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by Mary Jackson
Background: A few weeks ago, I was telling Marie Peelo (a very committed volunteer with many parish roles) about my efforts to find more evidence on the location of the 18th century chapel in Lucan - project on-going! I told her about an 1839 newspaper article that described how the chapel 'in the centre of the village', built 100 years earlier, had become a complete ruin. I also mentioned that Helen Farrell (wearing her SOL hat) had located an 1836 map of 'The Village of Lucan' in OPW archives. The map shows the chapel on the site of where the Schoolmaster's House stands today.
Extract from 'The Village of Lucan' map dated 31 Dec 1836
The surprise: I was delighted to hear from Marie that her grand-mother, Mary Ellen Byrne, had lived in one of the cottages that once stood behind the Schoolmaster's House, facing out onto the Lock Road and opposite the then forge. What's more, she has a photograph of her grandparents (with 12 other family members) on their wedding day, taken in front of the cottage in Lucan.
What a treasure to have!
The photo: Marie's Lucan granny, Mary Ellen Byrne (b.1882) married Daniel Harrington (a postman from Cork) in St. Mary's Church, Lucan, on 11 September 1912 (nearly 114 years ago).
The photo shows the newly married couple flanked by her parents, Mary Anne Byrne (nee Crewe) and James Byrne. Behind them stands her older sister Margaret (b.1877) beside her husband, Henry Crewe, and some of Mary Ellen's other siblings, Joseph (1888), Alice (1886) Henry/Harry (1883) and his wife, Margaret (nee Moloney). Marie must have inherited her style from this side of the family. I'm sure the bride and her sisters enjoyed shopping together for their very stylish hats!
The four grandchildren in the front include young Jim Byrne (son of John Byrne not in the photo). A nice aspect of this family, borne out in the records, is how close they were. Young James, aged 8, and one of his cousins, Mona Crewe, aged 2, were actually staying with their grandparents on census night 1911. Margaret Crewe had a small baby at the time so the Byrnes obviously gave a generous hand with the childcare. Other census returns show that Alice Byrne was staying with the Crewe family in 1911 and, in 1926, James Byrne was living with the Harrington family in Inchicore - and he followed Dan into the same line of work! Speaking of work, Henry Byrne must have been enthralled by the forge opposite their home. His 1926 return shows that he was working as a blacksmith for Shackleton's Mill!
The 'over 150 years of attending St. Mary's' dates from the wedding of James Byrne (baptised on 27 May 1855 in Palmerstown parish) and Mary Anne Crewe who were married in St. Mary's Church on 17 April 1875 by Fr. James Hunt. The online baptismal records show that Fr. Hunt also baptised at least two of the children, Margaret in 1877 and John in 1878. James was a machinist when he married and, on his 1926 census return, he is shown as aged 70 and a cloth finisher in Hills Mill. In 1901, two of the children, James and Mary Ellen, were also working in Hills. Mary Anne lived in Lucan until 1920 (her anniversary is 7th June) and James lived until 19 December 1933, when he died in his home in Cannonbrook. There would have been many occasions for him to have attended St. Mary's in his nearly 60 years in the parish. And currently, Marie, their great-granddaughter is so active in the parish.
It's brilliant what the online records can tell us about our family history! This terrific photo shows three generations of one family. At this stage, there are three more generations and the family connections are as strong as ever-extending not just across Dublin city and county but further afield to Canada!
So, if you have an interest in tracing your own family, search for the photo albums gathering dust and check out what the 1926 census returns (https://nationalarchives.ie/) might tell you!
Mary Jackson
June 2026
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