Free Church, Great Charles Street, Dublin, Anglican church in Summerhill, Dublin, Ireland
The Free Church on Great Charles Street is a former proprietary episcopal chapel in Summerhill, off Mountjoy Square, built by Methodists in 1800 to a design by architect Edward Robbins and first known as the Wesley Chapel. It later served the Anglican congregation and closed as a church in 1988; around 1990 it was refurbished and adapted as Pavee Point, the Dublin Travellers' Education and Development Group.
The building was initially constructed as a Methodist chapel and later sold to the Church of Ireland in 1826, being consecrated in 1828 by Archbishop Magee. This transfer reflects the shifting religious affiliations within the evolving city.
The name "Free Church" comes from the Primitive Wesleyan Methodists who split from the main congregation in 1816 and worshipped here without pew rents. From 1828 the Anglican chaplain Rev. John Hare served until 1877, assisted by organist Rev. Richard William Beaty; his pupil Richard Harrison followed him. C.R.R. Magrath, honorary secretary, wrote a short history of the chapel.
The former church is not open to the public as a monument: since about 1990 it has been occupied by Pavee Point, the Dublin Travellers' Education and Development Group, so visits depend on the organisation's own activities. It stands on Great Charles Street in Summerhill, off Mountjoy Square, north of the city centre.
The building once framed views of Georgian houses along Rutland Street Upper, now called Seán O'Casey Avenue, before their demolition in the 1980s. This lost sightline remains a reminder of the area's transformed landscape.
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