The church was consecrated by Archbishop Magee on 5 December 1824 as a chapel-of-ease to St. Peter’s.
It was designed by John Bowden and Completed after his death by Joseph Welland. In its original form the church was rectangular: the Victorian apse, which clearly owes its inspiration to the Oxford Movement, was added in 1852 (you can still see the tell-tale line of the extension in the external masonry).
The parish of St. Stephen was carved from the large medieval parish of St. Peter’s. It derived its name from the medieval leper hospital of St. Stephen, which stood on the site of Mercer’s Hospital. With the rapid expansion of the city Suburbs in the 18th century, it became necessary to build new churches to accommodate the expanding population.
St. Stephen’s Church was the last of a distinguished series of Georgian churches built by the Church of Ireland. These new suburbs were built on the estates of families that are now commemorated in the names of the streets and squares of Dublin – names like Gardener (Mountjoy), Dawson, Molesworth, and Pembroke (Herbert). It was on the land of the Pembroke estate – the medieval manor of Merrion – that St. Stephen’s church was built (on ground donated by the family). The Pembroke pew is still identifiable.
The estate was originally owned by the Fitzwilliam family, but as a consequence of marriage Viscount Fitzwilliam bequeathed the manor of Merrion to his cousin, the earl of Pembroke (a member of the Herbert family) in 1816. All these names are reflected in the streets and squares in the vicinity of the church. Two other street names have a curious origin. The name of Mount Street is thought to have been derived from a mound which once stood at the corner of Fitzwilliam and Baggot Street, where a gallows was erected for the execution of criminals. The name Baggot comes from the medieval Manor of Baggotrath, owned by the Bagods.
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