What it is
St James’ Church is a Church of Ireland church that no longer holds services and now makes whiskey. The Gothic building at the quiet top end of James’s Street in Dublin 8, a short walk from St James’s Gate, was deconsecrated in 1963 and sat largely empty for half a century before reopening in 2017 as Pearse Lyons Distillery. The copper stills run inside the old nave, under the original stained glass. If you have an hour and a choice between this and the Guinness Storehouse down the road, this is the quieter, stranger visit: a working distillery in a consecrated shell, on a fraction of the scale.
A layered history
The parish is older than the building. A hospital for pilgrims stood on nearby Lazar’s Hill by about 1220, and the parish was separated from St Catherine’s in 1710. The church you see was designed by Joseph Welland and completed around 1859 to 1861. It had a prominent spire until lightning damaged it, and the spire was taken down in 1948. Worship carried on until 1963.
The graveyard beside it holds an estimated 100,000 burials, which makes it one of Dublin’s larger historic cemeteries. Among those recorded here are Bishop Conor O’Devany, the Catholic bishop executed in 1612 and beatified in 1992; Sir Theobald Butler, the Solicitor General; Sir Mark Rainsford, Mayor of Dublin and a brewery owner on whose old site Guinness later rose; Sergeant-Major John Lucas, who won the Victoria Cross; and Sir William Haldane-Porter. The cemetery is owned by Dublin City Council and stays closed to the public, opened only for annual community clean-up days, though you can see restored monuments along the perimeter wall from the street.
The distillery
Dr Pearse Lyons bought the disused church in 2014 and converted it into a small-batch whiskey distillery, opening to visitors in 2017. The conversion kept the building’s Gothic fabric and its stained glass, so the tour walks you under the original arches while the stills work in the background. Guided tours cover the process from grain to glass and finish with a tasting of the core range, so you need to be 18 or over. Opening times and tour prices change with the season, so check the Pearse Lyons website and book ahead in summer, when tours sell out days in advance.
The Camino
Dublin has long been a setting-off point for Irish pilgrims walking to Santiago de Compostela, and the church is now an official Camino passport office. Walkers can collect an Irish Camino passport and their first stamp here, useful for both the Celtic Camino and the Camino Inglés routes. A statue of St James was installed in March 2025 and unveiled by Manuel Mirás Franqueira, Honorary President of the Asociación de Concellos do Camiño Inglés.
The one thing to get right is the timing. The Camino Information Centre is open Thursday, Friday and Saturday, 10.30am to 3.30pm, and passports are also available after the 10am Mass on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Turn up outside those windows and you may leave without a stamp.
Practical information
- Getting there: the Red Luas line stops at St James’s/James’s Street right outside. Bus routes 13, G1, G2, S2 and 123 stop on James’s Street, Heuston Station is a few minutes’ walk, and there are Dublin Bikes stations at the front and rear of the church.
- Distillery tours: times vary by season; check the Pearse Lyons website and book ahead. Tastings mean an over-18s policy.
- Camino passports: Camino Information Centre open Thursday to Saturday, 10.30am to 3.30pm; also after 10am Mass Monday to Wednesday.
- Cemetery: closed to the public; visible from James’s Street, with restored monuments along the wall.
Nearby
James’s Street runs through one of Dublin’s tightest heritage clusters. The Guinness Storehouse and its rooftop Gravity Bar are a five-minute walk south, and the Roe & Co distillery is close by, so a Camino stamp, a church, and two working distilleries fit comfortably into one afternoon on foot.