St. James' Church Archives - EXCELLENT STREET IMAGES

ACROSS FROM ST JAMES’ CHURCH

The architect Francis Sandys was responsible for a number of public fountains in Dublin including this obelisk on James Street in Dublin.

Official description: “Freestanding drinking fountain, erected 1790, comprising fluted Portland stone obelisk with projecting block and oval sundials to each face, ball finial to top, set on painted masonry plinth having carved human masks to each elevation, cast-iron wall-fountains to north, south and west elevations, plaque to east elevation. Surrounded by cast-iron bollards. Restored 1995.”

Originally a basin surrounded the pedestal, into which water flowed from the masks at the base, these were later replaced by the cast-iron fountains by T. Kennedy of Kilmarnock. The obelisk was refaced in 1932.

I have seen the street spelled as James street and James’s Street. For example Google Maps and other descriptions show this monument as being on James Street while a local school is named CBS James’s Street, even though it is on Basin Street.

I was told by a local historian/tourist guide that it was an old custom that funeral processions on passing the fountain would circle it three times before carrying on to the cemetery [I would take that with a pinch of salt as I have heard similar stories associated with other locations].

I have recently noticed that people are complaining online and elsewhere about the lack of fountains in Dublin. In my travels around the city I have come across fountains and would describe them as many and varied. They range, in type and style, from elaborate Victorian masterpieces and modern sculptures to more modest, practical installations. The bad news is that many of the older fountains have fallen into disuse and lie, long forgotten and derelict, in overlooked corners of the city. I have also noted that the majority are dry and have been so for decades.

NOW THE PEARSE LYONS DISTILLERY AND VISITOR CENTRE

I attended an event, relating to AI, which was organised by Virgin Media and as a result I had an opportunity to photograph some of the old graveyard at St. James’ Church but I only had a very small camera [Sony RX0]. Note: The date and time settings were out by a year so be aware that I visited in 2023 not in 2022.

St. James’ Church is a former Church of Ireland church in James’s Street, Dublin, Ireland. Established in 1707, the corresponding parish, which was separated from that of nearby St. Catherine’s, was established in 1710. There had been a shrine dedicated to St. James at nearby St. James’s Gate, a stopping-off point for pilgrims, since medieval times. It has been proposed that the current church is near to the site of a church to St. James of Compostella which is first referred to in the mid-13th century.

The existing church building dates from 1859 and was designed by Joseph Welland (1798–1860). It is the burial place of the Rev. John Ellis, for 34 years vicar of this parish, and of William Ellis, governor of Patna, India, who was killed during a war there in 1763.

In 2014, the church was bought by Pearse Lyons and converted into a distillery and visitor centre.

Thomas Pearse Lyons (3 August 1944 – 8 March 2018) was an Irish businessman and the founder and President of Kentucky-based Alltech Inc., an American animal health and nutrition company that is centred on innovation, research and development. Lyons was considered an “entrepreneur, salesman, marketer and scientist all rolled into one”, and was widely regarded in the agribusiness sector as an innovator and industry leader.

Although the present church only dates to the 18th century, there are records of burials as early as 1495 and it is believed that the cemetery may have been in use as early as the 13th century. Back in 2019 I was unable to explore the cemetery as it was overgrown and not accessible to the public. It is owned by the Dublin city council, and community efforts are underway to revive the tradition of annual cleaning and decoration.

In the centre of the cemetery is the monument of Sir Theobald Butler (1650-1720), of the Butlers of Ballyline, a prominent barrister who served as Solicitor General for Ireland and assisted in framing the articles of the Treaty of Limerick in 1691, and who advocated the Roman Catholic cause before Parliament. His monument has a Latin epitaph stating that it was erected by his eldest son “to the best of fathers.” Since Butler was a Catholic, it is noteworthy that the Church of Ireland made no objection to his being buried in St. James’. The monument was restored by Colonel Augustus Butler D.L. of County Clare, his descendant in the fourth generation, in 1876.

Sir Mark Rainsford, Mayor of Dublin and owner of the brewery which was sold to Arthur Guinness, was buried in St James in 1709. Also buried here is Sergeant-Major John Lucas, VC, who died 4 March 1892 and Sir William Haldane-Porter founder of the UK Immigration Service, who died in 1944.

Across the road from the church, in the middle of the road, is the Fountain, an obelisk with 4 sundials with a drinking fountain at its base, built in 1790 by the Duke of Rutland, the Lord Lieutenant