Irish Museum of Modern Art

Military cemetery for occupants of Royal Hospital Kilmainham, established 1905, in use until 1931. Pointed white marble grave markers, some broken or damaged. Some cruciform or segmental-headed marble and limestone markers to east of cemetery, having military insignia. Irregular-plan area enclosed by rubble limestone boundary wall, recent wall built to north (c.1960) to accommodate road development.

Part of the Royal Hospital Kilmainham, this cemetery is sited on the former grounds of Saint John’s Priory, which was established by the Knights Hospitalliers in the twelfth century. The remains of 309 people are interred in this later section of the Privates and In-pensioners graveyard, including those of some soldiers who died during the 1916 Rising, and of many who had been awarded medals for bravery, fighting in such places as Waterloo, the Crimea or India. Originally iron tablets in the form of shamrocks were employed as gravemarkers, but later white marble stones came to be used. The uniformity of most of the monuments places this graveyard within the context of military burial grounds, and it is an important part of the social and religious history of the area, attesting to the long-standing ecclesiastical presence in the area.