Glebe Church

The remains of the medieval All Saint's parish church of Ballymadun stands in the W quadrant of a walled graveyard (DU006-002002-) SW of the present St Joseph's Catholic Church. The 1302-07 Ecclesiastical Taxation of the Deanery of Swords recorded that the Church of Ballymadun was worth 20 marks and the tithe was valued at 2 marks, while the vicarage of the same was valued at 4 marks and the tithe was valued at 5s. 8d. (Cal. doc. Ire. Vol. 5, 239). In 1615, the Royal Visitation of Dublin recorded that in the Deanery of Garristown, there was the vicarage of Balmadon [Ballyamdun/Baile macDun), valued at £10 per annum, whose vicar was ‘Nicholaus Becan’, the vicarage had ‘Good books’ and a reading minister, the building condition was described as a ‘Chancella in ruyn’ (chancel in ruin) (Ronan 1941, 23). According to Ronan (1941, 23) Ballmadun Church was granted to the Augustinian nunnery of Grace Dieu (DU007-015001-) ‘about 1212 by Archbishop de Loundres in exchange for St. Audoen's [DU018-020075-] which had been granted to the convent by Comyn [Mason 1820, 52]. It was dedicated to All Saints and had a chapel of the Blessed Virgin. It had annexed to it the chapel of Boraneston, i.e. the vill of William Bartune (Barhune). The Lord of Gormanstown was the patron in 1531 (Repert. Virid.; Register of Wills, 6, 30, 94)’. In 1630, Archbishop Bulkeley’s Visitation of Dublin, recorded that; ‘Balmadon is ‘an impropriation, farmed to Mr. Patricke Barnewall of Shallon. The greate tythes are worth lx libri per annum. The church is in ruin, the chauncell downe, and wants all ornaments befitting. There is a vicarage indowed uppon the parsonage, worth seaven pounds per annum, and William Tedder is vicar there’ (Ronan 1941, 69). The 1654-56 Civil Survey of Dublin mentioned the 'walles of ye Parish Church at Balmadon' (Simington 1945, 25). D'Alton (1838, 499-500) recorded the following details about Ballymadun; 'the ruins of a church which had been dedicated to All Saints. One side of the building is perfect and thickly enveloped with ivy. Here was also the cell of an anchoritess. About the year 1184 John Earl of Morton gave certain lands in Ballymadun to Elias le Cordewaner, from whom the subdenomination of Cordwainstown derives its name. In 1200 Sir John de Courcy gave a moiety of the lands of "Ballymadunan" to Christ's Church Dublin. About the year 1220 Archbishop de Loundres annexed the parish church of Ballymadun, with the chapelry belonging thereto, to the nunnery of Grace Dieu [DU007-015001-], in recompence for the parish church of St. Audeon [DU018-020075-], Dublin, which that establishment had previously held by grant from Archbishop Comyn, on which occasion the Prioress of Grace Dieu was bound to pay certain chief rents to the anchoritess here. In 1237 Ralph de Turberville had a grant in fee from the crown of the manor of Ballymadun , at the annual rent of one pair of gilt spurs. In 1344 Walter de la Hoyde had a grant of the manor of Ballymadun with the vicarage appendant. In 1353 the king committed to Roger de Mortimer the custody of said manor; and in 1422 William Scrivener, Constable of the Castle of Nicholstown, had a grant of all the lands , tenements , rents , and services in Ballymadun, to hold while in the king's hands. The manor subsequently passed to the Preston family, and in 1508 Lord Gormanston conveyed it, with other estates in the County of Dublin, to trustees to the uses of his will. That vicarage was in 1539 valued to the First Fruits at £4 18s.; while an inquisition of 1542 finds, that the Prioress of Grace Dieu was seised of a portion of the tithes here; and another of 1579 finds, that the cell of Ballymadun had been, before its suppression, seised of the manor of Ballymadun and the advowson of the parish church there, with fourteen messuages and

about 400a of land in Ballymadun, five messuages and 210a in Nutstown, two messuages and 182a in Wyestown, and eight messuages and 238a in Cordwainstown, besides certain chief rents. In 1598 John Barnewall died seised of the rectory of Ballymadun, which he held of the crown in free and common socage'.

In 1887 the Church of Ballymadun was described by Walsh (1888, 246) as; 'It is still easy to trace the outline of the nave, 51 feet [15.5m] by 30 [9.1m], and chancel, 26 feet [7.9m] by 24 [7.3m], running due E and W. The church was a large one. There was apparently a tower at the W end. Parts of the S wall only remain standing, with a few imperfect windows in it, and a ragged arch of the entrance porch'.

Only a section of the S wall (dims. L 15.9m; Wall T 0.9m; H 0.6m) of the nave and chancel church with residential W tower survives above ground. There is a gap in the S wall at the W end with a rebate (Wth 1.5m) which may represent the location of the original church doorway. The external face of the S wall has a buttress or short section of wall running S (T 1.25m x Wth 1.18m). An artificial rise W of the wall (Dims. 4.5m E-W; 9m N-S) represent the site of the levelled residential tower of Ballymadun church. The remains of the S wall have been repointed.