Arbour Hill Cemetery

  • Free to visit
Arbour Hill Cemetery in Dublin is the burial place of the 14 leaders of the 1916 Rising, among them Padraig Pearse and James Connolly. It is open all year round.

Arbour Hill Cemetery, located at the rear of the National Museum of Ireland - Collins Barracks, is the burial place of 14 of the leaders of the 1916 Rising. The graves of Padraig Pearse and James Connolly, among others, are located under a low mound on a terrace of Wicklow granite. They were executed in Kilmainham Gaol and then were transported to Arbour Hill.

The gravesite is surrounded by a limestone wall on which the names of the fallen leaders are inscribed in Irish and English. A plaque has the names of others who gave their lives. Each May the Annual 1916 Commemoration Ceremony takes place there.

The adjoining Church of the Sacred Heart, which is the prison chapel for Arbour Hill Prison, is maintained by the Department of Defence. At the rear of the church lies the old cemetery for British military personnel who died in the Dublin area in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Dogs are not allowed at the 1916 grave site. The rest of the area permits dogs on leads.