The cemetery, just north of Dublin City Centre, is crammed — not only with graves, but also with stories of people who made up Ireland’s past and helped shaped its present. One of the first things to strike visitors to Glasnevin Cemetery is its size (it’s huge) and the number of gravestones and monuments. It’s no wonder — the area is the final resting place of more than one million people.
Famous People at Glasnevin Cemetery
One standout feature of the cemetery is a round tower. This tower marks the spot where Daniel O’Connell, political leader and champion of Catholics’ rights, has been laid to rest. His coffin lies in a crypt at the base of the tower, which visitors can see. In the same crypt, coffins of his relatives are stacked one on top of the other.
O’Connell had a pivotal role in the creation of Glasnevin Cemetery. Prior to the establishment of the cemetery, Irish Catholics had no cemeteries of their own because of penal laws the British imposed on the Irish. It was O’Connell who pushed for a burial ground for both Irish Catholics and Protestants.
Other notable individuals laid to rest at Glasnevin include Irish republican leader Michael Collins, whose grave is marked by a cross and often covered by potted flowers; former Irish president Éamon de Valera, whose remains lie beneath a covering of what looks like pale gravel; and Irish parliamentarian and nationalist Charles Stewart Parnell, whose final resting place is on a hill, marked by a boulder inscribed with his surname.
Writers Kate Cruise O’Brien, Brendan Behan and Christy Brown also lie in Glasnevin among other politicians, historians and artists.
What to See at Glasnevin Cemetery
Besides the final resting place of famous people, Glasnevin Cemetery also shows how death monuments have changed over the last two centuries. Until the 1860s, high and simple stone erections predominated, then intricate Celtic crosses were the style from the 1860s to the 1960s, and then plain Italian marble came to the fore in the late 20th century.
Visitors will also notice high walls and towers at the cemetery. These were built to deter body snatchers back in the day (the 1830s and early 1840s), who would steal and sell bodies to medical schools. Watchmen used to stand guard atop the towers.
The History of Glasnevin Cemetery
Glasnevin was initially named Prospect Cemetery. It first opened in 1832, with a size of nine acres. Today, it stretches to more than 120 acres. Within those 120 acres still lies the grave, complete with a high stone slab, of the cemetery’s first interment, Michael Carey, a Dublin boy who reportedly died of typhoid.
A walking tour of Glasnevin Cemetery will take visitors past Carey’s grave, as well as the resting places of the more notable figures. Tours usually take place every Wednesday and Friday at 2:30 p.m., at a cost of five euro. Visitors can just show up or e-mail the cemetery through its website.
Dublin’s Glasnevin Cemetery is steeped in history, shown through its structures like walls and towers, and the changing style of monuments through the years. The remains of those interred there reflect how Ireland’s past has shaped its present.
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