The Irish Builder

Sacred Heart Church, Monkstown

Canon Henry Neville, parish priest of Passage-Monkstown, commissioned Pugin and Ashlin, to design the Sacred Heart Church in the late 1860s. Bishop William Delaney consecrated the church on 27 August 1871. The church is built mainly of brown sandstone with limestone used for the corners and Gorsham stone for ornamental work.

Originally the spire was to have a four-faced clock. Local folklore claims that Murphy's Brewery offered to pay for the clock but Canon McNamara, the then parish priest, refused the offer as he was opposed to the sale of alcohol.

Corresponding article from the Irish Builder