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VIII. 



SOME ANCIENT DEEDS OF TPIE PAI^TSH OF ST. AVEEBUEGH, 



DUJJLIX. 



1240-1G76. 



]'.Y HENRY F. TWISS, I.S.O., Litt.D. 



Uead Feiiki'auy 24. ruUishcii May IG, 1919. 



Prior to tlie Anglo-Norman Conquest, tlie parisli so long known as 

 St. Werbingh'.s liad been deilicateil to St. Martin of Tour.';, a near relative 

 of St. Patrick ; ami St. Martin's Churi-li .stood furtlier .south and nearer tlie 

 Polegate that led from Werhurgh Street to Bride Street tlian the edifice 

 which succeeded it. Soon after the conquest, the {'lunch of St. Werbiirgh 

 was founded by colonists from Bristol, who dedicated it to St. Weiburga, a 

 Saxon princess, daughter of one of the Kings of Mercia. Another cliurcli in 

 her honour wius built in Bri.stol, which is now one of the oldest in tliat city. 

 St. Werburga was buried in Chester, and colonists from Ciieshire who became 

 residents in Dublin naturally regarded her church here as worthy of tlieir 

 veneration and support. The earliest buihling is believed to have been 

 destroyed by fire in 1301. Three chapels — those of St. Mary, St. Martin, 

 and St. Catherine — were contained within the pre-Eeformation church of 

 the iMiri-sh. In 1607 the church was rebuilt or repaired ; in 16t)2 it was 

 cnlaiged; and in 1719 the then existing structure was pulled down and 

 rebuilt. a.s appears from the records of the parish. For nearly three centuries 

 St. Werburgh's has been regarded as the parish cliurch of Dublin Castle. 



Some yeara ago the deeds here calendared were deposited in the Pnlilic 

 Record Office. They are conversant with property in the •following streets : — 

 St. Werbiugh's Street, Castle Street, and Skinners' Row. Those relating to 

 St. Werburgh's Street commence in 1273, and in them are many references 

 to the churchyard, the chaniel-house, a rivulet that appears to have run by 

 the cemetery, an orchard and grove that stood near, and several ciianibers 

 that formed portion of the parish property. In 1461-'2 there were legal 

 proceedings in regard to some premises claimed by a chaplain, but they were 

 decreed to be the property of the church. In 1482 a large stone house, with 

 cellars and garden, adjoining the south wall of the city by the Polegate, was 



