A History of St James's Church and Graveyard, Dublin, from the 12th to 21st Centuries

Dublin's St James's Church and Graveyard were founded between 1189-92 and dedicated to the saint said to be be buried in Santiago de Compostela in Spain. St James's Church was attached to St Thomas's Abbey, established in honour of the murdered Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury. Following the Reformation in the sixteenth century, St James's Church came under the control of the Protestant Church of Ireland. During the Penal Era Catholics were not permitted their own graveyards in Dublin and so continued to bury in St James's Graveyard until modern times.

This book also covers topics such as the pilgrimage to the shrine of St James in Santiago de Compostela in Spain, St James's Fair, the Fountain in James's Street, body-snatching for purposes of medical research, the building of new St James's Protestant and Catholic churches in the nineteenth century, World War 1 and the War of Independence. St James's Church closed as a place of worship in 1963 and in 2013 it was purchased by Inchicore native Dr Pearse Lyons, who with his wife Deirdre Lyons converted the restored church building into the Pearse Lyons Distillery.

An estimated total of 100,000 people were buried in St James's Graveyard, including Bishop Conor O'Devany, Sir Toby Butler, the courtesan Peg Plunket, the architect of Kilmainham Gaol Sir John Trail, the distiller James Power, the Easter Rising Volunteer John J O'Grady and nine members of Dr Pearse Lyons's family. The last burial in St James's Graveyard was in 1989 and in 2010 the site was acquired by Dublin City Council, which is currently in the process of restoring it as a place of public access.

The author Sean J Murphy is a history graduate of University College Dublin and works as a genealogical and historical researcher, lecturer and writer. He lives with his wife Margaret McGinn and family in Windgates, Co Wicklow.