This section includes deeds, leases and other documents relating to title to 133-134 Church Street and a yard at the rear of the said properties extending out onto 27 Bow Street. These plots are now partly occupied by the present-day Father Mathew Hall. Many of the documents relate to Fr. Nicholas Murphy’s efforts to secure these properties which enabled the extension of the Church Street Hall. A long-term lease of the properties was obtained in 1886 and the outright purchase of the plot was secured in 1963.
This section includes deeds, leases and other legal documents relating to the title to three houses fronting onto Church Street (nos. 138-140) which subsequently became part of the present-day Capuchin Friary. It was evident that Fr. Nicholas Murphy OSFC (1849-1923) and the other Capuchins friars were eager to purchase these derelict properties with the intention of ‘pulling down the houses’ in order to expand the Friary. In 1886, Fr. Nicholas succeeded in acquiring these plots which later became part of the Friary garden. By 1914, a solicitor reported that all traces of the original buildings and houses had completely disappeared.
This section includes deeds, leases and other related legal documents relating to title for 141 Church Street and properties at the rear thereof known as 1-3 Thunder’s Court. By the late 1880s, St. Mary of the Angels and the adjoining Capuchin Friary had been built, but the lack of any extra ground, apart from the sites on which these buildings stood, remained a great inconvenience. As part of an extension plan, a lease of the aforementioned properties was secured in 1888. This section also includes a lease of a property known as no. 151 Church Street dated 7 Sept. 1920.
This section includes deeds and leases relating to the acquisition of 142 Church Street, formerly known as ‘the Swan Inn’, which later became part of the present-day Capuchin Friary. In 1809, Fr. Patrick Corcoran OSFC secured a plot of ground between Bow Street and the old Capuchin chapel (built in 1796) on which he erected a building, the lower part of which formed what was known as the ‘Church Street Schools’, with the upper storey being used as a residence for some of the religious. By the 1870s, Fr. Daniel Patrick O’Reilly OSFC and other Capuchin friars from North King Street were keen to secure outright title to 142 Church Street in order to build a new friary adjacent to St. Mary of the Angels. Fr. O’Reilly wrote to his solicitor in March 1874 expressing his intent on ‘having it at any cost’. However, by this point, the title to the properties had become increasingly complicated as rents for the plots and title to the premises thereon were seemingly vested in joint owners. Nevertheless, the Capuchins succeeded in purchasing 142 Church Street at a public auction held on 30 March 1874.
This section includes deeds, leases and other legal documents relating to the acquisition of properties and plots of ground at 47-50 North King Street. In 1861, Fr. Lawrence Gallerani OSFC was appointed Capuchin Commissary General in Ireland. He immediately set about the task of building a new Capuchin Friary and Church in Dublin. When he could not procure any ground near the existing chapel on Church Street (except on a short lease of thirty years), he begun to look for another site, and found one at 47-50 North King Street. With the permission of the Most Rev. Paul Cullen (1803-1878), Archbishop of Dublin, he set about acquiring these sites. First, he got possession of nos. 49 and 50 and the two houses were fitted up as a temporary friary pending the erection of new buildings. On 23 July 1862, the Capuchin community left their residence at 18 Queen Street and took up residence in North King Street. Later that year, Fr. Gallerani obtained possession of two more houses (nos. 47-8), and on the advice of the Archbishop, began to build a friary before commencing work on a new church. Partly as a result of the opposition of the parish clergy of St. Michan’s, the Capuchins went no further on North King Street than building the friary which they inhabited for several years. The North King Street properties were sold by the Capuchins in 1883, when the present-day Friary was built on Church Street.
A flier titled 'A plea for the Catholic Boy’s Brigade by E.D. Daly'. The flier refers to the good works performed by Boys’ Brigade members in the Church Street area and seeks subscriptions to aid the organisation. It reads: ‘At present Church Street is not quite up to the mark of its energetic past. The sites of several of its rookeries of wickedness are now covered by Police Courts, and by buildings in which Capuchins carry on their work. …. How long this breeding ground of sin and crime existed in the past must be left to imagination. What is certain is that this worst spot of the worst city in Ireland was selected by the Capuchin Order as a place in which to live, beside the poor, and to help them against temptations to crime and intemperance. To anyone who can feel for the poor, and understand evils around them which they do not realise themselves, the way to Church Street from Sackville Street is still like a descent into Hades, if traversed about 8 p.m. at this time of year’. The file contains three copies of the document.
Abstract of title of Fr. Daniel Patrick O’Reilly OSFC, Fr. Lawrence Gallerani OSFC and Fr. James Edward Tommins OSFC to the premises known as 47-50 North King Street. The abstract provides a summary of the major title deeds and indentures affecting these premises. It commences with a recital of the lease by Frances MacDonnell of 19 Sept. 1862 (CA CS/2/2/4/13) and concludes with a lease by Fr. Daniel Patrick O’Reilly OSFC and others of said properties to John Reilly dated 29 Sept. 1869.
Abstract of title of Margaret Devlin to nos. 133-134 Church Street and no. 27 Bow Street held under lease dated 29 Oct. 1857 for a term of 31 years. (See CA CS/2/2/5/2). It is noted in the abstract that Margaret Devlin and Elizabeth Cordner hold the said properties as tenants in common. The abstract also contains conditions of sale for the premises.
Abstract of title of Thomas Douglas Yourell to house and premises situated at 47 North King Street. The abstract of title provides a summary of all the legal actions that have been performed or used in conjunction with the said property. The abstract commences with the lease of the property Frances MacDonnell to James Ball dated 13 Dec. 1854. (See CA CS/2/2/4/8). With related legal documents including notices, searches and counsel’s directions
Abstract of title of William Lygon Pakenham, 4th Earl of Longford, and Thomas Vesey, 3rd Viscount de Vesci, to premises on Church Street whereupon a Roman Catholic Church is built. The abstract provides a recital of title to this property commencing with the grant of lands by letters patent by King James II to the Most Rev. Michael Boyle, Archbishop of Dublin, on 13 June 1685 (See CA CS/2/2/1/1). The abstract concludes with reference to articles of agreement between the aforementioned William, Earl of Longford and Thomas, Viscount de Vesci (vendors) and Fr. Daniel Patrick O’Reilly OSFC (purchaser) of 4 May 1869 to sell the above-noted plot of ground subject to a quit rent of 6s 1d a year and for the sum of £1,000. The agreement specifies a number of terms including the furnishing by the vendors of an abstract of title in fee simple to the said premises on Church Street. The abstract should commence with the will of Charles Dunbar (3 Oct. 1778) ‘and the purchaser shall not require any evidence of the seizin or ownership of the said testator but should presume the premises passed under the residuary devise contained in the said will’. Other terms relate to inspection of deeds of title and arrangements regarding the payments of the purchase money. The file also includes copies of many of the deeds referred to in the foregoing abstract: • Copy will of Charles Dunbar. 3 Oct. 1778. • Copy memorial of Sir Hugh Dillon Massey and John Dillon to Thomas Vesey, 1st Viscount de Vesci and Edward Michael Pakenham, 2nd Baron Longford concerning the assignment of legacies. 14 Feb. 1784. • Copy declaration of trust between the Honourable Thomas Pakenham, Edward Michael Pakenham, 2nd Baron Longford, and Thomas Vesey, 1st Viscount de Vesci. 25 Apr. 1789.
