Graveyard

The National Monuments Service's description

The precise location of the cemetery belonging to St John's Priory and Hospital (DU018-020062-) has not been identified. In 1388, the Will of John Hamound requested that he be; 'buried in the cemetery of St. John [DU018-020062-], outside the New Gate [DU018-020377-], before the door of the church of St. Mary Magdalen [DU018-020069-], and he bequeaths to that church for masses twenty shillings; for wax, fifty pounds' (CARD Vol. 1, 129). This reference indicates that the church of St Mary Magdalen stood in the cemetery of St. John's Hospital. The location of this cemetery and church has not been precisely identified. The site was probably located on the N side of Thomas Street in the area now occupied by the Augustinian friary of St John and the buildings to the E and W of the friary.
In 1540 after the Dissolution of the Monasteries the Hospital of St. John Baptist (DU018-020062-) outside the New Gate (DU018-020377-), Dublin was described as follows; 'The church and site. After the dissolution, the church was thrown down, and the stones, tiles, timber, glass, and iron were sold by William Brabazon under-treasurer of Ireland to divers persons of the city of Dublin, whose names, and the sums paid by them, are not known. In the precinct, a house lately the chapel of St. Eligius (Eloi) [DU018-020073-], now occupied by Edmund Redman. A chapel of St. Margaret [DU018-020067-], now unoccupied for want of a tenant and of repairs, and worth nothing at present. A cemetery cont[aining]. about ½ acr., now unoccupied and worth nothing at present' (White 1943, 55-6). In 1609 Thomas Luttrell was granted; 'Two thirds of the site , &c. of the late hospital or priory of St John the Baptist with out Newgate- two - third parts of a house which was the chapel of St Eligius, of a cemetery, and of a house in which are 50 cells for sick, with a small piece of ground adjoining; a kitchen, a bawn, with other necessary buildings, which the prior of the said hospital used to occupy for his own use; of a house called Reverstre within the said church-yard; of 4 more houses, an orchard near the mill there, a garden, 3 water-mills within or near the said site, with the water-course, the whole being divided into three parts' (Cal. pat. rolls Ire., Jas I, 146-7).

Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien

Date of upload: 28 June 2023

References

Calendar of Ancient Records of Dublin: In the Possession of the Municipal Corporation of that City.

White, N.B. 1943 Extents of Irish monastic possessions, 1540-1541. Dublin. Irish Manuscripts Commission.

Cal. pat. rolls Ire., Jas I - Irish patent rolls of James I: facsimile of the Irish record commissioners' calendar prepared prior to 1830, with foreword by M.C. Griffith (Irish Manuscripts Commission, Dublin, 1966)