He adds that the crypts “take people aback a little” as this type of burial is no longer very common.

“In the future we may well look back at burial as being an unusual form of funeral.”

Conor notes that cremation has become “much, much more popular” in recent years, especially in Dublin. “It’s overtaking burial in many ways.”

Órla Ryan / TheJournal.ie Órla Ryan / TheJournal.ie / TheJournal.ie

Despite the rise in popularity of cremation, Conor thinks that graveyards will always have a place in society as the idea of coming to a cemetery to say goodbye is “embedded in us”.

People do like that connection to a cemetery, it’s something about the closure.

Glasnevin Trust runs several cemeteries and is the largest provider of funeral services in Ireland – carrying out about 2,500 burials and 1,300 cremations each year.

Órla Ryan / TheJournal.ie A gravestone where a husband is chastising his wife over her drinking. Órla Ryan / TheJournal.ie / TheJournal.ie

There are people of all faiths and none buried at Glasnevin Cemetery, as per the mission statement handed down from when Daniel O’Connell set up the trust in 1828.

‘It’s not morbid’

Conor notes that the decision to make the cemetery non-denominational almost 200 years ago was “quite an unusual idea” and “a big deal” at the time.

Órla Ryan / TheJournal.ie Órla Ryan / TheJournal.ie / TheJournal.ie

The historian notes that while some people view his job as morbid, he doesn’t agree.

You probably have to experience it to realise what it’s about – it’s more about life than death to be honest with you, the lives that people had. It’s not really that morbid idea of, you know, we’re only kind of into the grim idea of death.

Certainly that’s a big part of the story of the cemetery and what it’s about. It’s something that we all have to consider. It’s a fact of life – death goes hand-in-hand with it. But it’s that idea of looking back on those memories and stories and keeping those people alive and you feel that you do have a duty in some ways to tell those stories. That’s a huge part of what we do.

When the time comes, Conor would like to be buried here.

“Most people probably may look at it and say ‘Jesus, I wouldn’t fancy spending the rest of my days in my workplace’, but I’d be happy enough to end up here at some stage … hopefully it’s a while away.”

Read: ‘What I’ve learned from working in a crematorium for 33 years’

Read: This is how Ireland’s new crematorium will look

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