Saint Catherine's Cemetery

In 1177, the parish of Saint Catherine and Saint James is mentioned as part of the Saint Thomas the Martyr Augustinian Abbey (named in honor of Saint Thomas Becket) (from which Thomas Street and Thomas Court got their name), and Saint Catherine's Church was a chapel-of-ease to the abbey. By the end of the 13th century the western suburbs had so increased in population that a separate parish was deemed necessary, which was provided for by splitting the parish of Saint James and setting up an independent parish for Saint Catherine's.

Both parishes were still subservient to Saint Thomas Abbey, but in 1539 the abbey was dissolved with all the monasteries by Henry VIII. In the surrender made by Henry Duffe, last Abbot, were included "the Churches of St Catherine and St James, in Dublin." Both churches, now independent, had new curates appointed by the crown: Sir John Brace to St Catherine's (which was shortly taken over by Peter Ledwich (or Ledwidge)) and Sir John Butler to St James. Over the following hundred years both churches passed over to the reformed church, while Roman Catholic priests led a precarious existence tending to the larger part of the population, which remained faithful to the old religion.

The parish of St Catherine appears to have been the only viable one in the area at that time - Roman Catholics eventually got the use of a chapel in Dirty Lane (now Bridgefoot Street) towards the end of the 17th century. This chapel was replaced by another St Catherine's was founded in Meath Street to cater for the Catholic population.

The two Church of Ireland parishes were separated in 1710

Saint Catherine's Cemetery is located to the rear of the churchyard. Originally dating to 1552, burials ceased in 1894. The cemetery is now a small public park. There is a plot which was provided by the Protestant Orphan Society for the burial of orphans, in the churchyard. There is a memorial to those took part in the 1803 Rising, and where hanged, some were hanged on Thomas Street