St. Patrick

History

Ringsend is of comparatively recent origin as a separate parochial unit. The parish site records that up to 1876, according to Bishop Donnelly's History of Dublin Parishes, the four parishes of Irishtown, Donnybrook, Ringsend and Sandymount formed a single unit. Donnybrook, anciently Domhnach Broc, meaning Church of Broc, took its name from a church founded by a holy woman named Broc and dedicated by tradition to the Blessed Mother of God.

On 2 May 1858 Dr O'Connell held a public meeting in the school room at Ringsend, where he set out his plan to erect a church dedicated to the Apostle of Ireland to serve the crowded population of the locality. A subscription list was opened, and the new church, which cost £800, was opened on 14 July 1859 by Archbishop Cullen.