St. Andrew’s was opened for worship in 1822, funded by means of a gift of £830 15s. 41l. 2d. donated by the late Board of First Fruits, a loan of £276 18s. 53l. 4d. from that Board and a donation of £92 6s. 13l. 4d. from Col. Talbot, which came to a total of £1,199 10s.
The church, which was enlarged in 1870, contains some fine stain-glass windows, depicting Biblical scenes.
The tombstones in the graveyard provide an historical Malahide record:
Richard Wogan Talbot, 5th Baron of Malahide, 1846 -1921; James Boswell, Talbot, 1874 – 1948; Milo Reginal Talbot, 1912 – 1972; artist Nathaniel Hone, 1831 – 1917; Historian, Professor Edmund Curtis, 1881 – 1943 is also buried here under the simple inscription ‘Historian’.
Other famous persons buried there include: architect, Frederick George Hicks, 1870 – 1965, who converted Malahide” Martello Tower, now known as Hick’s Tower, and the artist, Flora H. Mitchell, who died in 1973.
Buried under the carriageway of St. Andrews in unmarked graves are the bodies of two unknown victims from the wreck of the John Tayleur which went aground on the eastern coast of Lambay Island in 1854. After the inquest into the tragedy, held in Fagan’s Grand Hotel, the two bodies of the Tayleur sailors required burial. But being of unknown faith, no church would claim them, so today they sleep unknown and unclaimed under the carriageway of the church. The living of today still cross over the graves of these poor unknown sailors as they enter the church to pray.
Famous was the rector, the Rev. T. Somerville Lindsay, afterwards Canon of Christ Church Cathedral in the City of Dublin, and later Archdeacon of Dublin. The Archdeacon made a paradise of the rectory garden and he later published a well-known gardening book entitled Shrubs in 1933. Many a Malahide garden blossomed because of his enthusiasm and experience. Archdeacon Lindsay died on 6th September 1933. Another well-known Rector was the Rev. Robert Walsh, the Historian, who published Fingall and its Churches in 1888.
During the 20th century, the Rev. Canon Gough Cooper was rector of this beautiful church for 41 years. When he retired in 1990, he was succeeded by the rector, the Rev. Dr. Norman E. Gamble. The church was further expanded in 2004 with the addition of St. Marnock’s Chapel, as well as providing a new entrance and porch to the building. The institution of the present incumbent, the Rev. Canon David Gillespie took place in November 2021.