The Church of St John the Baptist, Drumcondra and North Strand Church serve the Church of Ireland (Anglican) community in the Drumcondra, Marino, East Wall, Ballybough area of North Dublin. Today, with two churches, it is administered as a single unit having one select vestry. Drumcondra (Clonturk) was an appendage of the Priory of All Saints (All Hallows), founded in the twelfth century by Diarmait Mac Murchada, King of Leinster. After the dissolution of the monasteries the Corporation of Dublin became proprietor of Clonturk and was responsible for the church’s maintenance until Disestablishment. The present church of St John the Baptist was rebuilt in 1743 at the expense of Miss Mary Coghill of Drumcondra House. Drumcondra churchyard has some interesting associations. Interred here are James Gandon, architect of the Custom House, Four Courts, etc; Patrick Heeney, who composed the melody for ‘A Soldier’s Song’, now our National Anthem; members of the Jameson whiskey-distilling family; and many other notable citizens. North Strand had its origins in the North Strand Sunday and Daily School, established in 1786 by benevolent individuals keen to improve the prospects of the children in what was then a very poor neighbourhood. The present church dates from 1838. In 1896 the Union of Drumcondra and North Strand was formed. St Barnabas’ Church was built in 1870 on the North Lotts to serve the workers connected with the developing port of Dublin at North Wall. The cost was defrayed by the trustees of the estate of Miss Jane Shannon, under whose will a number of churches were built. The author and playwright Seán O’Casey was a parishioner. In 1956 it was separated from St Thomas’s and joined to Drumcondra and North Strand to form the present parish. St Barnabas’ Church was thereupon closed and subsequently demolished. Compiled by Brian Freeman as part of a Church of Ireland project to collate 300 word potted histories of all parishes in Ireland!
