County: Dublin Site name: Glasnevin, Co. Dublin
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: —
Author: —
Site type: Early medieval graves
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 714671m, N 737852m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.378391, -6.276490
In July 1914 human remains were discovered at Marlborough Hall, Glasnevin. The site was reported to E.C.R. Armstrong by Francis Dixon of Kilternan, Co. Dublin. According to the report, the remains were found just beyond the gates to the Botanic Gardens on the righthand side, which places the site in the townland of Glasnevin.13 Apparently eight to ten graves were found aligned east/west. The burials are said to have had ‘limestone slabs arranged round them’. The site does not appear to have been visited by Armstrong but may be part of an early ecclesiastical site associated with St Mobhí, which is believed to be partly within the grounds of the Bon Secours Hospital, parts of which have been excavated14 over the past twenty years. These excavations have not produced any results that can be related to an early church site.
13. The exact location of the burial is not noted, but the description would put it in Glasnevin townland, OS 6in. sheet 18. Marlborough Hall is now better known as Coláiste Caoimhghin, Department of Defence.
14. See www.excavations.ie for Glasnevin, Co. Dublin, from 1989 to 2005.
