Donnybrook Graveyard is on Morehampton Road, beside the Garda Station. There is no public assess but regular tours are led by David Neary. David is a retired Parks Department Officer. Tours normally run during the summer months and dates and times are posted on the graveyard gate.
The entrance to the graveyard was originally located to the south of where it is today. The current entrance is an archway that was erected by the Dublin Stock Exchange in 1893 in memory of Thomas Chamney Searight and reads:-
"This memorial has been erected by the members of the Dublin Stock Exchange to the late Thomas Chamney Searight for many years the
registrar to their society. He died May 27th 1890 and his remains are buried in this churchyard."
In 1879 the remains of 600 people were discovered on Ailesbury road which are thought to be from a massacre by the Danes in the 9th or 10th century. The bodies were removed and re-interred in the graveyard. In 1931 when the road was widened, the entrance was moved back about fifteen feet and another mass grave was discovered. These bodies were also re-interred in the south of the cemetery.
On 1 May 1976 the president of Ireland Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh opened the cemetery after a clean-up. In 1985 a new clean-up was embarked upon and in 1988 the then Lord Mayor of Dublin, Carmencita Hedderman, unveiled a noticeboard which held a list of the transcribed memorial, a project undertaken by FÁS.
The architect Edward Lovett Pearce was buried here 1733. No contemporaneous monument survives but a plaque, dedicated to his memory was unveiled in 1990 by Dr Edward McParland, TCD on behalf of the Royal Institute of Irish Architects.
Our thanks to David for a wonderful tour of the graveyard in 2014 and sharing his wealth of knowledge with us, and to Danny Parkinson, author of Donnybrook Graveyard and Interesting historical facts on Donnybrook and its environs, published in 1988.
The entrance to the graveyard was originally located to the south of where it is today. The current entrance is an archway that was erected by the Dublin Stock Exchange in 1893 in memory of Thomas Chamney Searight and reads:-
"This memorial has been erected by the members of the Dublin Stock Exchange to the late Thomas Chamney Searight for many years the
registrar to their society. He died May 27th 1890 and his remains are buried in this churchyard."
In 1879 the remains of 600 people were discovered on Ailesbury road which are thought to be from a massacre by the Danes in the 9th or 10th century. The bodies were removed and re-interred in the graveyard. In 1931 when the road was widened, the entrance was moved back about fifteen feet and another mass grave was discovered. These bodies were also re-interred in the south of the cemetery.
On 1 May 1976 the president of Ireland Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh opened the cemetery after a clean-up. In 1985 a new clean-up was embarked upon and in 1988 the then Lord Mayor of Dublin, Carmencita Hedderman, unveiled a noticeboard which held a list of the transcribed memorial, a project undertaken by FÁS.
The architect Edward Lovett Pearce was buried here 1733. No contemporaneous monument survives but a plaque, dedicated to his memory was unveiled in 1990 by Dr Edward McParland, TCD on behalf of the Royal Institute of Irish Architects.
Our thanks to David for a wonderful tour of the graveyard in 2014 and sharing his wealth of knowledge with us, and to Danny Parkinson, author of Donnybrook Graveyard and Interesting historical facts on Donnybrook and its environs, published in 1988.