Our Story

Every story has a beginning. This is ours…

History of Dundrum Parish

Holy Cross Parish dates from 1879; until then Dundrum was in Booterstown Parish. In 1813 a chapel was built on the site of the present church, behind a row of cottages which after Catholic Emancipation, in 1829, were removed and the chapel enlarged. This was financed by annual charity sermons which were also used to fund schools in a house on Ballinteer Road, where the railed ‘garden’ behind Campbells is now. The Boys School began in 1826 and the Girls School in 1828. A Fr. Powell became the first resident Curate in Dundrum in 1833.
The chapel was ready for dedication in 1837 and on 14th September, the feast of the Holy Cross, Archbishop Murray came to Dundrum to perform the ceremony. A second Curate was appointed in 1850 after the opening of the Asylum, where he was chaplain. The population of south County Dublin grew substantially in the ensuing years, especially in Dundrum after the opening of the railway in 1854. In the 1870s it was decided to demolish the chapel and build a new church. This and the parochial house were designed by George Ashlin and built by Messrs Meade & Son. Behind the church a new schoolhouse, designed by John Robinson, was built by William Richardson of Dundrum.
Following the dedication of the church by Archbishop McCabe on 6th July 1879, it was decided to divide Booterstown Parish, with west of Stillorgan Road becoming Dundrum Parish. Fr. Joseph Hickey had been appointed a Curate in Dundrum in 1865 and on 2nd November he was installed as the first Parish Priest. When he died in 1889, a memorial pulpit was erected which was removed along with the altar rails in the 1960s, after Vatican II.
With the large increase in the local population after WWII the church needed enlargement and this was completed in 1954. The new School on Upper Kilmacud Road had been opened in 1945.
In 1943, Kilmacud and Mount Merrion were separated from Holy Cross and in 1953, when the new church in Bird Avenue was built, Mulvey Park was transferred to it.
In 1974, St Johns Parish, Ballinteer was created leaving Holy Cross Parish as it is today.

Lore of Yore

Goat’s milk and mountain air – these were the remedies available in Dundrum to those in the final stages of recovery from illness. It is recorded that early in the nineteenth century fashionable invalids would arrive here on numerous jaunting cars to breathe the pure air and sample the restorative beverage.

Alas, due to extensive suburban traffic the air is no longer completely pure, and due to the absence of goats the beneficial beverage is difficult to find. But the place of the goat in local lore is likely to live on because of the district of ‘Goatstown’ within the parish – a constant reminder of its former fame due to the excellence of its breed of goat.

Constituted 1878 from Booterstown. First Church built in 1813. Replaced in 1878 by present Church which was substantially extended in 1956. Kilmacud with Mount Merrion was constituted a new parish from Dundrum in 1948, also Ballinteer in 1974. Blessed Columba Marmion worked here as a curate from 1881 to 1882.
2015/16 sees the building of a new Parish Office, the refurbishment of the Parish Pastoral Centre and renovation work to the inside of the church.

Modern Developments

Dundrum is an exciting place to be at present. A great variety of developments have taken place: the construction of a new town centre incorporating a wide range of amenities, planning for the complete renovation of the Village of Dundrum, and the building of the LUAS providing light rail transport from the centre of Dublin.

Holy Cross Parish

In 1813 the first small Catholic Church was built here as a church of ease to Booterstown when Dundrum was part of that parish. It was replaced in 1878 by a more suitable building and it was then that Dundrum was constituted a separate parish.

In 1943 Mount Merrion and Kilmacud were taken out of Dundrum and together became a new parish. In the meantime these have become two separate parishes.

In 1953 when a church was built in neighbouring Clonskeagh, Mulvey Park was transferred from Dundrum to the new parish.

In 1956, due to the expanding population, a large extension to the church was built which doubled its capacity while blending harmoniously with it.

In 1974 Ballinteer was separated from Dundrum to become a new parish. In the final decades of the twentieth century Dundrum has continued to grow and is now a parish of three and a half thousand catholic families with a population of about twelve thousand parishioners.

Holy Cross Church Today

Our church is the focal point on Dundrum’s main street. Built in Gothic style its walls are of Dublin granite, with dressings of Portland and Bath stone providing a stylish setting for its doors and windows.

Features within the church include pillars of polished Aberdeen granite with carved Portland stone capitals and bases. All the stained-glass windows are pleasing to the eye and uplifting to the heart.

One window, Our Lady of the Rosary by Michael Healy almost a century ago deserves special mention. The artist was educated at the Dublin School of Art and the Instituto de Bella Arte, Florence. A pioneer artist in the Irish stained-glass movement, an Túr Gloine , he collaborated with Sarah Purser and Harry Clark. He helped to raise stained-glass making to the highest level in Europe.

The Baptismal Mosaic by a contemporary artist, Laura O’Hagan, was erected to commemorate the Jubilee of the year 2000. Rich in baptismal symbolism – Spirit, light, colour, life, growth, journey, power, water, invitation – it greatly enhances our celebration of the sacrament.

Holy Cross Church The Future

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