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Assignment from John Smith, Phibsborough, to William Rice Meredith, Summer Hill, Dublin, of the messuage, tenements and dwelling house referred to in the conveyance of 11 Feb. 1784 (CA CS/2/2/3/1) subject to a covenant for perpetual renewal and in trust for the use of his brother, Henry Smith, an ironmonger, Capel Street, Dublin. The copy was prepared by Frederick Kennedy, solicitor, 4 Lower Ormond Quay, Dublin. With a copy deed of assignment.

Legal documents arising out of efforts to establish title to the properties known as nos. 138-140 Church Street. The properties consisted of three dwelling houses fronting onto Church Street and four houses in Willis’s Court. In 1886, Fr. Nicholas Murphy OSFC and other Capuchin friars agreed to purchase John Coyle’s interest in a lease of the properties dated 28 May 1856 (See CA CS/2/2/3/2). The Capuchins also intimated an interest in purchasing the interest of John Coyle’s landlord, Frederick Kennedy, whose title derived from a lease of the premises for lives renewable forever at the yearly rent of £27 6s 0 (late Irish currency) dated 2 Oct. 1783. It was resolved that Coyle would take a conveyance of the properties from Kennedy (See CA CS/2/2/3/10) and that Coyle would then convey the interests in both leases to the Capuchins. The transfer of the properties was rendered more difficult by the loss of the original lease of 2 Oct. 1783 and by the absence of registered copies of Kennedy’s renewal leases of 28 Dec. 1815 and 13 June 1856 (See CA CS/2/2/3/1). The file includes legal documents generated in order to prove title to the interests held by both Coyle and Kennedy and to facilitate the transfer of the premises to the Capuchin friars. The documents include:
• Copy memorial of a lease (2 Oct. 1783) from George Kiernan, apothecary, and others to Robert Shutter, merchant, of the above-noted properties for lives renewable forever at the yearly rent of £27 6s 0. Copy made at the Registry of Deeds, 10 Mar. 1883.
• Assignment from John Hanrick and Joseph Bolger of the aforementioned premises to John Coyle in consideration of the sum £220. 2 Apr. 1883. With copies of said assignment.
• Abstract of title of Maryanne O'Brien and the trustees of the will of the late James Willis to houses and premises at 138-140 Church Street with four houses at the rear of 139 Church Street in Willis's Court. 20 Apr. 1883.
• Copy will and probate of John Willis, 139 Church Street, Dublin, 4 Feb. 1865. Willis died on 24 Feb. 1865. The copy will was compiled by Frederick Kennedy, 4 Lower Ormond Quay, c.1886.
• Instructions for Philip White, barrister, to advise on title occasioned by the transfer of nos. 138-140 by John Coyle to Fr. Nicholas Murphy and other Capuchin friars. The instructions refer to the intention of the Capuchin friars to demolish the four houses in Willis’s Court and to sell or demise the three houses fronting onto Church Street for a period of twenty years. White wrote: ‘On the whole I would, having regard to the fact that no other premises will suit the querists’ [the Capuchins] purpose, and to the fact that querists have had the risk of being restrained from pulling down the houses thoroughly explained to them and that they are prepared to run the risk, accept the title shown both to Coyle’s and Kennedy’s interests’. 23 Nov. 1886.
• Abstract of title of Frederick Kennedy to premises on Church Street. The abstract commences with a recital of the lease of George Kiernan and others to Robert Joseph Shutter of a ‘messuage, tenement and dwelling house … situate on the west side of Church Street ... containing in the front to the said street from north to south 55 feet, in the rear 22 feet, and in depth from east to west 185 feet … situate in the parish of St. Michan, for lives renewable forever at the yearly rent of £27 6s 0d. The abstract concludes with reference to an assignment of said premises by Henry Smith to Frederick Kennedy (12 Mar. 1883). The document was prepared by Frederick Kennedy in c.Nov. 1886.
• Conveyance and assignment by John Coyle to Fr. Nicholas Murphy OSFC and others of the aforementioned properties. In consideration of £710. 14 Jan. 1887.
• Conveyance by Fr. Nicholas Murphy OSFC and others to Fr. Paul Neary OSFC and others of the aforementioned properties on Church Street to hold in fee simple. (17 Mar. 1888).

Assignment from Henry Smith, Capel Street, ironmonger, to Frederick Kennedy, 4 Lower Ormond Quay, of the messuage, tenements and dwelling house known as nos. 138-140 Church Street. The deed also assigns the arrears of rent due on the properties to Frederick Kennedy. In consideration of £150. The file includes a copy of the deed of assignment.

Copy lease of William Tankerville Chamberlain (1751-1802) , Justice of the Peace, Court of King’s Bench, Dublin, to William Hamilton and Mountjoy Hamilton, Stafford Street, Dublin, of a dwelling house on Church Street ‘near the old bridge’ for 900 years at the yearly rent of £10. The original lease is dated 4 March 1796. The copy was made at the Registry of Deeds for Thomas Falls, solicitor. The file includes a copy memorial of the said lease.

Lease of Ann Boyd, widow, Jane Hamilton, Ann Boyd, spinsters, and Henry Lawes Luttrell (1737-1821), 2nd Earl of Carhampton to Mathew Butler of a house with its appurtenances situated on the north side of King Street, Oxmanstown, Dublin, for 999 years at the yearly rent of £44. With a later copy.

Lease by Mary O’Brien, Phibsborough Road, widow, to Patrick Regan, North King Street, corn merchant, of a yard situated between Patrick Mathew’s holding on North Brunswick Street and Patrick Regan’s holding on North King Street, for 999 years at the yearly rent of 1d. (See CA CS/2/2/4/14).

The present-day St. Mary of the Angels on Church Street is the third chapel to be built on this site. Roscommon House, which housed the original late seventeenth-century chapel, stood on ground situated to the front of the modern church. This first church, already repaired in 1736, was taken down and a slightly larger one erected in 1796. The Irish Capuchin Archives holds an eighteenth-century account book of the Dublin Capuchin community which seems to be have been used for the registering of the names of subscribers towards the rebuilding of the chapel and which contains the names of benefactors. Unfortunately, the account book bears no date but it may refer to either the repair work of 1736 or to the building of the 'second church' in 1796 (See CA CS/3/1/1). The plot of ground on which the original church stood was acquired in a lease of 4 August 1826 from Thomas Pakenham, 2nd Earl of Longford, and John Vesey, 2nd Viscount de Vesci to Fr. Bonaventure Delaney OSFC. This lease described the plot as being ‘formerly in the possession of James Topham and afterwards in the tenancy of Robert Clements … and whereupon a Roman Catholic chapel is now built’. (See CA CS/2/2/1/2). Another lease of 1834 dealing with property which adjoined the church and which is now incorporated into the grounds of the present-day Friary describes the plot as being bounded on the south side by what was formerly known as Roscommon House, ‘now a chapel and chapel yard’. It appears that damage caused to the 1796 Church by the great storm of January 1839 may have given added impetus to the building of a larger edifice. At any rate, the Capuchin friars were finding their church inadequate and were considering building a larger structure as well as an adjoining friary residence for the religious.
A major difficulty confronting the friars in the matter of building a new chapel was the lack of space on Church Street on which to expand. Although the site of the church was sold in fee simple in 1875 to Fr. Daniel Patrick O’Reilly OSFC (1831-1894) for an extended period of time no further ground could be procured. In 1861, Fr. Lawrence Gallerani OSFC, an Italian friar, was appointed Commissary-General of the Capuchins in Ireland and quickly set about building a new friary and church in Dublin. For some time, Fr. Gallerani gave consideration to building a new chapel on North King Street. However, the Capuchins went no further than establishing a small friary on the site of 49-50 North King Street and plans to build a church on an adjoining site on this street came to nothing. By the late 1860s, the difficulties experienced by Gallerani in securing a plot of ground-space adjacent to the existing chapel on Church Street had been overcome as in 1867 some property was acquired from Jameson & Sons. The friars lost no time in laying the groundwork for a new church. The foundation stone was laid on 12 June 1868 by Archbishop Paul Cullen. A significant portion of the church was built by direct labour with a clerk of works supervising the tradesmen in carrying out the instructions of the architect, James Joseph McCarthy (1817-1882). The façade of the church was not completed until 1882. The Church of St. Mary of the Angels was formally dedicated on 4 October 1882 by Cardinal Edward McCabe, Archbishop of Dublin. Aside from deeds and leases relating to the St. Mary of the Angels site, this section also contains documents recording legal declarations and obligations in respect of the construction of the church in the latter half of the nineteenth century.

Copy Letters Patent to the Most Rev. Michael Boyle, Archbishop of Dublin, of amongst other lands a plot of inhabited ground ‘containing in breadth in the front 21 yards and in length backward 54 yards … the former property of Nicholas, Lord Viscount Netterville of Douth and his son Luke Netherville Esq., whereon was built stables and coachhouses and one stack of chimneys and all enclosed with stone walls lying and being in Oxmanstown, Dublin … to be held of the Castle of Dublin in free and common soccage … at the yearly rent of 6s 6d. The copy appears to have been made c.14 May 1868 for perusal by purchasers. The copy was compiled by Terence O’Reilly, solicitors, 18 Bachelor’s Walk, Dublin. There are several endorsements extant on the title page including a note indicating that this copy along with a case opinion and letter were sent to Mr. Reeves and Mr. O’Connell.

The Catholic Boys’ Brigade was founded by Fr. Benvenutus Guy OSFC (1860-1927), a Capuchin friar, in March 1894. Mainly composed of impoverished children from the Church Street area, the organisation was initially called St. Joseph’s Boys’ Brigade. The stated objects of the Brigade were ‘to crush vice and evil habits among boys, to instruct them thoroughly in the Christian doctrine … to give them habits of obedience, discipline, and self-respect and love for ecclesiastical authority and holy religion and to promote their moral, physical and temporal well-being’. The idea of forming a Brigade for the Catholic boys of Dublin sprung from the success achieved by the Protestant Boys’ Brigade. The first meeting hall of the Brigade was in a house in Smithfield which was rented at 5s per week. This meeting was held on 24 April 1894 with nine boys in attendance. The organisation grew rapidly. The Brigade Hall was soon relocated to a property (formerly a smelting foundry) at 156 Church Street which was purchased for the sum of £300. The organizing committee also succeeded in obtaining the use of an old vegetable market at the rear of the Hall which was used as a drill yard in 1895. The newly furnished hall and gallery could hold 1,500 attendees. A uniform was supplied to each enrolled boy consisting of a sash, a cap and a badge. An important aspect of the Brigade’s activities was physical exercise and participants routinely trained in ‘physical drilling, figure marching, squad and company drills’. A band was also established under the supervision of Fr. Sebastian O’Brien OSFC (1867-1931). A night-school for instructing illiterate young boys was founded in October 1899 and soon attracted thirty-five students. Religious instruction was supplied by the Capuchin friars. This was initially performed by Fr. Benvenutus Guy OSFC and later by Fr. Paul Neary OSFC (1857-1939). In 1904 the Church Street Capuchins transferred trusteeship of the properties owned by the Catholic Boys’ Brigade to lay stewardship.