The Croppies' Acre ( ga, Acra na gCraipithe), officially the Croppies Acre Memorial Park, is a

public park An urban park or metropolitan park, also known as a municipal park (North America) or a public park, public open space, or municipal gardens ( UK), is a park in cities and other incorporated places that offer recreation and green space to re ...

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. It contains a memorial to the dead of the

1798 Rebellion The Irish Rebellion of 1798 ( ga, Éirí Amach 1798; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ''The Hurries'') was a major uprising against British rule in Ireland. The main organising force was the Society of United Irishmen, a Irish republicanism, ...

History

The site, located on the north bank of the

River Liffey The River Liffey (Irish: ''An Life'', historically ''An Ruirthe(a)ch'') is a river in eastern Ireland that ultimately flows through the centre of Dublin to its mouth within Dublin Bay. Its major tributaries include the River Dodder, the River ...

to the south of

Collins Barracks Collins Barracks ( ga, Dún Uí Choileáin) is a former military barracks in the Arbour Hill area of Dublin, Ireland. The buildings now house the National Museum of Ireland – Decorative Arts and History. Previously housing both British Arm ...

(formerly the Royal Barracks) is traditionally believed to have been used as a

mass grave A mass grave is a grave containing multiple human corpses, which may or may not be identified prior to burial. The United Nations has defined a criminal mass grave as a burial site containing three or more victims of execution, although an exact ...

for Irish rebel casualties of the

; they were known as Croppies due to their short-cropped hair. It was also called Croppies' Hole at the time. Some rebels' bodies were also exhibited at the Croppies' Hole, tied to pikes. The

National Graves Association The National Graves Association (NGA; ga, Cumann Uaigheann na Laochra Gael, "Grave Committee of Heroes of the Gaels") is an Irish organisation which seeks to maintain the graves of Irish republicans who died in the pursuit of a united Ireland. I ...

maintains that it was also used after 1798 to bury veterans of the conflict, including Matthew Tone, brother of

Wolfe Tone Theobald Wolfe Tone, posthumously known as Wolfe Tone ( ga, Bhulbh Teón; 20 June 176319 November 1798), was a leading Irish revolutionary figure and one of the founding members in Belfast and Dublin of the United Irishmen, a republican socie ...

Bartholomew Teeling Captain Bartholomew Teeling (1774 in Lisburn, County Antrim, Ireland – 24 September 1798, in Arbor Hill, County Dublin, Ireland) was an Irish republican who was leader of the Irish forces during the Irish Rebellion of 1798 and who carried ...

was also supposedly buried at Croppies' Acre after being hanged at Provost Prison,

Arbour Hill Arbour Hill ( ga, Cnoc an Arbhair) is an area of Dublin within the inner city on the Northside of the River Liffey, in the Dublin 7 postal district. Arbour Hill, the road of the same name, runs west from Blackhall Place in Stoneybatter, and ...

. However, archaeological investigations have failed to find any human remains and its status as a grave is uncertain. The precise site of the burials was long disputed, all being known was that the dead had been buried on marshy ground near the Royal Barracks. Other reports mentioned that the corpses of the executed were thrown into the Liffey as a public deterrent; the river being tidal at this point. In addition, the

was realigned in this area to extend the city's quays. The supposed "Croppies' Acre" was for a long time a soldiers' playing field. The Memorial Park was designed and laid out in 1998. It was closed in 2012 by the OPW due to anti-social behaviour, including

heroin Heroin, also known as diacetylmorphine and diamorphine among other names, is a potent opioid mainly used as a recreational drug for its euphoric effects. Medical grade diamorphine is used as a pure hydrochloride salt. Various white and brow ...

addicts leaving used

syringe A syringe is a simple reciprocating pump consisting of a plunger (though in modern syringes, it is actually a piston) that fits tightly within a cylindrical tube called a barrel. The plunger can be linearly pulled and pushed along the inside ...

s behind. Ownership was transferred to

Dublin City Council Dublin City Council ( ga, Comhairle Cathrach Bhaile Átha Cliath) is the authority responsible for local government in the city of Dublin in Ireland. As a city council, it is governed by the Local Government Act 2001. Until 2001, the council wa ...

and the Croppies' Acre was reopened in 2016.

References

Parks in Dublin (city) Cemeteries in Dublin (city) Irish Rebellion of 1798 Mass graves Memorials to the Irish Rebellion of 1798 {{Dublin-geo-stub

History

See also

References