The Church was built on the north eastern corner of Rutland (now Parnell) Square and
North Frederick Street. It was built on the site of Headfort House (sometimes Bective House), which was owned by the
Earl of Bective (also the Marquess of Headfort), and named after his family's County Meath estate at
Headfort House. The Earl had moved from a house of the same name in
Smithfield which had by that time become an unfashionable district. One of the first preachers was
John Hall (1829–1898). The congregation had previously, from 1667 until 1864, worshipped on Capel Street, on the site of the old
St. Mary's Abbey. It was founded by a preacher from Bull Alley, the Rev. William Jacque, who left along with some of its congregation to form the new church. The Capel Street Congregation was sometimes incorrectly referred to as the
Scots Church, and confused with the Scots Presbyterian Church, Lower Abbey Street. In 1778 during Rev. McDowell's ministry, the congregation renamed itself Mary's Abbey Congregation (whence the Abbey Presbyterian Church gets its name). In 1911 Abbey Church, along with other Presbyterian churches,
The Scots Church,
Ormond Quay church and Union Chapel, founded Lindsay Road National School. In 1918 the Union Chapel, on Lower Abbey Street, whose chapel had been damaged during the 1916 Rising, joined the Abbey Presbyterian Church. ==People Associated with the Abbey Presbyterian Congregation==