Our Lady of the Rosary

History

Harold's Cross lay in the Catholic parish of St Nicholas Without before becoming part of the new parish of Rathmines in 1823. Our Lady of the Rosary was constituted a parish in its own right on 30 September 1935, formed from the parishes of Rathmines, Rathgar and Terenure.

The Archbishop of Dublin, Most Rev. Edward Byrne, instructed Canon Fleming, parish priest of Rathmines, to buy the house and grounds of Mount Harold when they were announced for sale, and the purchase was completed on 11 August 1931. It was decided to erect a temporary church, and in the summer of 1935, after a new church had been built at Foxrock, Co. Dublin, Canon Fleming arranged for Foxrock's former tin church to be taken down and re-erected at Mount Harold. It was blessed by Archbishop Byrne on 24 November 1935, and the first Mass was celebrated by Fr Percy McGough, the first parish priest of the new parish, who served until his death in 1954.

Meanwhile, work on a permanent church began, and it was finished in 1938.

The building

The church was built on the lands of Mount Harold House. The church can hold approximately 1,600 people. The stained-glass window over the main altar, depicting Our Lady of the Rosary, was installed at the beginning of the new millennium.