St. Assam's Church St. Assam's is the name of two historic churches in the village of Raheny, Dublin, one a picturesque ruin in the middle of the village, one the structurally sound but no longer primary church built for the local Roman Catholic community of the area after the revival of religious rights. Both buildings lie within the area of the ráth (ring fort) which gave the village and district its name, and which was perhaps 110 m across. Background There was settlement in the Raheny area dating back to at least Celtic times, and it is believed a Christian establishment back to early Christian times in Ireland. The Parish of Raheny was erected in the 12th century, not later than 1152, probably initially in the Archdiocese of Glendalough and then in the Fingal Deanery of the Diocese of Dublin, and almost certainly had had a church for many years by then. The first surviving reference to a church building in the area dates from 1189, in a Papal Bull of Clement. The Chapel of Raheny is mentioned again in a concession of the Archbishop of Dublin (1372) and a will (John Sheriff, 1472), which left money "for the care of the churches of Raheny, Coolock and Little Grange." No specific church name is given in any of these documents. The 1609 church From a reference in the Parliamentary Gazetteer to 1609, the older of the current churches may have been standing in some form. Whatever building was there, the regal visitation report of 1615 for north County Dublin references it, with repairs due to the chancel. By this period of the early 17th century, the church was almost certainly operating within the State church, the Church of Ireland, albeit most of the population were Catholic, probably worshipping in houses, or perhaps at Coolock or Artaine (see Parish of Coolock (Roman Catholic). "Old" St. Assam's, 1712 The now-ruined Church of St. Assam, locally known as "the old Protestant church", was rebuilt in 1712 on the site of "the parochial church dedicated to St. Assam", according to a dedication stone in the wall. It was a simple structure, 16.25 m by 7.15 m externally (with walls 0.75 m thick), and a mid-19th century plan shows a porch at the west end and a vestry at the east end of the north side, with internal arrangements for 116 worshippers. The porch is described in the Parliamentary Gazetteer as having a flat bell turret while the still-high east gable had a large window with tracery. Rectangular sockets on the walls may have been used to hold wooden panelling prior to the closure of the church in 1889, following the building of All Saints Church a few hundred metres citywards. The church is surrounded by a walled graveyard, long closed to burials, beyond one wall of which is one of Raheny's three old schoolhouses. The church was kept in order for some time after closure but represented a considerable burden on the small Church of Ireland Parish of Raheny and was eventually partially dismantled, most notably in 1920. Later still, in 1976, church and graveyard were transferred to the care of Dublin Corporation. "New" St. Assam's, 1859 Following years of restrictions, Roman Catholics gradually began to rebuild parochial structures and church facilities across Ireland from the early-mid 19th century. The historic Parish of Raheny had been merged into a union parish, based initially around Coolock, and later Clontarf, and this began to be broken up in the mid-18th century. As part of this process, it was decided to restore Catholic public worship in Raheny