Meeting-house

The National Monuments Service's description

Anabaptist Meeting House annotated MH on Rocque's Map of Dublin dated 1757 where it is depicted as a square-shaped building set back from the street on the N side of Indian Alley (now Swift's Alley) in the parish of St. Nicholas, Without. On this map the building is shown standing immediately E of the parish boundary with St Catherine's which is depicted as a red line. This parish boundary is visible today on the historic OSi maps. Converted to free church by 1835 (Goodbody 2014, 47). Hardy (1831, 330) recorded that the first Baptist's came to Dublin around 1650 and 'held their meetings in Swift's Alley, and on the site of the old Meeting-house the present one was built in 1738. They hold the doctrine of adult baptism by immersion. The house is large, but the congregation has of late years very much declined'. According to Crawford Gribben, in 1653 Reverend Thomas Patient, a preacher in Dublin Cathedral built the first Baptist Meeting House in Ireland, in Swift's Alley (Indian Alley), Dublin (https://www.evangelical-times.org/the-early-irish-baptists/).

See attached section of Rocque's Map of Dublin 1757 showing Annabaptist Meeting House taken from https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b530637730/f1.item.r=DUBLIN%20DUBLIN.zoom

Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien

Date of update: 11 November 2022

References

Hardy, P.D. 1831 The new picture of Dublin. William Curry, Jun. and Co. Dublin.

Goodbody, R. 2014 Irish Historic Towns Atlas (IHTA), no. 26, Dublin, Part III, 1756 to 1847. Royal Irish Academy, Dublin.

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 .