page_title: St. Werburgh's Church, Dublin
section_title: The church
hierarchical_section_title: St. Werburgh's Church, Dublin / The church
caption_attribution_description: English: A drawing of St. Werburgh's church in Dublin in 1808.
context_page_description: St. Werburgh's Church is a Church of Ireland church building in Dublin, Ireland. The original church on this site was built in 1178, shortly after the arrival of the Anglo-Normans in the town.
  It was named after St. Werburgh, abbess of Ely and patron saint of Chester. The current building was constructed in 1719. It is located in Werburgh Street, close to Dublin Castle.
context_section_description: In Celtic and Danish times, the parish was known as that of 
  St. Martin of Tours, and his church stood near the south end of Werburgh Street. After St. Werburgh's Church was constructed it was much frequented by Bristol men, who were amongst the earliest settlers in Dublin. It contained chapels in honour of Our Lady, St. Martin and St. Catherine.
  The original church was burned down in 1311 (along with much of the city) and was rebuilt. From the time of Archbishop Henry de Loundres (died 1228), St. Werburgh's was appropriated to the Chancellor of St. Patrick's. By 1559 the nearby church of St. Mary del Dam on Dame Street was closed and its parish incorporated in that of St. Werburgh’s, which meant that St. Werburgh’s became the parish church of Dublin Castle.
  Primate James Ussher was appointed to this church in 1607, and Edward Wetenhall, afterwards Bishop of Kilmore, author of the well-known Greek and Latin Grammars, was curate here. Swift's friend, Dr. Patrick Delany (1685–1768), was rector of the parish in 1730.
  During the 17th century conflicts erupted between the parish of St. Werburgh and that of nearby St. John the Evangelist (located in Fishamble Street) over parish boundaries. Each vestry wanted houses to levy rates on. The contested houses were in Copper Alley and those around Essex Gate and Essex Bridge.
  The church needed replacement by the end of the seventeenth century. An act of 1715 which passed through the Irish Parliament appointed commissioners for building a new church. Colonel Thomas Burgh, M.P. for Naas, Surveyor-General for Public Buildings, was entrusted with the erection of the new structure. This was completed, so far as to admit of the celebration of divine service, in 1719, at a cost of £8,000. However, it was damaged by fire in 1754 and did not re-open until 1759. The present interior dates from this time, and was designed by John Smyth.
  Perhaps it is because of this that the area's fire engines used to be stored in the church porch; the church today holds the oldest surviving fire appliances in the city.
  In the eighteenth century St. Werburgh's came into vogue as the parish church of the British Lord Lieutenant and his entourage, where he had his own Viceregal pew inserted in 1767. In fact the pew register for this church lists many of the persons prominent in Dublin public life in this century. Around the same time John Smith (or Smyth) was the architect of an upper gallery for schoolchildren.  The tower and spire were added the following year.  The spire was removed around 1810 by the Castle authorities as a security measure, as it overlooked the Castle yard.  They used as an excuse that the tower was unsafe (whereupon the architect Francis Johnston offered to make it safe, but was rejected); the tower was felled twenty-six years later.
  The interior of the church was re-modeled in 1877 by the architect William Welland, when the parish was united with that of St. John the Evangelist.
caption: St. Werburgh's in 1808, showing the tower and steeple
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