Ballybough Cemetery
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| Details | |
|---|---|
| Established | 1718 |
| Closed | 1958 |
| Location | 65 Fairview Strand, Ballybough, Dublin 3 |
| Country | Ireland |
| Coordinates | 53°21′45″N 6°14′29″W / 53.36250°N 6.24139°WCoordinates: 53°21′45″N 6°14′29″W / 53.36250°N 6.24139°W |
| Type | Jewish |
| Size | 935 m2 (0.23 acre) |
Ballybough Cemetery (Irish: Reilig an Bhaile Bhoicht) is a Jewish cemetery in Ballybough, Dublin. Founded in 1718, it is Ireland's oldest Jewish cemetery.
The cemetery is bounded on one side by a former Royal Irish Constabulary barracks (1830-1910). On the other side is the site of Elrington House, the 1748 home of John Dioderici (also referred to as Deoderice or Dioderice), maternal grandfather of the Provost of Trinity College, Dublin, Bishop Thomas Elrington.
In the 1700s, a small number of Jews had settled in the Annadale area off Ellis Avenue (what is now Philipsburg Avenue), Fairview; most of these marrano Jews came from Spain and Portugal (with some coming from the Netherlands), escaping the Inquisition.
On 28 October 1718, Alexander Felix (David Penso), Jacob Do Porto, and David Machado Do Sequeira, on behalf of the Ashkenazim, leased from Captain Chichester Phillips of Drumcondra Castle (an MP in the Irish Parliament) a plot of land on which the graveyard was subsequently built.
The Jewish community sought assistance from German and Polish Jews in London to build a wall around the cemetery. They were refused but were later supported by the Bevis Marks Synagogue who not only funded the wall but provided a supervisory agent from London. The title deeds for the cemetery were deposited at Bevis Marks Synagogue, where they remained as of 1906.
A mortuary chapel was added in 1857 (inscribed on the front is "Built in the Year 5618", following the Hebrew Calendar). The cemetery itself contains more than 200 graves, the last burial there having taken place in 1958. Most of Dublin's Jewish community would be buried in Dolphins Barn cemetery now.
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