Bodenstown Graveyard () is a cemetery located in

County Kildare County Kildare () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster and is part of the Eastern and Midland Region. It is named after the town of Kildare. Kildare County Council is the Local gove ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. Containing a ruined medieval church, it is best known as the burial place of the Irish patriot

Wolfe Tone Theobald Wolfe Tone, posthumously known as Wolfe Tone (; 20 June 176319 November 1798), was a revolutionary exponent of Irish independence and is an iconic figure in Irish republicanism. Convinced that, so long as his fellow Protestantism in ...

(1763–1798).

History

The stone church dates to before 1352, in which year it belonged to

Great Connell Priory Great Connell Priory () is a former house of Augustinian canons dedicated to Saint Mary and Saint David, situated on the eastern side of the River Liffey, in the Barony of Connell just to the south-east of the town of Newbridge, County Kildare, ...

, and measures by . It was described as being in good condition in 1612 but was ruined by the 19th century; all that remains are the west

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

and north and south walls. After his conviction for treason at a court-martial in Dublin and his subsequent death in November 1798, Tone was buried next to his father at Bodenstown. Semi-official commemorations are believed to have begun in the 1840s. In "

Tone's Grave ''Tone's Grave'', often referred to as ''Bodenstown churchyard'', was written by Thomas Davis (1814–1845), the Young Ireland leader, and published first in their newspaper ''The Nation''. It was written following his visit to the grave of T ...

", Thomas Davis describes his visit there . Pilgrimages to Wolfe Tone's graveside were first held in 1873, the 75th anniversary of his death. After gaps in the 1880s, they resumed in 1891, and have been held every year since, except in 1906–10 and 1921. The ceremony, involving a march from Sallins railway station to the graveyard, took place on the Sunday closest to Tone's birthday, 20 June. Since 1922 there have been rival parades on different June Sundays due to schisms within

Irish republicanism Irish republicanism () is the political movement for an Irish Republic, Irish republic, void of any British rule in Ireland, British rule. Throughout its centuries of existence, it has encompassed various tactics and identities, simultaneously ...

. In October 1969, the Tones' tomb was bombed and damaged by the

Ulster loyalist Ulster loyalism is a strand of Unionism in Ireland, Ulster unionism associated with working class Ulster Protestants in Northern Ireland. Like other unionists, loyalists support the continued existence of Northern Ireland (and formerly all of I ...

UVF. In June 1975, the same group sought to derail a train at near Sallins carrying 250

Official IRA The Official Irish Republican Army or Official IRA (OIRA; ) was an Irish republican paramilitary group whose goal was to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and create a " workers' republic" encompassing all of Ireland. It emerg ...

supporters to the annual commemoration, and murdered a witness to their attempt, a local farm labourer, Christopher Phelan. In 2013, the Tone's headstone was replaced with a tomb of Irish limestone and, overlooking it on a church wall, a bronze relief portraying Tone in profile next to an excerpt from Pearse's 1915 eulogy. There is one British Commonwealth war grave of the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, of Private Walter Duffy of the

Leinster Regiment The Prince of Wales's Leinster Regiment (Royal Canadians) was an infantry regiment of the line in the British Army, formed in 1881 by the amalgamation of the 100th (Prince of Wales's Royal Canadian) Regiment of Foot and the 109th Regiment of Foo ...

, who died on 7 July 1918.

Notable burials

Theobald Wolfe Tone Theobald Wolfe Tone, posthumously known as Wolfe Tone (; 20 June 176319 November 1798), was a revolutionary exponent of Irish independence and is an iconic figure in Irish republicanism. Convinced that, so long as his fellow Protestants fear ...

(1763–1798) * Private W. J. Duffy of the

Prince of Wales's Leinster Regiment The Prince of Wales's Leinster Regiment (Royal Canadians) was an infantry regiment of the line in the British Army, formed in 1881 by the amalgamation of the 100th (Prince of Wales's Royal Canadian) Regiment of Foot and the 109th Regiment of Foo ...

, died 7 July 1918

References

{{Reflist Cemeteries in County Kildare Religion in County Kildare