Robinson — Ancient Deeds of the Parish of St. John. 177 



The deeds here calendared naturally provide much material for the 

 history of the parish of St. John. Its church was one of the possessions of 

 the Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity at least as early as the time of 

 St. Laurence O'Toole [Christ Church Deeds no. 364 (a)], and by an order of 

 Archbishop Luke, circa 1230, the Augustinian Canons of that Cathedral were 

 bound to serve the church in person, and not to assign it to a vicar [Christ 

 ( 'hurch Deeds no. 44]. In 1539 the Prior and Convent of the Cathedral were 

 ordered to be regarded in future as secular priests. The Prior and the first 

 three Canons were appointed Dean, Precentor, Chancellor, and Treasurer : and 

 the next four Canons were appointed their Vicars. To the third of these, the 

 Chancellor's Vicar, the living of St. John's Church was assigned. Five years 

 later the living was made prebendal, and the Chancellor's Vicar became the 

 Prebendary of St. John's. With the break-up of the old monastic establish- 

 ment of the Cathedral, there soon arose the necessity of providing a residence 

 for the Prebendary. In 1633, when John Atherton, afterwards Bishop of 

 Waterford, was Prebendary, the parishioners assigned two houses in 

 Fishamble Street to the Dean and Chapter of the Cathedral in trust for 

 the Prebendary and his successors, who were to pay to the parish an annual 

 rent of £3 6s. M. The one house was to serve as the residence of the 

 Prebendary ; the other was to be let by him in order to provide the rent due 

 to the parish. John Atherton was succeeded by Dudley Boswell, who died 

 in 1650. After his death no Prebendary of St. John's seems to have been 

 appointed until after the Piestoration of the Monarchy in 1660 ; but the 

 parish was served by a "minister" named Patrick Ker or Carr, who let both 

 houses at rents respectively of £8 and £5 [nos. 179 (176), 191 (188), and 

 192(189)]. 



There are other evidences in these deeds of the connexion between the 

 Cathedral and the parish. In 1586 Peter Calf, who was a Vicar Choral of the 

 Cathedral, signs himself " parish clerke of St. John's " [no. 179 (176] 

 and a deed has found its way into the collection which belongs, not to 

 the parish at all, but to the Cathedral. This is a receipt given by the Dean 

 and Chapter in 1568 to the Mayor and Sheriffs of Dublin for a half- 

 yearly instalment of the annual grant of £20 out of the fee-farm of the 

 city of Dublin, made to the Cathedral in 1443 by King Henry VI. The 

 reason of this grant, as is known from other sources, was that the rents 

 and possessions of the Prior and Convent had been destroyed " as well 

 by our Irish enemies as English rebels" in different parts of the land; 

 and the Irish Parliament of 1463-4 confirmed the grant, " considering the 

 great and important buildings which the Prior and Convent have in hand, as 

 well for the repair of their Cathedral Church as of the Grange of Clonken 



[2G*] 



