Members of the Association met in the restaurant of Glasnevin Cemetery Museum prior to going on an excellent tour conducted by John who was our tour guide for the morning. John was a font of information which he imparted with a great sense of humour. He told us that the cemetery covered 125 acres and that there were 1.6 million souls buried there.
John brought us on a tour of the graves of many of those who had shaped Irish history, giving us a detailed insight of their lives and struggles, including Eamon De Valera, Roger Casement and Daniel O’Connell’s mausoleum. Parnell is buried in a large plot and we were amazed to hear that he joined the burial space of eleven and a half thousand of Dublin’s poor who had died of cholera.
After the tour our members were able to browse the Cemetery Museum which is located beside the restaurant and included a video of the history of the cemetery and other interesting artefacts. Some photos are in the Gallery section of this website.