Copy deeds, leases and solicitors’ correspondence relating to legal issues connected with the Father Mathew Hall property including of the purchase of the ground rent from Lord Congleton. The file includes copy correspondence from Sean Ó hUadaigh, solicitor, referring to the ‘plot of ground on which 11-15 May Lane formerly stood’ (20 Mar. 1969). Other correspondents include Montgomery and Chaytor, solicitors, 16-17 Clanwilliam Terrace, Grand Canal Quay, Dublin (relating to the title of the Merchant Tailors’ Charity to the Hall property); Frank Ward & Co., solicitors, Equity House, Upper Ormond Quay, Dublin, regarding the purchase of the freehold interest by Stephen Ducie of 1 & 1A Nicholas Avenue from the Capuchin Order (11 Apr. 1994). These copy documents were probably prepared by solicitors to clarify title in respect of the Father Mathew Hall property and adjoining cottages.
Letters from solicitors regarding the potential purchase of 151 Church Street (part of the Father Mathew Hall property) by clients who hold the said premises under a lease made on 7 Sept. 1920 from Fr. Peter Bowe OFM Cap. and others to Robert Kavanagh for the term of 150 years at the nominal rent of 5d per year.
Correspondence from insurance companies mainly regarding public liability policies for the hiring by third parties of Father Mathew Hall. The file includes letters from Legal & Commercial Ltd., 23 Clyde Road, Dublin 4; Church & General, Gael Scoil Colaiste-Mhuire, Parnell Square, Dublin 1; M.B. Fitzpatrick, Insurance Consultants, 94 Mount Prospect Avenue, Dublin 3. The issues referred to include claims for theft of cash and personal injury, and insurance cover for Feis trophies and cups.
Letters from Montgomery and Chaytor, solicitors, 28-30 Burlington Road, Dublin 4, regarding claims for the payment of £100 per annum in rent on behalf of the Merchant Tailors’ Charity arising out of a lease (dated 13 Aug. 1889 for 150 years) of some of the Father Mathew Hall properties.
Newspaper cutting reporting on a local tradition regarding the Alms’ House attached to the Capuchin Church founded in Kilkenny in the seventeenth century.
Although the Irish Capuchins had a long tradition of involvement with the temperance movement, their connection with this apostolate was reinvigorated in 1905 when the Catholic hierarchy invited the Order to preach a ‘national crusade’ on the merits of total abstinence. The Capuchins’ commitment to sobriety as a moral and social ideal was promoted through the founding of lay sodalities and temperance halls where the pledge to abstain from alcohol was taken. The Father Mathew Memorial Hall on Church Street was opened in 1891. Funded by voluntary subscriptions, this temperance hall was built by Joseph Kelly & Sons of Thomas Street, Dublin. The total cost was about £4,000. It was designed by Walter Glynn Doolin and was initially plainly decorated. Before the addition of extensions in 1904 the main auditorium was 73 feet in length and 39 feet wide. In total, there was accommodation for about 900 people. There was also a coffee bar, a billiard room, and a reading room. The interior of the auditorium was greatly embellished in 1909 when an elaborate proscenium arch, stage and gallery were added. The plasterwork was executed by the firm of John Ryan of Upper Abbey Street to the designs of Anthony Scott of O’Connell Street, Dublin. This series comprises records relating to the Hall’s primary function to promote sobriety ‘by providing instruction and healthful amusement’. It should be noted that the Hall’s drama group, band, debating society and athletics’ club were initially only open to total abstainers. The records also reflect the varied social functions of the Hall.
Minute book of the Committee of the Total Abstinence Sodality, Father Mathew Hall, Church Street. The volume includes various newspaper clippings reporting the laying of the foundation stone (2 Feb. 1890) and the opening of Father Mathew Hall, Church Street (25 Jan. 1891). The volume includes clippings from the 'Catholic Times', the 'Freeman’s Journal' and the 'Daily Sketch'. The volume also includes manuscript and newspaper clipping reports of weekly public meetings of the sodality in the Hall. The minutes report resolutions in respect of financial accounts, general administration and the ministering of the pledge to members. The meetings were ordinarily chaired by Fr. Columbus Maher OSFC, President of the Sacred Thirst Abstinence League. The final pages of the volume contain newspaper clippings reporting on the death of Fr. Columbus on 10 Sept. 1894. The clippings also cover his funeral and the various tributes paid to him for his work in promoting temperance.
Flier from the Halston Street Total Abstinence Society seeking subscriptions to fund the building of a new Hall on a site ‘secured at the junction of Church Street and Bedford Street’. The flier notes that ‘until now the work [of the Sodality] has been done in a wretchedly small hall which is no longer available for the perpetuation and increase of this great social reform’. The flier also provides a list of subscriptions for the fund.
