St. Thomas's Church, Cathal Brugha Street

St. Thomas's Church, is a redundant Church of Ireland church on Cathal Brugha Street, Dublin.

History[]

The church was designed by the architect Fredrick G. Hicks and it was opened in 1931,^[1] it won the 1932-33 Royal Institute of Architects Ireland Prize. It was built to replace, St. Thomas's Church on Marlborough Street, which was destroyed following a fire during the Irish Civil War in 1922.^[2] It is situated on Cathal Brugha Street, between Findlater Place and Marlborough Street.

With the decline in the Anglican community in 1966 the parish of St. Thomas merged with the parish of St. George. In 1990, St. George's Church, Dublin, and the church was renamed the Church of St. Thomas and St. George. St. George's Brass Band moved to Cathal Brugha Street, where they meet every Monday.^[3][4]

Over the years a number of other Christian denominations were allowed to use the church, including Orthodox, Filipino Christians and Anglican Igbo Speaking Community.^[5] St. Thomas Indian Orthodox Church^[6] use the church for their weekly services, and from 2006 it became their parish church, the St. Thomas Indian (Malankara) Orthodox Church.^[7]

St. Thomas's ceased to be the Church of Ireland parish church in 2017.^[8] The parishes of Drumcondra and North Strand (Waterloo Avenue) would serve as parish churches for the Anglican community.

As of 2021, there is a growing movement to return the church to its parishioners.^[9]

References[]