Cavan people are fond of Dublin property and regard the acquisition of capital real estate as a step on the road to eternal bliss.

Cavan man, Dublin priest and ecclesiastical developer Bartholomew Sheridan left an indelible mark on the built environment of south county Dublin, where he served his God and his inner builder between 1822 and 1862.

Born in the southernmost county of Ulster in 1787, he entered Maynooth in 1809 and was ordained a priest in 1814. As fate would have it, in 1822 his clerical journey brought him to the south Dublin port of Kingstown as a humble curate.

Just as Catholic Emancipation was granted in 1829, Father Bartholomew was appointed parish priest of the newly formed parish of Kingstown.

Taking charge just in time for the ecclesiastical building boom that followed Emancipation, he threw himself headlong into the establishment of his pastoral patch.

Over the next 33 years, he adorned it with a string of schools and churches, making him singularly responsible for the bulk of 19th century ecclesiastical architecture in South Dublin and into Wicklow.

Among his portfolio of churches is St Michael’s, Dun Laoghaire; the Church of the Assumption, Dalkey; St Alphonsus, Killiney; St Brigid’s, Cabinteely; and the Church of St Peter in Bray. ‘Bart the Builder’ might not be an entirely inappropriate nickname.

In 1849, he built himself a house worthy of his station and achievements at Lodge Park on Tivoli Road.

Equally passionate about education and church building, he introduced a range of religious teaching orders to the area and, in the process, built an array of schools.

His list of educational projects included the Sisters of Mercy School; the Dominican Convent School; the Loreto Convent School, Dalkey, and the Christian Brothers School, Eblana Avenue.

Singlemindedness caused him to make as many enemies as friends. When his path crossed that of Catherine MacAuley, founder of the Mercy Order, their interaction was not exactly marked by moderation and restraint.

MacAuley’s biographer, Mary C Sullivan records particularly ‘intense’ exchanges between Sheridan and the ‘Mercys’ around the founding of a school for girls on Sussex Street in 1835. Interestingly, the school closed a mere three years after opening.

Many of the Canon’s parishioners were seafarers, an occupation with a high death rate. As a result, his flock had a greater proportion of orphans than other communities.

In 1860, he built St Joseph’s orphanage on the grounds of his house, engaging a French order of nuns, the Daughters of the Heart of Mary, to run the institution. He subsequently gave them the parochial house as their residence.

Hospitals are also numbered among the infrastructural achievements of the industrious priest, who died on May 12, 1862 and is buried in St Michael’s Church in Dun Laoghaire.

St Joseph’s orphanage survived for over 120 years, while the nuns remained at Lodge Park until 1985.