St. Michan's Church Crypt, Dublin City
Irish history and culture in Dublin city took a hit this week. St Michan’s is one of Ireland’s oldest christian sites, dating back to as early as the 11th century, but the current structure can be dated to the 1680s with further renovations taking place between 1723 and 1725, in 1767 and in 1825. It was the subject of vandalism yet again. A fire was started in the church crypts which hold a number of mummified remains, from unidentified bodies, to one named ‘the Crusader’ and also the revolutionary brothers, John and Henry Sheares.1
From RTÉ News:
A man has been arrested after a fire was lit in the crypt at St Michan's Church of Ireland in Dublin, destroying five mummies including an 800-year-old mummy known as 'The Crusader'.
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The blaze was extinguished by Dublin Fire Brigade before it took hold and the area was made safe.
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However, five mummified remains, which were contained in the crypt, are believed to have been "destroyed" by the water that was required put the fire out.
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They include an 800-year-old mummy known as 'The Crusader' and four others dating back 400 years.
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Archdeacon of Dublin and Vicar of St Michan's Church David Pierpoint described the incident as "disastrous for Dublin, for history and for the parish".
"The parish depends on income from our tourists and if we've no crypts to show people, then we have very little money coming in," he said.
"We're not sure now what's going to happen."2
St Michan’s Church holds an important role not only in the historical fabric of Dublin but also, as an important location for my own research on the life of Rev William Jackson. After his death, he received a largely and well attended funeral, whose procession ended at St Michans Church, where he appears to have been given an unmarked grave as a result of his death by suicide.3
This recent assault on a cultural landmark of Dublin is not the first instance unfortunately - the site also saw instances of vandalism in 1996 and 2019. In 1996 the vaults were generally damaged by vandals and in 2019 they were broken into and the head of one mummy was severed and stolen4. One struggles to understand the motivation behind such actions. All that we get, collectively is the destruction and disappearance of a history.
The Archdeacon has said that they will be consulting with the National Museum of Ireland to discuss next steps and to discern if there is any possibility of rescuing the remaining mummified remains, but the initial assessment is far from positive, "But we're really pretty certain that they've been destroyed."
The total loss of the remains would be an incredibly disheartening situation, but even if salvaged, the Church will lose out on significant school and tourism income. On average they welcomed roughly 30,000 visitors, most visiting four guided tours of the church and grounds, with the highlight being the crypt and its remains.
As Dr Michael Jackson, Archbishop of Ireland noted: "The devastating impact on the opportunity to engage with something that is of history and a fascination to people has now been taken away from us."5
You can find a previous post I wrote about the Sheares brothers below! Please do check it out and be sure to share my newsletter with anybody you think would be interested - thank you all for the support so far and for sticking around!
P.S. testing out using footnotes instead of further reading on this one, I’m thinking of starting to implement them more (click on the number and it will bring you to the reference at the bottom of the page).
Henry Sheares, DIB entry by C.J. Woods, https://www.dib.ie/biography/sheares-henry-a8013; John Sheares, DIB entry by C.J. Woods, https://www.dib.ie/biography/sheares-john-a8013-a.
Five mummified remains destroyed in Dublin crypt fire, online at RTÉ: https://www.rte.ie/news/2024/0611/1454267-st-michans-church/ (12 June 2024).
William Jackson, DIB entry by C.J. Woods, https://www.dib.ie/biography/jackson-william-a4245.
Crusader skull stolen from Dublin church recovered, online at BBC: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-47461511 (5th March 2019).
Five mummified remains destroyed in Dublin crypt fire, online at RTÉ (See link in Footnote 2).