Taney Parish

[1] Taney's origins go back to the early Irish saint Nathi, who in the 6th century established a centre for monastic life.

While there are no details available, there seems little doubt that religious worship was taking place here for some considerable time before the Anglo-Norman Invasion of 1169–1171, which made use of a papal bull asserting Rome's rights to all islands off the coast of Europe.

In a papal bull of 1179, there is a reference to "the middle place of Tighney" (annotated in the Liber Niger of a later Archbishop, Alen, as "alias Tawney"), with a church and three subsidiary chapels (at Donnybrook, Kilgobbin and Rathfarnham).

In a reference of 1546, there is mention of Taney Rectory, and annual rentals totalling 19 pounds, which formed the salary of the resident curate.

By 1615, Archbishop Thomas Jones reported in a royal visitation record that there was a resident curate, Robert Pont (also taking services in Donnybrook and Rathfarnham), that the "Church and Chancel" (of St. Nahi) were in good repair, and that prayer books were available.

In 1753, one A. Archball became curate, moving from service in Howth and Kilbarrack, and Jeremy Walsh took office in 1758, supervising the rebuilding of Taney Church in 1760, as attested to by a chalice still held there, presented by Archdeacon Isaac Mann.

Richard Ryan became curate in that year and oversaw construction, which commenced in mid-1815, with additional funds being raised by the sale of pews in 1816, as the budget was exceeded.

Christ Church was completed and opened for worship in 1818, with a licence issued, unusually, by the Archbishop of Cashel, and an initial consecration took place on 21 June 1818.

In the later 1820s, and again in 1832, work was done to improve the roof of Christ Church, the South Gallery was added in 1833 and in 1835 the Ecclesiastical Commissioners gave 256 pounds towards interior decoration.

On the first Sunday of May, 1859, following a petition to the rector and the issue of a licence by the Archbishop of Dublin, services for the coastwards part of the parish were begun in a cottage in the grounds of a house called Seafield in Stillorgan, local families contributing 30 pounds for fitting of a room, and 30 towards an attending curate's salary.

After Mr. Roe paid off all remaining building finance, it was possible to fully consecrate Christ Church, which the Archbishop of Dublin did on 10 June 1872.

By 1873, the cottage at Seafield was too small for the eastern congregation, and the landlord, the Earl of Pembroke, offered a site at the corner of Fosters Avenue and Stillorgan Road, in Mount Merrion.

In 1895, Messrs. Hamilton and Ball published a work on the Parish of Taney [3] – at this time, the old Church of St. Nahi was in disuse but services did resume there by the early 20th century.

The rector led much other restoration work on the old church also, including making of new flooring and seats, with main rebuilding completed in 1910.

In 1945, a special meeting was held to address the decline of parish organisations and parochial hall use, and sixteen groups were started or restored.

Trevor Hipwell, senior curate of Taney, was appointed as its first Rector, occupying a newly built rectory by the church.

Desmond Harman served as curate assistant from 1967 to 1973; he later became Dean of Christ Church Cathedral (an office he held until December 2007).

After some debate, it was decided in 1989 to sell the old Parochial Hall (which raised 433000 pounds) and to build a new Parish Centre in the church grounds (whose freehold was bought out).

At the beginning of the new millennium, the present parish is bounded by those of Milltown to the north, Ticknock to the south, Churchtown to the west and Goatstown to the east.