Palmerstown Church

Foundations of the medieval Chapel of Palmerstown (Glenn Uisce) dedicated to St James stands in the centre of a circular-shaped graveyard (DU007-013003-) with holy well (DU007-013002-) in field c. 50m S of the graveyard. Ronan (1941, 23) recorded that Palmerstown was named after; ‘Ailred the Palmer (Crusader) who founded the Hospital of St. John the Baptist [DU018-020062-] outside Newgate [DU018-020377-], Dublin, before 1188. At this time Richard Camerarius gave the whole vill of Glennuge (Glenn Uisce), the modern Palmerstown, to the Hospital (Register of St. John’s Hospital, Newgate). The chapel was subservient to Baliogari [Garristown Church DU003-011001-] and its vicar was changed from perpetual to stipendiary (Repert. Virid.). It is said to have been dedicated to St. James’. The 1302-07 Ecclesiastical Taxation of the Deanery of Swords recorded that the Chapel of Palmerstown was worth £10 13s. 4d. and the tithe was valued at 21s. 4d. (Cal. doc. Ire. Vol. 5, 239). According to D'Alton (1838, 503); 'In 1561 the queen granted to Richard Netterville, all the messuages, lands, &c., belonging to the priory of St. John the Baptist, and situated in Palmerstown, near Greenock, &c., together with certain rectories in the counties of Carlow and Kildare'.

In 1615, the Royal Visitation of Dublin recorded that in the Deanery of Garristown, there was the vicarage of Garristown [DU003-011001-] with Palmerstown annexed to it (ibid.). In 1630, Archbishop Bulkeley’s Visitation of Dublin, recorded that; ‘Palmerstown is annexed unto Garrishtowne. It is an impropriation, farmed by the Lady Dungan, nowe married unto William Archbold, Esqr. The great tithes are worth xxviii libri per annum. The vicar certifies that he had not above xxs. a yeare out of it for theis tenn yeares past. The chauncell is downe. Almost all the parishioners are recusants’ (Ronan 1941, 68). In 1642 Sir Oliver Lambert passed patent for 255 acres, with the profits of a fair on the eve and day of St. James the Apostle, all parcel of the manor of Palmerstown near Greenock, and of the estate of the then late hospital of St. John the Baptist without Newgate, with sundry premises in Jordanstown and Cotterelstown (D'Alton 1838, 503). The 1654-56 Civil survey of Dublin mentions 'an old church at Palmerstown' (Simington 1945, 52). According to D'Alton (1838, 503); 'In 1667 the Duke of Ormonde had a grant of Palmerstown,six messuages, and 300 acres, Jordanstown 260 acres, and various other lands in this vicinity, which he immediately afterwards sold to the Archbishop of Armagh. In 1669 the rectory and tithes of Palmerstown near Greenock were granted (inter alia) to William Lord Viscount Dongan, and in 1675 the curacy was by act of council incorporated in the union of Clonmethan' [DU007-006001-]'.

D'Alton (ibid.) recorded the following details about Palmerstown church building; 'remains of a church, which had been dedicated to St. James; the area, measuring fourteen yards [14m] by five [5m], is closely filled with ash trees and hawthorns. This parish ranks as a vicarage in the union of Clonmethan, and gift of the Archbishop of Dublin. The church, together with certain lands and tenements in the parish, belonged at an early period to the priory of St. John the Baptist in Dublin, the rectory subsequently passed to that of St. John of Jerusalem at Kilmainham [DU018-020285-], whose fraternity appointed a perpetual vicar there at first, but subsequently, on account of the smallness of the profits, a stipendiary curate was substituted'.

In 1887 the Chapel of Palmerstown dedicated to St James was described by Walsh (1888, 246) as a; 'small rude building, with walls of rough masonry, of which a few small blocks remain. It is situated due E. and W., and is 48 feet [14.6m] long by 21 [6.4m] wide. The site of the chancel, stated to be a ruin A.D. 1630, cannot now be traced'.

Present poorly preserved remains consist of only the lower courses of the walls of this church (ext. dims. 15.75m E-W x 7.2m N-S; Wall T 0.83m) aligned E-W, which survives in two parts divided by the insertion of modern burials and headstones. Only the lower wall courses of the W gable (H 0.6-0.75m; ext. L 6.45m) and a short section of the N wall (L 3.8m; H 0.65m), the S wall of the church is only visible at the E end and is not visible elsewhere. Only the lower wall courses of the E gable (ext. L 7.2m; H 0.5m) survives with short sections of the N (L 4.75m; H 0.4m) and S (L 5.6m; H 0.4m) walls visible. A central section (Wth 7.2m) of the N wall has been removed where 19th/early 20th century graves now stand, and only a short section of the E end of the S wall remains, elsewhere there are no visible remains of the S wall.