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Glasnevin Cemetery

Coordinates: 53°22′20″N 6°16′40″W / 53.37222°N 6.27778°W / 53.37222; -6.27778
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"Prospect Cemetery" redirects here. For the cemetery in New York, see Prospect Cemetery (Jamaica, New York).

Glasnevin Cemetery
The Glasnevin Mortuary Chapel alongside the O'Connell Tower
Map
Interactive map of Glasnevin Cemetery
Details
Established1832
Location
Glasnevin, Dublin
CountryIreland
Coordinates53°22′20″N 6°16′40″W / 53.37222°N 6.27778°W / 53.37222; -6.27778
TypePublic
Owned byDublin Cemeteries Trust
Size124 acres (50 ha)
No. of interments1.5 million
Websitewww.dctrust.ie/location/glasnevin.html

Glasnevin Cemetery (Irish: Reilig Ghlas Naíon) is the national cemetery of Ireland, located on the Northside of Dublin. More than 1.5 million people are buried in the cemetery, including a number of notable historical figures.[1]

Established as a non-denominational garden cemetery by Daniel O'Connell in 1832, the cemetery is 124 acres (50 ha) in size and contains the gravesites of a number of historical figures, including Charles Stewart Parnell, Éamon de Valera, Constance Markievicz and Michael Collins.[2]

Overseen by Dublin Cemeteries Trust, Glasnevin remains an active cemetery and cremation site.[3] The cemetery contains a visitor centre, the landmark O'Connell Tower, and runs guided tours of the grounds.[4]

History

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Founding

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Prior to the establishment of Glasnevin Cemetery, Irish Catholics had no cemeteries of their own in which to bury their dead and, as the repressive Penal Laws of the eighteenth century placed heavy restrictions on the public performance of Catholic services, it had become normal practice for Catholics to conduct a limited version of their own funeral services in Protestant churchyards or graveyards.[5]

This situation continued until an incident at a funeral held at St. Kevin's Churchyard in 1823 provoked public outcry when a Protestant sexton reprimanded a Catholic priest for proceeding to perform a limited version of a funeral mass.[5]

The outcry prompted Daniel O'Connell, champion of Catholic rights, to push for the opening of a burial ground in which both Irish Catholics and Protestants could give their dead dignified burial. Due to the limited space for burials at Goldenbridge Cemetery in Inchicore, the nine-acre plot of land was purchased at Glasnevin, subsequently consecrated and opened to the public for the first time on 21 February 1832. The first burial, that of eleven-year-old Michael Carey from Francis Street in Dublin, took place on the following day in a section of the cemetery known as Curran's Square.[2]

19th century

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The O'Connell Tower stands over the tomb of the cemetery's founder, Daniel O'Connell

The cemetery was initially known as Prospect Cemetery, a name chosen from the townland of Prospect, which surrounded the cemetery lands. Besides the famous interred at Glasnevin, nearly 800,000 people have been buried in Glasnevin in unmarked mass graves due to the death toll from the Great Famine of the 1840s and a later cholera epidemic.[6]

The high wall with watchtowers surrounding the main part of the cemetery was built to deter bodysnatchers, who were active in Dublin in the 18th and early 19th centuries. The watchmen also had a pack of bloodhounds who roamed the cemetery at night.

Following his death in 1847, Daniel O'Connell was initially buried in an area of the cemetery now known as the Old O'Connell Circle. In 1869, after the completion of the 55-metre tall O'Connell Tower, his remains were reinterred in a crypt located at the base of the monument.[7]

Throughout the 19th century, the cemetery played host to a number of large funerals and commemorations.[citation needed] This included the funeral of Charles Stewart Parnell in October 1891, which has subsequently been marked annually as "Ivy Day".[8]

20th century

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Crowds gathered at the graveside of Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa in Glasnevin Cemetery on 1 August 1915.

Originally covering nine acres of ground, the area of the cemetery expanded throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, to approximately 124 acres, including St. Paul's section on the southern side of the Finglas Road, which opened in 1908.

During the Irish revolutionary period, Glasnevin Cemetery was the site of the funeral of Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa. The graveside oration, delivered by Patrick Pearse at O'Donovan Rossa's funeral on 1 August 1915, had an impact on the mobilisation of Irish republicans and set the stage for the Easter Rising eight months later.[9]

The funeral procession of Michael Collins to Glasnevin Cemetery on 28 August 1922 was the largest in the cemetery's history, with an estimated 500,000 people, one-fifth of the population of Ireland, lining the streets of Dublin to pay tribute.[10]

In January 1971, a gelignite bomb was planted at the base of the O'Connell Tower, demolishing the original staircase and causing minor damage to the structure and the O'Connell crypt. The bombing was later attributed to Ulster loyalists in retaliation for the destruction of Nelson's Pillar on O'Connell Street in 1966.[11]

In March 1982, the first crematorium in the Republic of Ireland was opened within the grounds of the cemetery. In subsequent decades, cremation services have grown in popularity.[12]

21st century

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Over the latter decades of the 20th century, due to lack of funding, the cemetery entered a period of decline, which was reversed following the beginning of a restoration project intended on restoring the cemetery as both a visitor attraction and a centre for national remembrance.[13] As part of the restoration programme, Glasnevin Cemetery Museum, designed by A&D Wejchert & Partners Architects was opened in March 2010, hosting guided tours, themed exhibitions and support for genealogists and those studying family history.[14]

In 2009, Glasnevin Trust in co-operation with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission began identifying the graves of Irish service personnel who died while serving in the Commonwealth forces during the two world wars. These names were inscribed on two memorials, rededicated and relocated in 2011 to near the main entrance.[15] A Cross of Sacrifice was erected in the cemetery, in a joint Irish-British commemoration ceremony, to mark the First World War centenary.[16] As of July 2019, there were 215 service personnel of the Commonwealth of both wars identified as buried here.[17]

Glasnevin Cemetery Museum opened in March 2010

Glasnevin Cemetery was a focal point of national commemoration during the decade of centenaries between 2012 and 2022, including a state ceremony marking the centenary of the Easter Rising, and a visit by then-Prince Charles in 2017 to acknowledge those buried in the cemetery who were killed in the World Wars and the struggle for Irish independence.[12]

As part of the cemetery's restoration project, the staircase of the O'Connell Tower was rebuilt using the structure's original plans, and was officially reopened to visitors in April 2018.[18]

Location

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The cemetery is located in Glasnevin, Dublin, in two parts. The main part, with its high walls and watchtowers, is located on one side of the road from Finglas to the city centre, while the other part, St. Paul's, is located across the road and beyond a green space, between two railway lines. A gateway into the National Botanic Gardens, adjacent to the cemetery, was reopened in recent years.[when?]

Features

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Memorials and graves

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Further information: Burials in Glasnevin Cemetery and Category:Burials at Glasnevin Cemetery

The cemetery contains the graves of a number of Ireland's most prominent national figures. These include the graves of Daniel O'Connell, Charles Stewart Parnell, Michael Collins, Éamon de Valera, Arthur Griffith, Maude Gonne, Kevin Barry, Roger Casement, Constance Markievicz, Seán MacBride, Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa, James Larkin, Brendan Behan, Christy Brown and Luke Kelly of the Dubliners.[citation needed]

Grave of Éamon de Valera

The grave of Michael Collins, the nationalist leader who was killed in the Irish Civil War in 1922, is among the most visited sites in Glasnevin. Around him were buried at least 183 soldiers of the Irish Free State. In 1967, their names were recorded on a memorial around Collin's grave.[19]

20th century gravestones.

In 1993, a mass grave at the site of a Magdalene laundry, institutions used to house "fallen women", was discovered after the convent which ran the laundry sold the land to a property developer. The remains were cremated and reburied in a mass grave at Glasnevin Cemetery, with the cost of the reburial split between the religious institutions involved and the developer who had bought the land.[20]

Angels plot

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Glasnevin is one of a small number of cemeteries that allowed stillborn babies to be buried in consecrated ground and contains an area called the Angels Plot.[21]

Crematorium

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In 1982, a crematorium was constructed within the cemetery grounds by Glasnevin Trust. Since then, the service has been used for people of various religious denominations who wished to be cremated.[22]

Religious services

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Catholic Mass is celebrated by members of the local parish clergy every Sunday. An annual blessing of the graves takes place each summer as it has done since the foundation of the cemetery in 1832.[23]

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Glasnevin Cemetery is the setting for the "Hades" episode in James Joyce's 1922 novel Ulysses, and is mentioned by Idris Davies in his poem Eire.[24][25] Portions of the 1967 film Ulysses, directed by Joseph Strick, were filmed at Glasnevin Cemetery.[citation needed]

The gate of the cemetery, as well as the nearby pub John Kavanagh's 'The Gravediggers', were featured in the 1970 comedy film Quackser Fortune Has a Cousin in the Bronx.[26]

Shane MacThomais, the cemetery's historian, was the author and contributor to a number of published works on the cemetery, prior to his death in March 2014.[27][28][29][30]

The documentary One Million Dubliners was released in 2014, featuring stories about the history and operation of the cemetery.[31]

References

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  1. ^ "Dublin Cemeteries Trust - Past and Present". dctrust.ie. Dublin Cemeteries Trust. Retrieved 19 November 2025.
  2. ^ a b ""Dublin's Glasnevin Cemetery held its first burial on this day in 1832", Irish Central, June 6, 2017". Archived from the original on 23 April 2018. Retrieved 8 January 2020.
  3. ^ "Dublin Cemeteries Trust - About Us". dctrust.ie. Dublin Cemeteries Trust. Retrieved 19 November 2025.
  4. ^ "Glasnevin Cemetery hitting the heights with revamped tour of O'Connell Tower". Irish Independent. 16 July 2024. Retrieved 19 November 2025.
  5. ^ a b "Glasnevin – Daniel O'Connell". Glasnevin Trust. 2010. Archived from the original on 1 March 2010. Retrieved 15 February 2010. pg 2 of 3
  6. ^ "Corless, Damian. "The final resting place of the nation's great and good", Independent, August 6, 2014". 6 August 2014. Archived from the original on 5 July 2017. Retrieved 8 January 2020.
  7. ^ "Dublin Cemeteries Trust - O'Connell Tower". Dublin Cemeteries Trust. Retrieved 19 November 2025.
  8. ^ "Taoiseach Simon Harris honours Charles Stewart Parnell at Ivy Day commemoration". Wicklow People. 21 October 2024. Retrieved 19 November 2025.
  9. ^ "Stamp marks Pearse's graveside oration for O'Donovan Rossa". University College Cork. 2015. Retrieved 19 November 2025.
  10. ^ "A Nation's Grief: How the funeral of Michael Collins was reported". Irish Examiner. 23 October 2022. Retrieved 19 November 2025.
  11. ^ "RTÉ Archives - Bomb Blasts O'Connell Monument". RTÉ Archives. Retrieved 19 November 2025.
  12. ^ a b "Dublin Cemeteries Trust - Past and Present". Dublin Cemeteries Trust. Retrieved 19 November 2025.
  13. ^ "Dublin Cemeteries Trust - Restoration". Dublin Cemeteries Trust. Retrieved 19 November 2025.
  14. ^ "RTÉ Archives - Experience Glasnevin, 2010". RTÉ Archives. Retrieved 19 November 2025.
  15. ^ "Glasnevin Trust & Commonwealth War Graves Commission erect 39 gravestones..." Glasnevin Trust. Archived from the original on 4 November 2011.
  16. ^ "31 July 2014: Dedication of Cross of Sacrifice, Glasnevin Cemetery". Decade of Centenaries. Archived from the original on 12 August 2014. Retrieved 11 August 2014.
  17. ^ "Glasnevin (or Prospect) Cemetery, with list of casualties". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Archived from the original on 31 March 2017. Retrieved 30 March 2017.
  18. ^ "Dublin Cemeteries Trust - O'Connell Tower". Dublin Cemeteries Trust. Retrieved 19 November 2025.
  19. ^ "The Free State's forgotten soldiers: The National Army monument at Glasnevin". TheIrishStory.com. 16 May 2017. Archived from the original on 23 December 2017. Retrieved 29 October 2017.
  20. ^ Mary Raftery (8 June 2011). "Ireland's Magdalene laundries scandal must be laid to rest". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 16 February 2019. Retrieved 25 July 2014.
  21. ^ "Angels Memory Garden – Glasnevin". Infant Stillbirth and Neonatal Death Society. Archived from the original on 14 April 2016. Retrieved 13 October 2009.
  22. ^ "Glasnevin Crematorium". Glasnevin Trust. 2010. Archived from the original on 1 May 2010. Retrieved 4 April 2010.
  23. ^ "Our Parish – Glasnevin Cemetery". Iona Road Parish Website. Archived from the original on 1 September 2014. Retrieved 22 March 2014.
  24. ^ James, Joyce (2014). Ulysses (Annotated). München. ISBN 978-3736813762. OCLC 943829505.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  25. ^ Idris, Davies (1994). The complete poems of Idris Davies. Johnston, Dafydd. Cardiff: University of Wales Press. ISBN 0708312721. OCLC 34951713.
  26. ^ "Quackser Fortune Has a Cousin in the Bronx". Irish Film Institute. 6 October 2011. Retrieved 20 February 2025.
  27. ^ "Well-known historian Shane MacThomais has died". Irish Independent. 21 March 2014. Archived from the original on 22 March 2014. Retrieved 22 March 2014.
  28. ^ "Glasnevin historian Shane MacThomais dies". Journal.ie. 21 March 2014. Archived from the original on 22 March 2014. Retrieved 22 March 2014.
  29. ^ "Mercier Press – Books and authors – Glasnevin Cemetery & Shane MacThomáis". Mercier Press. Archived from the original on 19 January 2014. Retrieved 22 March 2014.
  30. ^ Barbara Scully (27 February 2012). "Dead Interesting: Stories from the Graveyards of Dublin". Writing.ie Magazine. Archived from the original on 25 October 2014. Retrieved 22 March 2014.
  31. ^ "One Million Dubliners". Glasnevin Trust. Archived from the original on 12 July 2018. Retrieved 12 July 2018.
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