of £300, the gift of Sir Compton Domville, Bart., is supported by subscription, and, attended by 30 or 40 children. A school of 30 children, for which a handsome cottage has been built in the grounds of Beaumont, and an infants' school in connection with it, are wholly supported by Mrs. Guinness ...

The Lewis article includes the interesting points re. the right of presentation for the parish, the substantial glebe and tithe, and raises a question about the name of the church (which is also listed as St. Brendan's in Porter's Directory of 1912).

Towards Union

The Parishes of Raheny and Coolock shared in outings, Sunday School activities, the parish magazine and the World War I memorial in the years prior to 1920, and the Union of the parishes was first proposed in 1920. In the event, Coolock was instead placed in Union with the Parishes of

Glasnevin Glasnevin (, also known as ''Glas Naedhe'', meaning "stream of O'Naeidhe" after a local stream and an ancient chieftain) is a neighbourhood of Dublin, Ireland, situated on the River Tolka. While primarily residential, Glasnevin is also home t ...

and

Santry Santry () is a suburb on the northside of Dublin, Ireland, bordering Coolock, Glasnevin, Kilmore and Ballymun. It straddles the boundary of Dublin City Council and Fingal County Council jurisdictions. The character of the area has changed ...

. The Holy Well was covered over in the 1950s. 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 united parish also holds the Church of Ireland chaplaincies of Beaumont Hospital, St. Joseph's Hospital and St. Francis Hospice. {{DEFAULTSORT:Parish Of Coolock (Church Of Ireland) Coolock

Coolock Coolock () is a large suburban area, centred on a village, on Dublin city's Northside (Dublin), Northside in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Coolock is crossed by the Santry River, a prominent feature in the middle of the district, with a linear ...

Diocese of Dublin and Glendalough