St. Kevin's Park
Open weekdays, 9.00 - 17.00hrs
Located at Camden Row this small 0.3 hectare former burial
ground associated with St. Kevin's Church has long historical
associations. The first reference to the church in historical
annals is in 1226. It was re-roofed in 1582 and in 1584 was the
burial place of the martyred Archbishop Dermot O'Hurley but was
later abandoned as a community church in 1820.
St. Kevin's seems alive with stories - George 'Crazy Crow'
Hendrick, an 18th century day-time 'porter of musical instruments'
and night-time 'sack-em-up', practiced his body snatching skills at
St. Kevin's, some of which allegedly led to the entrapment of some
of his colleagues in a mausoleum. Dr. Fleetwood’s book * “The Irish
Body Snatchers”, however, tells us that Hendrick only became a
musical instrument porter in 1832, when the passing of the Anatomy
Act killed the body snatching business.
The ivy-covered church ruins, in the centre of the park,
apparently house the ghost of Bishop Dermot O'Hurley, executed in
Penal Times. High season for bishopric apparitions is said to be
'late July'.
Arthur Wellesley, better know as the Duke of Wellington, was
baptised in the tiny church.
The Corporation developed the existing park in the late 1960's.
It is considered to be a most successful conversion of a former
cemetery to public park use and preserves the ambience and
atmosphere of an old church graveyard.