The Dublin City Council has released a 40-minute audio guide to the more than 300-year-old Ballybough Jewish Cemetery as part of a series of audio guides to Dublin’s historic graveyards.
Though its last burial was in 1958, Ballybough — established in 1718 — remains the oldest and longest continuously used Jewish cemetery in Ireland and is the final resting place of many notables.
Located behind a wall and encompassing around 2,500 square meters, the cemetery includes 148 headstones, though probably more burials, and fell into disuse in the 1890s when a new cemetery was opened in the southern part of the city.
“The final burial took place in 1958, and the burial ground was officially closed twenty years later,” the audioguide web site states. “By 2017, two hundred and ninety-nine years after the cemetery was founded, it came under the care of Dublin City Council.”
This audio guide will share the story of Ballybough Cemetery and help you discover the history of the Jewish people in Ireland. Follow the guide to learn more about the interesting features within the cemetery walls, including the mortuary house, Jewish symbols on graves and the use of the Hebrew calendar[…]. We will also hear from Yvonne Altman O’Connor of the Irish Jewish Museum and Rabbi Lent, the Chief Rabbi of Ireland, who talk about modern Judaism in Ireland and some of the burial practices associated with the Jewish religion.
This audio guide was written and produced by Abarta Heritage on behalf of Dublin City Council. Historical research was carried out by Dr Coleman Dennehy, the script was written by Tara Clarke, narration was by Garry Mountaine, and the guide was produced in Bluebird Studios, with sound engineer Declan Lonergan and producer Tara Clarke.
It is aimed both for visitors on-site and for armchair travellers.
Watch a 2019 Irish Times video report about restoration work in the cemetery:
In addition to the Jewish cemetery, the city’s series of historic cemetery audio guides includes the Huguenot Cemetery on Merrion Row and Dublin 8’s Cabbage Garden.
The series is supported by the Community Monuments Fund 2021, an initiative of the National Monuments Service of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. The guides were produced by Abarta Heritage on behalf of Dublin City Council.
Access and download the Ballybough Jewish cemetery audio guide
Access all the audio guides in the series
Click to read a downloadable PDF history of the cemetery