Welcome to the website for the Archdiocese of Dublin. Dublin is one of the largest Dioceses in Ireland, with over 200 Parishes. This site is managed by the Diocesan Communications Office, and any comments or suggestions should be sent to communications@dublindiocese.ie
The Dublin Diocesean Archives is based at Holy Cross College, Clonliffe Road, Dublin 3, headquarters to the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin. It exists to preserve the records of the Archdiocese and has operated as an archival repository on a full-time basis since 1984. The Docesaan Archives has three functions:
to preserve the records of central diocesan administration
to provide services to the secretariats and agencies at Archbishop’s House and to the clergy and the laity of the Archdiocese
to make the archives of the Archdiocese available to researchers
GETTING THERE Location: Visitors should enter the campus via Clonliffe Road at the jones Road intersection. The main reception is on the far left hand side in the building in front of the carpark. Public Transport By Bus: The 3, 11, 11 A, 13, 13A, 16, 16A, 3 3, and 41 buses can be accessed from the city centre and they stop on Lower Drumcondra Road , where it uintersects Clonliffe Road. By Train: Trains on the Dublin to Maynooth (Sligo) line stop at Drumcondra Station on Lower Drumcondra Road.
ACCESS & OPENING HOURS: The Dublin Diocesan Archives is open to all researchers. Researchers are required to abide by the Rules governing access to and use of the collections. Access is currently granted to archiepiscopal collections down to 1972 the closing year of the administration of Archbishop John Charles McQuaid.
The Archives is open to researchers Monday to Friday from 09.30 to 13.00 and from 14.00 to 16.45. A prior appointment with the Diocesan Archivist is essential to guarantee access to the collections.
THE COLLECTIONS: An Overview: The Dublin Diocesan Archives preserves records documenting the history of the Archdiocese of Dublin down through the centuries. It possesses a few items dating back to the fifteenth and sixteenth century but essentially its holdings date from the eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The holdings comprise collections of the papers of archbishops and bishops of Dublin, of priests and lay persons, and the records of Catholic colleges and lay organisations. The Diocesan Archives does not hold the registers of baptisms and marriages for the two hundred parishes of the Dublin archdiocese. These are still held in local parish custody.
The two oldest items held by the Diocesan Archives are vellum manuscripts. The first of these is a Foundation charter of the Guild of St. Sythe given in 1476 under the seal of King Edward IV (see Colm Lennon's 'The Foundation charter of St. Sythe's guild, Dublin, 1476', in Archivium Hibernicum vol. xlviii, 1994). The second is a papal bull dated 1555 from the pontificate of Pius IV providing Hugh Curwen to the see of Dublin. This document is believed to be the oldest Bull of appointment of a bishop currently preserved in Ireland.
The core of the collections consists of the surviving papers of eight successive archbishops of Dublin covering the period 1770-1972. These collections include the papers of such significant historical figures as John Thomas Troy (1784-1823) builder of the Pro-Cathedral, Paul Cullen (1852-78) Ireland's first cardinal, and John Charles McQuaid (1940-72). These collections are currently open to researchers.
The Diocesan Archives also holds the combined surviving records of the Catholic Association and the Loyal National Repeal Association, 1806-50 (see Fergus O'Higgins 'Catholic Association Papers in the Dublin Diocesan Archives', in Archivium Hibernicum vol. xxxix, 1984). Another important collection is the Papers of Bartholmew Woodlock (1860-79), who succeeded John Henry Newman, a rector of the Catholic University of Ireland.
