Glasnevin: Dublin's Most Romantic Cemetery For All Religions

Glasnevin Cemetery was founded in 1832 by Daniel O’Connell, “for all religions and none.” O’Connell, “the Liberator,” fought for Catholic emancipation in Ireland. Today his grave has the highest round tower in Ireland (over 50 metres). Down in the crypt, some visitors touch O’Connell’s coffin for good luck. 

The first burial at Glasnevin was that of a young boy, the victim of the tuberculosis then rampant in Dublin’s slums. Like most graveyards, Glasnevin can tell you a lot about a country and its culture.

Graveyard Greats 

In Ireland there are many rituals that help people deal with losing a loved one, and that keep their memory alive. Death is also of course the great equalizer. Amongst the 1.5 million Dubliners buried here there are rich and poor, religious and atheist, famous and forgotten. Probably the cemetery’s most famous residents are Michael Collins and Eamonn De Valera. Collins was known as “The Big Fellow” and De Valera was known as “The Long Fellow.” Although they both fought for Irish independence, they became enemies when civil war broke out. Collins was assassinated in 1922, at the age of 31, but de Valera went on to become President of Ireland and lived to the age of 92. But it is Collins’ grave that receives most flowers. He even gets Valentine cards! 

the local pub

If you exit the cemetery, you can’t miss Kavanagh’s Pub, also known as “the Gravediggers.” Here you might well hear a hair-raising story over a pint of Guinness here. At any time, a visit and guided tour of the cemetery represents some of the best two hours you can spend in Dublin.

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Interview: The Dead

Cemeteries, whether they be in Los Angeles, the home of Hollywood, or Paris, the final resting place of Jim Morrison, are often tourist attractions. And the Glasnevin Cemetery in Ireland, the country where James Joyce set his famous story, The Dead, is no exception. We asked Niall Oman, who is a tour guide there, to tell us more:

Niall Oman (Irish Accent): There are 1.5 million people buried in Glasnevin Cemetery, which is more than the population of Dublin. So Dublin’s population is about 1.3 million, so, because we have 1.5 million people buried here, we can boast that there are more people below ground in Glasnevin Cemetery than above ground in the capital of Ireland.

the easter rising 

And Niall Oman himself has a personal connection:

Niall Oman: My great-grandfather, he fought in the 1916 Easter Rising rebellion. He was just 15 years old and he fought with three different rebel garrisons during the rebellion. It lasted a week. Eventually the rebels had to surrender. 16 leaders would be executed. Now, fortunately, my grandfather, being 15, was not one of the executed leaders, but he managed to survive; he then fought in our War of Independence and our Civil War and today he is buried in the cemetery as well.

LOVE AND DEATH

The cemetery is also a romantic place:

Niall Oman: The most famous love story in Irish history would be that of Grace Gifford-Plunkett and her love, Joseph Plunkett. He was one of the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising and was sentenced to death. They had been engaged since December 1915 and the date that they had set for their marriage was Easter 1916. Joseph couldn’t quite get married at that time because he was engaged in armed rebellion! But when the rebellion came to an end, he was sentenced to death, but Joseph and his love, Grace, still wanted to be married. So the night before his execution in Kilmainham Gaol, they were given permission that she could go into the prison and marry him at midnight before he was executed at dawn. That’s what would happen. After the wedding ceremony, they were given just 10 minutes in his cell to say goodbye. And once the 10 minutes were up, she was then told to leave, never to see Joseph alive again, and she would stand outside the walls of the prison, and she heard the shots fired that executed Joseph, her love.