Survey Data
Reg No
50120045
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Artistic, Historical, Social
Original Use
Graveyard/cemetery
In Use As
Graveyard/cemetery
Date
1815 - 1825
Coordinates
317077, 236613
Date Recorded
30/10/2017
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Convent burial ground on irregular plan, possibly established c. 1820, with interments apparently dating from 1827 onwards. Regular arrangement of uniform limestone gravestones with gabled tops, dedicated to Sisters of Charity. Limestone plaque at east end set within carved granite surround having flared jambs with moulded cornice and gabled pediment, latter inscribed 'My Hope', with moulded sill, and having plaque inscribed with names and longevities of seventeen Presentation Sisters who died between 1827 and 1861. Ornate carved cross having plaque to base with inscription in French and date of 1893 and dedicated to Gabriel Voisin, a Daughter of Charity. Limestone cross on granite plinth to central area. Cemetery bounded to east and north sides by mixed rubble and rendered walling with mixed masonry coping. Set in grounds of Saint Vincent's Hospital at top of Convent Avenue.
Appraisal
This almost enclosed, sombre, burial ground contains headstones dedicated to nuns of several orders, the memorials dating from the early nineteenth to the mid-twentieth centuries. The segregated layout attests to the evolution of the site, the stone at the east memorializing the Presentation Sisters, who had founded a school nearby for the education of the Catholic poor in 1820, later moving to Terenure (in the south suburbs of Dublin) following a dispute with the Archbishop and the newly arrived Sisters of Charity; the collection of small headstones to the west memorializes the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, who established St. Vincent's Asylum nearby in 1857. This burial ground is an integral element of the social heritage of North Dublin City, recalling the religious and charitable history of the district.