Glasnevin Cemetery guide: Dublin's most fascinating burial ground

A city of the dead that tells the story of the living

Glasnevin Cemetery opened in 1832, on land chosen by Daniel O’Connell for a specific political purpose: to create a burial ground where Catholics could be buried with dignity and with proper religious rites, at a time when the Penal Laws had restricted Catholic practice in Ireland for over a century. That founding act of defiance is inscribed in the cemetery’s character — it is a deeply political place, shaped by the struggles that defined modern Ireland, and a walk through it is a walk through Irish history in a way that almost no other site in the country can match.

More than 1.5 million people are buried at Glasnevin. The most famous lie in well-marked plots; hundreds of thousands lie in mass graves with no individual markers — famine victims, workhouse dead, the unnamed poor of a hundred and fifty years. The contrast between the grand round tower over O’Connell’s crypt and the unmarked field nearby where famine victims lie in a single pit is not accidental. It is Glasnevin being honest about what Irish history actually was.

The guided tour

The Glasnevin Cemetery guided tour is by far the best way to visit. The guides are exceptionally well-informed — this is a cemetery with enough stories for a doctorate, and the best guides have the equivalent — and they cover not just the famous graves but the context that makes them significant. The tour typically takes 90–120 minutes and visits perhaps twenty of the most significant plots.

For an evening visit with a more atmospheric feel, the Dead Interesting tour runs on selected evenings and combines conventional history with some of the more unusual and macabre stories the cemetery contains. Well-suited to those who found the ghost tours elsewhere too theatrical and want something with genuine historical foundation.

The key graves

Daniel O’Connell (1775–1847): The round tower at the heart of the cemetery marks the crypt of the Liberator, the Catholic Emancipation leader who achieved equal legal rights for Catholics in 1829 through mass political organisation rather than armed rebellion. The tower, over 50 metres tall, is visible for miles around and was O’Connell’s own design — he requested a grave fit for the fight he had led. His heart was sent to Rome, as he requested; the rest is here.

Michael Collins (1890–1922): One of the most visited and debated graves in the cemetery. Collins was the military genius of the War of Independence, director of intelligence for the IRA, and chief negotiator of the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921. Killed in an ambush at Béal na Bláth in Cork on 22 August 1922, at 31, during the Civil War he had tried to end. His simple grave, in contrast to O’Connell’s monument, attracts fresh flowers almost daily.

Éamon de Valera (1882–1975): The most complex figure in twentieth-century Irish politics — reprieved from execution after 1916 because of his American citizenship, opposed the Treaty (unlike Collins), led the anti-Treaty forces in the Civil War, founded Fianna Fáil, served as Taoiseach for most of 1932–1948 and 1951–1959, then as President until 1973. Near Collins in the graveyard, which is one of history’s more pointed arrangements.

Countess Markievicz (1868–1927): The first woman elected to the Westminster Parliament (she did not take her seat as a matter of principle, in keeping with Sinn Féin policy). Commander at St Stephen’s Green during the 1916 Rising. Her grave attracts consistent attention.

Brendan Behan (1923–1964): Playwright, IRA member, alcoholic, and one of the most vivid characters in twentieth-century Irish life. The Hostage and Borstal Boy are his most enduring works. He died at 41.

Christy Brown (1932–1981): Born with cerebral palsy, learned to write and paint using his left foot, and produced some of the most remarkable literature and art in Irish history. My Left Foot, later a film, is the most famous account.

The Glasnevin Museum

The museum at the cemetery entrance covers the history of the cemetery, the history of mourning practices in Ireland, and holds genealogical records for millions of burials. For visitors with Irish ancestry, the research service can trace family members buried here — a significant resource given that Glasnevin holds records going back to 1828.

The museum also holds a collection of artefacts, including items relating to the executions after the 1916 Rising, which makes it a good complement to a visit to Kilmainham Gaol.

The Gravediggers pub

Beside the east wall of the cemetery on Prospect Square, John Kavanagh’s — universally known as The Gravediggers — has been in continuous operation since 1833. It is one of the most atmospheric traditional pubs in Dublin, a genuine local with an almost unchanged interior and a clientele that mixes regular visitors to the cemetery, locals, and increasingly, tourists who have read our guide to the best pubs in Dublin.

The combination of a morning guided tour of the cemetery followed by a pint at the Gravediggers is one of the better half-days you can spend in Dublin. The pub serves food; the pint is excellent.

Getting to Glasnevin

Glasnevin is about 3.5 kilometres north of O’Connell Street, served by buses 40, 40B, 40D, and 83 from the city centre. If you want the visit combined with a guided transfer, the Glasnevin Cemetery audio tour with transfers provides transport from the centre and a self-guided audio programme for the cemetery itself. Allow three hours for the round trip including the cemetery and museum.

The Botanic Gardens are immediately adjacent to the cemetery’s north wall — a pleasant add-on if the weather cooperates.

Planning a Glasnevin visit

Glasnevin fits naturally into a history-focused Dublin day that also includes Kilmainham Gaol (on the other side of the city), the 1916 Rising sites on O’Connell Street, and the National Museum. For a full itinerary, the Dublin history buff 3-day itinerary structures these sites across three days. A half-day dedicated solely to Glasnevin — tour, museum, Gravediggers — is also entirely satisfying and doesn’t require wider planning.

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