Deanery of St Patrick

The Deanery of St Patrick was one of several manors, or liberties, that existed in Dublin, Ireland since the arrival of the Anglo-Normans in the 12th century.

Not only did the privilege of sanctuary prevail here, but the goods as well as the persons of law-breakers were secure within the Dean's Liberty, which was independent of the Archbishop as well as of the Sheriff of the county.

The only advantage its poor inhabitants possessed was that they were exempt from the jurisdiction of other courts, so they could elude the clutches of the bailiff by flying for refuge to the confines of their own manor.

[2] The area covered today by St. Patrick's Park was part of the liberty, and in former times had been reserved for the use of various Cathedral officials.

But from the beginning of the 19th century it was occupied by miserable tenement houses, and was reckoned one of the poorest districts in the city of Dublin.