St Anne Dublin

St. Anne’s parish was formed out of the united parishes of St. Stephen, St. Peter, and St. Bride, and made a separate parish in 1707. It contains 8363 inhabitants; the number of houses valued at £5 and upwards is 785, the total annual value being £56,812. 10.

The living is a vicarage, in the patronage of the Archbishop of Dublin; the amount of minister’s money is £588. 18. 5. The church, situated in Dawson-street, opposite Anne-street, was designed from a church in Rome, but remains unfinished; the front consists of a portal with Doric half columns and smaller side entrances surmounted by ornamented windows, above which the gable of the building is seen. The interior is spacious and handsome; the galleries, which surround it on three sides, are supported by Ionic pillars of carved oak: it was thoroughly repaired in 1835, towards which the Ecclesiastical Commissioners granted £736.5.6. There is a parochial school for boys, who are clothed, fed, educated, and apprenticed; also one for girls, an infants’ school, and the model school of the Kildare-place Society. An almshouse for widows is supported by the Sunday collections. The remains of the celebrated authoress, Mrs. Hemans, were deposited in the vault beneath the church in 1835. Judge Downes was also buried in this church.

[From A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland  by Samuel Lewis, published 1837]