Church of Ireland
Posted on 22. Aug, 2008 by admin in History
The Church
St Mary’s Church and the Castle frame the gates to St. Patrick’s College at the western end of the town. The Church is as old as the Castle but hides its 800 years through extensive 19th century renovation. There is evidence that a church has occupied the current site of St. Mary’s since 1248 when a church was established around the same time as Maynooth Castle. Like a lot of old Maynooth, the early history of St Mary’s is closely tied to the history of the Fitzgerald family. In 1518 Garret Og, son of the Great Earl of Kildare, Garret Mor, established a college at Maynooth Castle and rebuilt the original church, annexing it to the college. In the 1530′s the Fitzgerald’s property was forfeited to the crown and St. Mary’s became crown property. Many churches belonging to the king’s enemies were pillaged to beautify the king’s new church at Maynooth. In the 17th century St. Mary’s became a Protestant Church when George, the 16th Earl of Kildare was brought up a Protestant. The church was extensively renovated by Richard Boyle, Earl of Cork, George Fitzgerald’s father-in-law, in the 1630′s as part of his rebuilding of the castle. Shortly afterwards, however, during the wars of the 1640′s both the castle and the church fell into ruins
In the Past
In the 18th century the Fitzgeralds returned to Maynooth and took up residence at Carton. In 1770, James, the first Duke of Leinster who had earlier constructed Leinster House in Dublin (present houses of Parliment), repaired St. Mary’s church and made it available for the use of the parish. A vestry room and school-house were added as is commemorated in the plaque on the east wall of the church. The stone cutter left out the second ‘I’ in ‘parishioners’ and inserted it afterwards, which gives the inscription a charm of its own. Two major renovations were carried out in the 19th century, in 1828 and in 1859 when the school-house and vestry were removed. So were the existing galleries and the nave was extended to the tower. The tower was probably the former residence of the clergy and is all that remains of the 16th century collegiate church. The east window, which is made of wood, comes from the old church at Laraghbryan, providing another link with the past.
