2013:524 - The Deanery, St Patrick's Close, Dublin 8, Dublin

The deanery of St Patrick’s Cathedral Dublin is undergoing restoration works, which include repair to the historic gates and the addition of a new route for disabled access through the western Victorian brick extension. The latter works are still on-going but the works to the gate, which include automation, have now been completed. The Deanery lies in what was originally the south-west corner of the cathedral precinct but which is now separated by Cathedral Close, a road only constructed in 1863. The office of the deanery is first mentioned in 1267 with the actual building recorded in 1302, although the exact location is not known (Clarke 2009, 57). By 1465 it was very dilapidated but was subsequently repaired: it was only demolished in the late 17th century (Casey 2005, 189). A new deanery was built by John Stearne in 1711 but this building was destroyed by a comprehensive fire in 1781.

The present attractive brick-fronted house was constructed after the fire, fronting onto Kevin Street Upper. It is accessed through the front courtyard and gate-way, composed of two granite piers and wrought iron gates, flanked by a pedestrian gate on the eastern side. The house was substantially enlarged by the addition of late 19th-century Victorian brick extensions at either end. The Deanery is now being refurbished but this recent works suggest that large elements of the early 18th-century building (1711) survive within the present build including the main east-west spine wall.

The works to the gate involved the excavation of shallow trenches within the front courtyard along the base of the perimeter calp boundary wall, east of the gates. These trenches, designed to carry the electrical cables to the automated gates, extended across the gated entrance and wrapped around both the pier bases. The western pier was also stabilized as part of the works (having been damaged previously and left in a dangerous state) and the railings along the boundary wall were also repaired. The trenches along the base of the boundary walls and gates measured 0.4m in width by 0.45m in depth and were excavated by hand and machine. They revealed that the boundary wall on the eastern side has a rough mortared foundation extending to at least 0.45m in depth, through a fill layer of rubble. The base of the gate piers were also found to be a solid construction, the eastern pier having two projecting offsets composed of limestone blocks measuring, on average, 0.18m by 0.2m, with purple slate levelling courses. While not as fully exposed, the west pier was likely to be similarly constructed. The threshold across the gate consisted of a large single granite stone or block, roughly hewn and rectangular in shape, measuring 0.78m in length by 0.18m in width by 0.2m in depth. This, however, was not the original threshold as it did not quite fit on the northern side and had been infilled with smaller stones. The threshold was retained in situ along with the gate spud stone, which was moved slightly northwards, to lie inside the deanery grounds.

Bibliography
Casey, Christine, 2005 The buildings of Ireland: Dublin. New Haven and London.
Clarke, Howard 2009 ‘Cult, Church and Collegiate church before c. 1220’ in J. Crawford and R Gillespie (eds), St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin: A history. 23-44. Dublin.

28 Cabinteely Close Dublin 18