Graveyard, Coolmine, Co. Dublin

Co. Dublin |

Burial Grounds

Graveyard, Coolmine, Co. Dublin

Somewhere beneath the grass of Blanchardstown Millennium Park lies a graveyard with no headstones, no inscriptions, and no obvious indication that the ground ever served as a place of burial at all.

The site is a raised oval earthwork, roughly fifty metres east to west and thirty metres wide, and its anonymous quality is not the result of neglect or loss. No grave markers were ever recorded here. What was documented, according to a 1974 survey by Healy, were human bones exposed at the surface, the only physical confirmation that the dead were ever laid in this ground.

The graveyard is understood to have been associated with a structure known as the 'white chapel', a local ecclesiastical site that had ceased to function by around 1490, according to Ronan's 1940 study of Dublin's religious history. The chapel and its burial ground would have stood within the grounds of Coolmine House before the estate was absorbed into what is now the public park. When geophysical survey was carried out in 2009 ahead of the proposed Metro West infrastructure project, the results added considerably to what was known about the immediate area. The survey, conducted under licence number 09R195 and reported by Nicholls, identified remains of enclosure ditches and possible pit features associated with both the church site and the graveyard. A sub-circular enclosure of approximately fifty metres in diameter was detected, along with further ditch remains extending to the south and east. Some of these features showed signs of burning or firing, suggesting the possible presence of hearths or kilns at some point in the site's history.

The graveyard sits within Blanchardstown Millennium Park, which is freely accessible and well used by the local community, though the archaeological earthwork itself is easy to walk past without registering its significance. The raised oval is the thing to look for; a subtle but distinct rise in the ground that reads differently from the surrounding park landscape once you know what you are looking at. There are no interpretive panels marking the spot, so it rewards a visitor who arrives with some prior knowledge of what lies underfoot.

Rated 0 out of 5

Visitor Notes

Review type for post source and places source type not found
Added by
Picture of Pete F
Pete F
IrishHistory.com is passionate about helping people discover and connect with the rich stories of their local communities.
Please use the form below to submit any photos you may have of Graveyard, Coolmine, Co. Dublin. We're happy to take any suggested edits you may have too. Please be advised it will take us some time to get to these submissions. Thank you.
Name
Email
Message
Upload images/documents
Maximum file size: 50 MB
If you'd like to add an image or a PDF please do it here.