placenamesIrishtown
An Baile Gaelach
Irishtown’s older shoreline survives in accounts of sea bathing, a church tower used by shipping and schools established for the village’s children.
The name
These Irish name elements are associated with this record in the Logainm glossary.
An element’s translation is a clue, rather than a complete explanation of the name. Its form and meaning depend on local history and the full Irish name.
Recorded forms
- An Baile Gaelach · Irish · main form · validated name
- Irishtown · English · main form
Place & story
A place for sea bathing
An 1848 directory described Irishtown as a maritime village with two principal streets, a strand and smaller lanes. It counted 161 houses and a population of 1,109. Visitors came for sea bathing, including hot and cold salt-water baths. The same account listed a dispensary, a shop serving poorer residents and a widows’ almshouse, revealing a community with its own local institutions beside the shore. [2]
A church tower for the coast
Saint Matthew’s was founded in 1704 when tides and marshy ground could interrupt the journey to Donnybrook church. Parliamentary funding gave it the title Royal Chapel, retained until 1871. Its tower was raised in 1713 to help ships navigate the coast; subsequent reclamation placed the church farther inland. The building grew substantially in 1878–80, when James Franklin Fuller added transepts, a chancel, an organ chamber and a vestry. Thomas Drew’s marble mosaic floor followed in 1890. [3] [4]
The school that began with an appeal
Saint Matthew’s school traces its beginnings to an 1824 appeal by the Reverend Hugh McNeile for a schoolhouse for poorer village children. It opened in 1832 on land granted by the Earl of Pembroke. A separate girls’ school followed in 1904, opposite the boys’ building. The two schools merged in 1951, and a new building opened on former tennis grounds in 1959. The school now stands at Cranfield Place in neighbouring Sandymount. [5]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Population centre
- County
- Dublin
- Barony
- Dublin
- Within
- Dublin
- Civil parish
- Donnybrook
- Within
- Pembroke East A
- Coordinates
- 53.33409, -6.22845 (approximate)
- Logainm ID
- 1165449 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Irishtown. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- County Dublin Towns 1848 — Irishtown · 1848 directory text transcribed by S. Wilson
- Church History · Saint Matthew’s Parish Church
- Irishtown Road, Church of Saint Matthew: works record 36204 · Irish Architectural Archive, Dictionary of Irish Architects
- School History · Saint Matthew’s National School
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2011-07-11. How this page was prepared.