Glasnevin Cemetery

Glasnevin Cemetery in Glasnevin, Dublin, Ireland opened in 1832 and is the largest cemetery in Ireland.  The cemetery was initially known as Prospect Cemetery, a name chosen from the townland of Prospect, which surrounded the cemetery lands. Originally covering nine acres of ground, the area of the cemetery has now grown to approximately 124 acres.

Glasnevin Cemetery is the setting for the “Hades” episode in James Joyce’s Ulysses, and referenced by Idris Davies in his poem Eire.

Famous Irish people have been laid to rest there, e.g. Daniel O’Connell (an Irish political leader and a campaigner for Catholic Emancipation and the repeal of the Act of Union), Charles Stewart Parnell (founder and leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party), Maud Gonne (Muse of WB Yeats and rebel leader) and Eamon de Valera (a leader in Ireland’s struggle for independence, founder of the Fianna Fail political party, and later Prime Minister and President of Ireland).