Chapel

The National Monuments Service's description

The Church of the Immaculate Conception (1830) also known as Adam and Eve's, is a Roman Catholic church run by the Franciscans which replaced an early 18th century chapel called Adam and Eve Chapel and a secon adjoining chapel called Rosemary Lane Chapel which was built on the site of a mass-house which existed c. 1605 (De Courcy 1996, 198-199). The two chapels are shown at this location on Rocque's 1756 Map of Dublin City.
This Adam and Eve Chapel was described in 1749 as follows; 'Adam and Eve chapel, so called from a sign of that name near it in Cook Street, was adapted to the use of the Franciscan Friars by Father Francis Walsh; but it fell down on a Sunday and killed many who were then waiting for a sermon from Sylvester Lloyd, Titular Bishop of Waterford. It was afterwards rebuilt by the care and at the solicitation of said Lloyd, then Guardian of the Franciscan Friars in Dublin, being since repaired and altered by others. The altar-piece is a large painting of the Crucifixion and of the Assumption and Annunciation: behind the pulpit, which stands on the Epistle side, is a room for the preacher to rest in; there is a small altar under the pew gallery facing the great altar, which was raised at the expense of the Freizemongers in High Street. There are two galleries, that on the Epistle side serves for a Choir, and the other is full of pews, and was built at the sole expense of one Major Stafford.
Adjacent to the chapel is a house that lodges eight Friars with a closet to each chamber' (Donnelly 1904, 15).
According to Donnelly (1904, 35-6); 'Some kind of a Chapel in Cook Street existed and was served by the Franciscans ever since they got back to Dublin between 161 5 and 1620. But it must have been of a migratory character, sometimes in one house, sometimes in another. Adam and Eve Chapel, properly so called, would seem to date no farther back than the opening years of the reign of George I. — 1714-15. The appointment of Sylvester Lloyd as Bishop of Waterford dates from about that period. The manuscript tells us that he rebuilt it, and again about 1749 it underwent additions, repairs, and alterations, so that the new Chapel measured 80 feet in length by 20½ in width. In 1756 the Friars purchased the house No. 5 Merchant's Quay, which they fitted up as a convent. In 1830 Ambrose Leet of No. 4 Merchant's Quay leased a piece of ground adjoining "Adam and Eve Chapel" to Rev. John Murphy, O.S.F., and in 1832, the Friars took down the Chapel built in 1749, and on its site and partly on the demised ground, which included the site of Rosemary Lane Chapel, they built the present new Church of St. Francis of Assisi, having an entrance both from Merchant's Quay and Cook Street'.

Rosemary Lane Chapel was described by Donnelly (1904, 32) as follows; 'On the restoration of the Monarchy, and for some years after, it is not possible in the present state of our information to say where St. Michael's Chapel, which also served the old Parishes of St. John, St. Werburgh, and St. Nicholas Within, stood, but we shall not be far astray if we fix 1670 or thereabouts as the probable date, when an old stable in Skipper's Alley was rented and converted into a Chapel. In 1728 this old stable fell, and another similar stable was rented by Dr. John Clinch, the Parish Priest, on the west side of Rosemary Lane, the narrowest lane in Dublin. In 1740, or thereabouts, the stable, being ruinous, was taken down, and a commodious Chapel built on the same site. It was only separated from the Franciscan Chapel of Adam and Eve by a brick wall, and both sites are now comprised within the area the existing Franciscan Church fronting to Merchant's Quay'. This chapel was described in 1749 as; 'Rosemary Lane chapel serves as a parochial one for the popish inhabitants of St. Michael's, St. John's, St. Nicholas Within and St. Werburgh's. It was formerly kept in Skipper's Lane, but was removed from thence about 1726 or 1727 to the place where it now stands by the pains of one John Clinch [P.P.] who procured collections for it. The altar-piece is a large painting of the Crucifixion, placed between two pillars. That on the Gospel side serves as a Communion Altar and for Confessionals; that in the middle opposite the altar is for the better sort of the congregation, and in the front of the gallery on the epistle side (which serves for the Choir) is the pulpit. It is the only chapel in Dublin that has not a tabernacle on the altar'.

Donnelly, N. 1904 Roman Catholics: state and condition of Roman Catholic chapels in Dublin, both secular and regular AD 1749. Dublin.

See attached section of Rocque's 1756 Map of Dublin City which which shows Adam and Eve Chapel and a second chapel to the E called Rosemary Lane Chapel.

Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien

Date of upload: 4 July 2023

References

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 .

De Courcy, J. 1996 The Liffey in Dublin. Dublin. Gill and Macmillan.