Glasnevin Cemetary

This is a post which Elizabeth and Meghann wrote for our academic blog about our trip in the footprints of the 1916 Easter Rising Rebels. This blog contains the adventures of Brad, Meghann, Elizabeth, and Eva.

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Glasnevin was founded in 1850 by Oliver Cromwell. The cemetery is 124 acres, and over 1.5 million people are buried here. Many important historical figures are buried here including Daniel O’Connell, Michael Collins, and Thomas Addis Emmet MD.

 It was strange to see such a modern building in the cemetery.

Museum

Beautiful graves!

Daniel O’Connell is called the Liberator and Emancipator because his peaceful political movements are what won the Catholics in Ireland their freedom. After Oliver Cromwell practically destroyed the people in the 1600's the Penal laws were introduced, which restricted the rights of the Irish Catholics. They could not own land, vote, or hold any power whatsoever. When they died, their land had to be split among all their children, which resulted in them having even less power. They had to pay rent on the same piece of property for generations, for a piece of property they could never own, and the landlord could evict them whenever he chose with little to no warning. Daniel is the one who freed them

 Daniel O’Connell's grave is one of the easiest to find among the cemetery. Mostly because it is a 51 meter high round tower. He was originally buried in O’Connell Square, but his body was moved when the tower was finished in 1865.

Inside his tomb.

 The artwork in his tomb is copied off the styles used in the Book of Kells. Unfortunately, there was a fire, and the tomb sat neglected for a time. The picture above is of the now restored wall, but the picture below is what the wall looked like after the fire, before it was restored.

 The strange thing is, O'Connell lays under an elaborate tomb but his family are stacked in plain wooden coffins haphazardly in a little room off the side if O'Connell's tomb. They aren't even stacked straight!

 There is a ring of 42 tombs around O'Connell's grave which were meant for his family and friends, but the reality is, whoever had enough money could be buried in one of these tombs. As a result, one of O'Connell's archenemies is buried alongside one of O'Connell's best friends.

The sheer closeness and the amount of graves was astonishing.

There are several mass graves among the traditional burials. Buried with Nicolas Parnell are 11,538 citizens of Ireland some of who fought and died for the Republic, but many were also Cholera victims. We were unable to explore the entire Grave site, but we were able to see some very significant tombs. It was truly awe-inspiring.

The carvings on the crosses are stunning.

There are Yew trees lining the paths through the cemetery to deter livestock from coming onto the property.

It wasn’t only important figures who were buried here, others who joined in the rebellion are as well. Like a woman named Margaret Skinidder, a primary school teacher by day and a sniper for the rebels during her free time. The people of Ireland are also buried here and are still being buried here.