Thu 01 Oct 09: Angel Remembrance Garden - FAQs
Frequently Asked Questions:
For Angel Remembrance Garden Plan, click here ...
Q1. Who are Glasnevin Trust?
Mission Statement:
Glasnevin Trust preserves the heritage of past generations, serves the needs of the present generation, and provides a legacy for future generations.
Glasnevin Trust is a voluntary, not-for-profit body (registered charity no. – CHY 5849). The Trust is the largest provider of funeral services in Ireland. It operates five cemeteries (Dardistown, Glasnevin, Goldenbridge, Newlands Cross and Palmerstown) and two crematoria (Glasnevin and Newlands Cross). The Trust also provides florist and monumental services to the bereaved.
The dates of establishment of each cemetery and crematorium are: Goldenbridge (1827); Glasnevin Cemetery (1832); Palmerstown Cemetery (1978); Glasnevin Crematorium (1982); Dardistown Cemetery (1990); Newlands Cross Cemetery (2000); Newlands Cross Crematorium (2001).
The Group is run by an executive management team and governed by the Dublin Cemeteries Committee, originally established by Daniel O’Connell in 1828. The Committee was subsequently re-established under the Dublin Cemeteries Committee Acts of 1846 and 1970.
About Glasnevin Cemetery
Glasnevin Cemetery was established in 1832 under the direction of Daniel O’Connell for the purpose of burying ‘people of all religions and none’. The cemetery encompasses 120 acres and over 1.5 million burials to date. Glasnevin has great national heritage through the social and historical history of the people buried there from all walks of life over 177 years.
Famous people interred there include the founder of the Cemetery - Daniel O’Connell, Charles Stewart Parnell, O’Donovan Rossa, Eamon De Valera, Michael Collins, Countess Markiewicz, Maud Gonne McBride, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Brendan Behan, Christy Brown, Jimmy O’Dea, Luke Kelly, Alfred Chester Beatty, Michael Cusack and Liam Whelan. Less acclaimed people include victims of the Great Famine, the Cholera outbreaks and the Air India crash as well as the babies in the Angels Plot - the first part of which was renovated and subsequently inaugurated by President McAleese in 2005.
The Cemetery is currently undergoing a 10 year renovation project in association with the Office of Public Works. It is scheduled to be completed in 2016.
Q2. What is the “Angels Plot”?
For over 170 years, Glasnevin Cemetery has provided burial space for stillborn, babies and infants in consecrated ground where families either cannot or chose not to bury their child in a separate grave. The cemetery is one of the very few who provide this service. The Angels Plot consists of shared graves with each single grave holding between 20 and 70 babies. There is more than one Angels Plot in Glasnevin. The current plot is the one where the remembrance garden is being created and where there are normally 30 burials per grave. The first burials in the current plot took place in the late 1970s. The “Old Angels” plot, which is to the right of the main entrance, was renovated in 2004 in association with ISANDS and inaugurated in June 2005 by President McAleese at an Ecumenical Service attended by thousands of families. Between the old and the new there are now total of over 90,000 burials in the Angels Plot.
Q3. What will be happening to the Angels Plot?
Glasnevin Trust, in association with ISANDS is creating the Remembrance Garden similar to the restoration of the Old Angels Plot, to provide a dignified resting place for all those interred, and a quiet place of reflection for families.
The reason the rose garden is being created is to provide a beautiful and peaceful place where ALL babies buried there can be remembered in the same way, and so that the garden can be maintained and protected long into the future. The garden will consist of a lawn area with formal beds filled with scented roses. Low hedges of yew will provide protection and privacy within the garden along with topiary’s to give form and structure to the landscape. A statue of an Angel in the centre of the garden will be the main focal point and seats will be provided throughout for quiet reflection (see plans). Grave surfaces will be grassed, with rose beds planted down the centre of the existing headstones.
Q4. When will the work be commenced and completed?
The Cemetery politely requests that families remove their memorials and personal effects from the Angels Plot before October 12th 2009 but the Cemetery has decided to put back the commencement of works by another couple of weeks to allow those families who still have concerns to discuss them with the Cemetery or ISANDS. This will also allow some other families, who could not attend the cemetery by the 12th October, more time to make their arrangements to remove their personal mementoes from the shared graves. The renovations are expected to be complete by the end of December 2009.
Q5. Will the graves or any remains be disturbed during the renovation?
No graves will be disturbed or dug up during the renovation. The work will be expertly and sensitively undertaken. Please search ‘Angels Plot’ on www.youtube.com to see how the works were undertaken at the old Angels’ plot in 2004. The process involves the levelling of the uneven ground through the placement of a few hundred tonnes of fresh topsoil which is then levelled using rollers to avoid any future subsidence of the plot. This is then followed by the landscaping process involving plantings and placement of benches and a memorial Angel statues.
Q6. How will the items be removed and how can I arrange for their collection?
Prior to clearance proceeding, photographs of all graves and, as bet as possible, all individual items still remaining on the grave, will be recorded At that point items relating to individual burials will be stored together before being placed in dedicated storage units adjacent to the Angels’ Plot. Appointments can be made to collect your personal items not removed prior to the 12th October before the 31st December 2009 by phoning the office at Glasnevin Cemetery on 01 8826500.
Q7. What options are available for memorials if there is no headstone on the grave?
We are currently focusing on informing families of the plans to create the new remembrance garden. When the garden is completed, based on family’s feedback, memorialisation options such as rosebushes, plaques etc will be looked at.
Q8. Following renovation, can I place any items on the surface of the grave?
Families will continue to be able to leave cut flowers on graves. Families can continue to put presents on shared graves if they wish, however they will need to be removed by the Cemetery after a short period of time out of respect to the other burials in the shared grave.
As can be seen from the earlier burials in the plot where the ground is very uneven and the memorials are showing, the long term interests of families and the Cemetery is to maintain the plot in a way that will make it dignified and safe long into the future and beyond all our lifetimes. That is why, together with ISANDS, we are renovating the plot in keeping with what was done for the old plot in 2004. In addition to the longer term sustainability issue, the practice of some families marking shared graves with personal memorials to their babies is a cause of significant upset to the majority of other families whose babies are buried in the plot. The hundreds of memorials that vie with each other for the limited space do not facilitate the maintenance of a dignified resting place where families can reflect, knowing that their child’s grave received the same high level of dignity that other burials receive.
Q9. Will the existing headstone on my grave be removed?
Since June 1987, Glasnevin Trust has donated shared headstones to facilitate families wishing to place an inscription on the headstone. These shared headstones will not be removed and are incorporated into the landscape design plan for the remembrance garden. You can arrange to have an inscription placed on these monuments by contacting 01 8826520
Q10. Is there any place to put the existing items that I have on my child’s grave?
Families who want their stone and marble memorials to be near to the new Angels plot can arrange with the Cemetery to have them permanently installed at a dedicated place beside the plot. This was successfully undertaken by families associated with the old Angel’s plot where those memorials still are in situ today. We would politely request that any other personal memorials be removed.
Q11. Can I still locate the grave?
Yes. The location of all graves in the Cemetery can be precisely pinpointed by the Cemetery
Q12. Why wasn’t I contacted directly?
ISANDS have contacted all of their members directly to inform them of the plans and to invite any comments, queries or ideas. We are not provided with contact information by the relevant maternity hospitals relating to parents when the arrangements for burial are being made due to confidentiality and privacy. We are provided with name, date of birth, cause of death and parents names only.
Consultation on the renovation plans commenced over four months ago on the 24th May 2009. Since then both the Cemetery and ISANDS have consulted with many thousands of families. This period of consultation resulted in only a handful of concerns being raised by some families. Several hundred new consultations have taken place since the public notices were placed in the national media and both Glasnevin Cemetery and ISANDS are continuing to advise on any concerns that some families have. The vast majority of people with concerns to raise have expressed their acceptance for the renovation once their questions have been addressed and answered.
Q13. Where can I get further information?
If you would revert to Glasnevin with written proposals that honour the principals of equal dignity for all burials; long term maintenance; easy and meaningful personal visits to grave sites and with any other suggestions that you may have.
Further information is available to the public from www.glasnevintrust.ie and on www.isands.ie or by email (info@glasnevintrust.ie) or by phoning Glasnevin Cemetery on 01-8826500 between 9:30am and 5pm from Monday to Friday and on Saturdays between 9:30am and 1pm.
In addition families can contact Ron Smith-Murphy, National Chairperson of ISANDS at 01-872 6996 or by email (info@isands.ie).
For more information on the Angels Remembrance Garden Plans, click here ...
Other Questions:
Q1. What is the situation re the rose garden and costs re same?
It is not the objective of Glasnevin Trust, a not-for-profit organization, to make money from the rose garden. If charges were introduced they would be for an OPTIONAL service, modest and used to defray the cost of the garden and its maintenance.
Q2. Why weren’t we given more time to remove the items?
Glasnevin and ISANDS have been communicating on these plans for three months through notices at the plot, letters, web-site and personal discussions. If you cannot get to Glasnevin to remove items by the 12th October then we will put your possessions into safe keeping until the end of the year.
Q3. Can the child be exhumed from the plot?
Exhumation requires the consent both of the Cemetery and of Dublin City Council whi ossue the exhumation licence. The Cemetery would not consent to exhumation owing to the disturbance it would cause to the other graves and the upset it would cause to the majority of families who are strongly against the idea of exhumation taking place.
Q4. Why were we allowed to place items on the graves for so long?
We have attempted to encourage people not to memorialize their babies’ graves however, we feel we could and should have been much stricter than we have been. We will rigorously enforce this long-standing bye-law from now on.