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ON A REALLY COLD DAY IN DECEMBER

Thomas Street is one of only four streets in Dublin where street trading is permitted (the other three being Wexford Street, Henry Street, and Moore Street).

Thomas Street runs from Cornmarket to the Saint James’s Gate Brewery, where Guinness is brewed; there Thomas Street connects with James’s Street.

The National College of Art and Design is located on Thomas Street, as is John’s Lane Church, which has the highest steeple in the city, Vicar Street (music venue), Michelin-starred restaurant Variety Jones, St. Catherine’s church where the patriot Robert Emmet was executed, as well as The Thomas House bar and venue.

Thomas street is named after the church of St. Thomas, founded in 1175 near St. Catherine’s church. The founder was William FitzAldelm, deputy and kinsman of King Henry II. The church was dedicated to Thomas Beckett (St. Thomas the Martyr), who had recently been murdered in his own cathedral at Canterbury by followers of the king. The church became a rich and powerful monastery, which controlled the Liberty of Thomas Court and Donore. In 1539 it was dissolved with all the monasteries by Henry VIII. Over the following 150 years the churches in the neighbourhood passed over to the reformed church, while Roman Catholic priests led a precarious existence tending to the larger part of the population, which remained faithful to the old religion.

From the mid-16th century the Lord of this Liberty was the Earl of Meath, whose family acquired the lands of the monastery from Henry VIII when he dissolved the monasteries.

In 1803 this street was the scene of the events surrounding the insurrection organised by Robert Emmet, where Lord Kilwarden was killed. Many of the participants in what turned out to be a riot were from this street and neighbouring streets.

WEST BOW LANE - JAMES'S STREET - THOMAS STREET 033

WEST BOW LANE - JAMES'S STREET - THOMAS STREET 032

PHOTOGRAPHED 9 DECEMBER 2022

Steeven’s Lane is not very interesting except for the fact that it is used by the Luas Red Line service.

Dr Steevens’ Hospital (also called Dr Steevens’s Hospital), one of Ireland’s most distinguished eighteenth-century medical establishments, was located at Kilmainham in Dublin Ireland. It was founded under the terms of the will of Dr Richard Steevens, an eminent physician in Dublin. The seal of the hospital consisted of ‘The Good Samaritan healing the wounds of the fallen traveller’ with the motto beneath “Do Thou Likewise”. The hospital closed in 1987 and subsequently became the administrative headquarters of the Health Service Executive. Four soldiers from the Royal Irish Regiment are buried alongside two Irish Volunteers in the hospital grounds, all casualties of the 1916 Easter Rising.

It is currently the location of the Health Service Executive administrative headquarters.

St Patrick’s University Hospital is a teaching hospital at Kilmainham in Dublin. The building, which is bounded by Steeven’s Lane to the east, and Bow Lane West to the south, is managed by St Patrick’s Mental Health Services. The hospital was founded with money bequeathed by the author, Jonathan Swift, following his death as “St. Patrick’s Hospital for Imbeciles”. He was keen that his hospital be situated close to a general hospital because of the links between physical and mental ill-health, so St. Patrick’s was built beside Dr Steevens’ Hospital. The hospital, which was designed by George Semple, opened in 1747.

WEST BOW LANE – JAMES’S STREET – THOMAS STREET

STEEVEN’S LANE