An Taisce (hall) · Photo: William Murphy · CC BY-SA 2.0

191buildings on the National Inventory

History of The Liberties · National Inventory of Architectural Heritage

Old homes in The Liberties: 25% built before 1919

For The Liberties, that is 7 times the typical town’s share, 3.4%. The earliest building recorded goes back to 1100. It is a historic town on the Sites and Monuments Record, with 222 archaeological sites inside it. The Liberties has 191 buildings on the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage, 8 of them of national importance.

8of national importance 1100oldest record 222archaeological sites

On the National Inventory

191

103 per 10,000 residents
typical town: 48

Of national importance

NIAH National or International, and national monuments

Archaeological sites

222

Sites and Monuments Record

Oldest building

1100

the first date on its record

Homes built before 1919

25%

typical town: 3.4%

In pictures

Then and today: The Liberties in 8 photos and 4 old views

Go back furthest in The Liberties with An Taisce: 1700. 8 recorded places in The Liberties have a photo. The Liberties before 1950 appears in old photographs from 1875 to 1900.

Town, Cook Street, Dublin 8National rating (NIAH)

Town, Lamb Alley, Dublin 8National rating (NIAH)

Saint Audoen's Roman Catholic ChurchNational rating (NIAH)

Iveagh Markets (market house)Regional rating (NIAH)

House, 130-130A Thomas Street, Dublin 8Regional rating (NIAH)+3See all photos

Photos from Wikimedia Commons, copied to our own server, each credited to its photographer with its licence; names open the place’s page. Tap a photo to step through them full screen.

Through time

The Liberties from 1875 to 1900

4 old photographs, in date order. All made before 1950.

VictorianGothic style institutional building, Dublin City, Co. DublinPhoto: National Library of Ireland · No known copyright restrictions; made by 1925

VictorianFrom Cook Street, corner of Lower Bridge Street, looking towards Wormwood GatePhoto: National Library of Ireland · No known copyright restrictions; made by 1925

VictorianMichael's Lane, Dublin CityPhoto: Robert French / National Library of Ireland · No known copyright restrictions; photographer died 1917

VictorianSlums, Dublin City, Co. DublinPhoto: Robert French / National Library of Ireland · No known copyright restrictions; photographer died 1917

From Wikimedia Commons, copied to our own server: public domain, or from the National Library of Ireland’s collections (Lawrence, Poole, Eason and others) with no known copyright restrictions. Each credit opens the image’s page.

The map

Where The Liberties’s history is

Every building and site on the record inside the town, by its rating.

The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage is the State’s survey of buildings from 1700 to today, county by county; each record gives a rating, dates, a type and an appraisal. Being on it is not legal protection: that is each council’s Record of Protected Structures.

Points from the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage and the Sites and Monuments Record, Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (CC BY 4.0).

National and International

8 places of national importance in The Liberties

Buildings the National Inventory rates National or International: of significance across Ireland or beyond. Each one opens its own page.

Hall · 1700–1710An Taisce (hall)Back Lane, High Street, Dublin 8Photo: William Murphy · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Commons file

Church / chapel · 1840–1850Saint Audoen's Roman Catholic ChurchHigh Street, Cook Street, Dublin 8Photo: DubhEire · CC0 · Commons file

Town / city walls · 1100–1130Town, Cook Street, Dublin 8Photo: Harold Strong · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Commons file

Town / city walls · 1160–1180Town, Lamb Alley, Dublin 8Photo: Sheila1988 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons file

Church / chapel · 1180–1200Saint Audoen's Church of Ireland ChurchHigh Street, Dublin 8

Church / chapel · 1760–1770Saint Catherine's Church of Ireland ChurchThomas Street, Thomas Court, Dublin 8

Church / chapel · 1825–1835Saint Nicholas of Myra Roman Catholic ChurchFrancis Street, John Dillon Street, Dublin 8

Church / chapel · 1860–1875Church of Saint Augustine and Saint John89-93 Thomas Street, John's Lane West, Dublin 8

Regional and other sites

183 more historic places in The Liberties

Buildings rated Regional, of significance in their region, and archaeological monuments with an encyclopedia article.

All 139, A to Z

44 recorded by their type and address

44 are recorded only by their type and address: 27 homes, 5 other buildings and 3 street furniture; most date from the 19th century.

17th century2

18th century15

19th century21

20th century6

See all 44 on the map

Historic streets

Thomas Street has the most

Streets with three or more buildings on the record, by the address it gives.

Thomas Street46 on the record · 2 of national importance

South Circular Road23 on the record

Francis Street17 on the record · 1 of national importance

Cork Street11 on the record

Merchants' Quay10 on the record

Back Lane8 on the record · 1 of national importance

Dean Street5 on the record

High Street5 on the record · 2 of national importance

Meath Street5 on the record

Mill Street4 on the record

Clanbrassil Street4 on the record

Usher's Quay3 on the record

Of the 191 records, 175 give a street address.

What’s recorded

More homes than anything else in The Liberties: 53%

At the top of the record: Saint Audoen's Church of Ireland Church and An Taisce. In The Liberties, walls, gates and bridges weigh less than nationally: 3%, against 8%. The next biggest group is churches and chapels, 21 in all.

Homes102

Churches and chapels21

Public buildings21

Mills, stations and works10

Walls, gates and bridges6

Inns, shops and warehouses5

Street furniture3

Memorials and tombs2

Other buildings21

Types as the National Inventory records them, grouped; a building keeps the type it was built as.

How old

Most of The Liberties’s dated buildings come from the 19th century

Each building by the first date on its record.

Middle Ages 500–14993

1500–1799 three centuries44

19th century 1800–1899116

1900 and later to today28

47 of the 191 dated ones were built before 1800.

Archaeology and around

Archaeology in The Liberties

The Sites and Monuments Record lists every known archaeological site; most are field monuments with little to see. By kind:

222 archaeological sites inside the town

Sites on the Record of Monuments and Places, the statutory list drawn from this record, are protected by law: anyone planning work at or near one must give the National Monuments Service two months’ notice.

House - indeterminate date14 records

House - medieval13 records

Memorial stone13 records

Gateway12 records

Bridge12 records

House - 18th/19th century9 records

Habitation site9 records

Watercourse8 records

Chapel8 records

Building8 records

House - 17th/18th century8 records

Mural tower (Historic Town)7 records

Mill - unclassified7 records

Water mill - unclassified6 records

Inn6 records

42 more kinds82 records

Homes by age

Little new building in The Liberties: 3.8% of homes date from 2011 on, against 5.8%

More of the homes standing in The Liberties today were built from 1981 to 2000 than in any other period: 28%. A full 15% of the homes in The Liberties went up between the wars, beyond the typical 3.9%. Only 13% of The Liberties’s homes were built from 1946 to 1980, less than the typical town’s 24%.

25%

Before 1919

15%

1919–45

13%

1946–80

28%

1981–2000

15%

2001–10

3.8%

Since 2011

The LibertiesTypical town

Census 2022, households by the year their home was built (CSO, Small Area Population Statistics, CC BY 4.0); the typical town is the middle Irish town of 2,500 or more.

Towns its size

The Liberties has the 3rd most of 16 towns its size

Towns of 18,000 to 19,300 residents, by buildings on the record.

Stoneybatter326

Clonmel239

The Liberties191

Esker13

#3 of 16for buildings on the record per resident (103 per 10,000). Stoneybatter, Clonmel and The Liberties lead.

Only Stoneybatter and Clonmel have more. The typical town its size has 13.

Neighbours

The Liberties and its neighbours

Town	People	National Inventory	National	Archaeological sites
The Liberties	18,460	191	8	222
Christchurch	6,778	122	4	122
Temple Bar	7,276	607	26	187
Dolphins Barn	18,799	188	7	65
Portobello	5,732	408	5	10
Stoneybatter	18,644	326	3	48
O'Connell Street	6,749	465	16	31

In brief

The Liberties in brief

The record in The Liberties starts with Saint Audoen's Church of Ireland Church, which dates from 1180. In all there are 191 places on the record, 8 of them in the top tier, including Saint Audoen's Church of Ireland Church. Of its homes, 25% were built before 1919, against 3.4% in the typical town. Church of Saint Augustine and Saint John sits at the heart of it all, with 8 of the town’s places of national importance within 400 m.

Only 2 of the 16 towns nearest its size have more recorded buildings. Thomas Street alone has 46 places on the record. Of the whole list, 53% are homes. The rest is about typical: per resident it sits near the middle of Irish towns of 2,500 or more.

How to read these numbers

What this data can and can’t tell you

The National Inventory. The State’s survey of post-1700 buildings, made county by county since 1990 (NIAH); a few records are older. It records; it does not protect.
Ratings. International and National: of significance across Ireland or beyond. Regional: in its region. Local and record-only buildings get no page here.
Archaeology. The Sites and Monuments Record (National Monuments Service) lists known archaeological sites; the national monuments to visit and the sites with an encyclopedia article get pages here.
Protection. Both registers are surveys, not protection: a building is protected by its council’s Record of Protected Structures, and no national open list joins the 31 councils’ records.
The grade. Ireland’s History grade is not built yet: the page describes, and gives no grade.

Questions about The Liberties’s history

How many historic buildings are recorded in The Liberties?

191 buildings on the National Inventory, 8 of them of national importance, from the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage.

Which places in The Liberties are of national importance?

Saint Audoen's Church of Ireland Church, An Taisce (hall), Saint Catherine's Church of Ireland Church, Saint Nicholas of Myra Roman Catholic Church, Saint Audoen's Roman Catholic Church and Church of Saint Augustine and Saint John, and 2 more.

What is the oldest building in The Liberties?

Town, Cook Street, Dublin 8: the first date on its record is 1100.

Are there archaeological sites in The Liberties?

Yes: the Sites and Monuments Record lists 222 archaeological sites inside The Liberties.

How old are the homes in The Liberties?

25% of its homes were built before 1919, against 3.4% in the typical town.

Are the buildings on this page protected?

Being on the National Inventory or the Sites and Monuments Record is a record, not protection by itself: buildings are protected by their council’s Record of Protected Structures, which each council keeps and no national open list gathers, so this page can’t say which are on it.

History is described here, not graded.

Source: National Inventory of Architectural Heritage and Sites and Monuments Record, Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (CC BY 4.0); Wikidata (CC0).

Sources: National Inventory of Architectural Heritage (buildingsofireland.ie) · Sites and Monuments Record and the National Monuments Service’s monuments to visit · CSO Census 2022 (homes by the year built) · Photos: Wikimedia Commons, including the National Library of Ireland’s collections, each credited with its licence and copied to our own server · Wikidata (CC0) for other names and articles. Under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0).

Contains Central Statistics Office (CSO) data, Census 2022, and Tailte Éireann boundaries (CSO Urban Areas, Small Areas, local electoral areas, constituencies), under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0).