Church of Our Lady of the Assumption is a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

church at NW side of the

roundabout A roundabout is a type of circular intersection or junction in which road traffic is permitted to flow in one direction around a central island, and priority is typically given to traffic already in the junction.''The New Shorter Oxford En ...

where Kylemore and Ballyfermot roads meet in

Ballyfermot Ballyfermot () is a suburb town nw of the city aside Dublin, Ireland. It is located, seven kilometres (5 miles) west of the city centre, south of Phoenix Park, it is bordered on the north by Chapelizod, on the south by Bluebell; on the east ...

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 ...

. St. Raphael's National School is beside it.

History

The first church in modern-day Ballyfermot existed in a former

Dublin Corporation Dublin Corporation (), known by generations of Dubliners simply as ''The Corpo'', is the former name of the city government and its administrative organisation in Dublin since the 1100s. Significantly re-structured in 1660-1661, even more sign ...

paint depot on O'Hogan Road which Father Donal O'Scannaill had purchased from

c.1950 for £200. This building had originally been a storage unit known as 'the painters hut' during the first housing phase of Ballyfermot. It was used from 1950 until Our Lady of the Assumption Church opened in 1953. This shed was also used as a soup kitchen, nicknamed in the locality the ‘Stew House’, where the

Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul The Company of the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul ( la, Societas Filiarum Caritatis a Sancto Vincentio de Paulo), commonly called the Daughters of Charity or Sisters of Charity of Saint Vincent De Paul, is a Society of Apostoli ...

served soup to the needy of the area. 'Our Lady’s of Victories Youth Club' began there also.

Éamonn MacThomáis Eamonn or Éamon or Eamon may refer to: * Eamonn (given name), an Irish male given name * Eamon (singer) (born 1983), American R&B singer-songwriter and harmonicist * ''Eamon'' (video game), a 1980 computer role-playing game for the Apple II *"Éam ...

, the Dublin historian and author, recalled in

The Irish Press ''The Irish Press'' (Irish: ''Scéala Éireann'') was an Irish national daily newspaper published by Irish Press plc between 5 September 1931 and 25 May 1995. Foundation The paper's first issue was published on the eve of the 1931 All-Ireland ...

in an article dated 2 June 1986 his contribution in helping Ballyfermot to get its new church. Mac Thomáis' parish church was the nearby St. Michael's in

Inchicore Inchicore () is a suburb of Dublin, Ireland. Located approximately west of the city centre, Inchicore was originally a small village separate from Dublin. The village developed around Richmond Barracks (built 1810) and Inchicore railway works (b ...

and one Sunday at mass Father Donal O'Scannaill (one of the curate’s in St Michael's and also assigned to help initialise the new parish of Ballyfermot) appealed over the altar for door-to-door collectors to help collect money to build a church in Ballyfermot. Mac Thomáis offered his services and within a week received his collector’s book to collect from what were then known as the 'newly wed houses' on Muskerry Road. There were many other events organised by Father Donal O'Scannaill and the community to raise funds for the new church, such as social evenings which included dances and rounds of the game ‘Take your Pick’, named after a popular radio show of the time. This was a game where the person playing had the choice to take money that was offered to them or open a box which could result in winning nothing. The biggest fundraiser for the building of Our Lady of the Assumption Church was the ‘Buy a

Block Block or blocked may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Block programming, the result of a programming strategy in broadcasting * W242BX, a radio station licensed to Greenville, South Carolina, United States known as ''96.3 ...

’ campaign whereby cement blocks were sold to the public at the cost of £1 each. 3,300 blocks were eventually sold in this way, raising much needed funds. People who could not afford to pay the £1 in one go were allowed to pay in instalments of 6d. a week until the block was paid off. Once a block had been paid for in full, the buyer received a souvenir receipt saying that they owned one cement block in the Church of Our Lady of the Assumption, Ballyfermot. The church was designed by Robinson, Keefe and Devine and built by John Hughes & Son. Work started in May 1951. The church cost £68,000 to build. The mahogany seats cost £10,000. Seating capacity in 1952 was for 1,980 people. Father Donal O'Scannaill wrote in an article for the twenty fifth anniversary of Our Lady Assumption Church entitled ‘The Joy of bringing the Blessed Sacrament in a solemn procession from the Painters hut to our lovely new church will abide with me forever’.

References

{{Reflist Churches of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin