Meeting-house

The National Monuments Service's description

In 1752 the first Methodist chapel in Ireland founded by John Wesley was opened at Whitefriar Street, partially on the site of the medieval Carmelite Priory (DU018-020049-) (Smith 1830, 41). This meeting house annotated 'M.H' is depicted on Rocque's Map of 1756, where it is shown as a square-shaped building standing on the S side of White Friar Lane (Lennon & Montague 2010, 49). John Wesley obtained a 90 year lease of this site in Whitefriar Street, the building consisted of a square-shaped building with an internal porch, a gallery on three side and furnished with backless benches. Over the chapel was a hall of the same size, divided into two rooms by moveable partitions, which could provide living accommodation for the preachers or meeting rooms of various sizes. The lease was not renewed to the Methodist community and the building was acquired by the Carmelite Order. In 1891 the Irish Builder recorded that; 'A few years since, the Fathers of the Carmelite Order purchased the old Methodist Meeting-house in Whitefriar-street, which they converted into a school-house. At the rere of this old building was the ancient cemetery of the Carmelite community' (Irish Builder 15 Sept. 1891, 210-1).

See attached section of Rocque's 1756 Map of Dublin showing the Methodist Meeting House and 1847 ed. OSi 6-inch map showing Whitefriar's Hall. "City of Dublin," held by Ordnance Survey Ireland. © Public domain. Digital content: © Ordnance Survey Ireland, published by UCD Library, University College Dublin <http://digital.ucd.ie/view/ucdlib:40863>

Compiled by: Geraldine Stout

Revised by: Caimin O'Brien

Date of revised upload: 13 December 2022

References

Lennon, C. and Montague, J. 2010 John Rocque's Dublin: a guide to the Georgian City. Dublin. Royal Irish Academy.

Rocque, J. 1756 An exact survey of the city and suburbs of Dublin. Available at https://libguides.ucd.ie/findingmaps/mapshistDublin Accessed on 5 January .

Rocque, J. 1760 An Actual Survey of the County of Dublin, on the same Scale, as those of Middlesex, Oxford, Berks and Buckinghamshire. Available at http://sdublincoco.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=e0c5595b033341dea7661e248d2e9ee9// [Accessed 21 September 2016]