FLOOD AFTERMATH:THE COLLAPSE of an old wall in a Dublin cemetery following heavy rainfall on Monday night left a number of coffins exposed as the ground subsided.
Residents of a block of seaside apartments on the Harbour Road in Howth, which borders the St Mary’s Abbey cemetery, awoke yesterday to the sight of at least two coffins sticking out of the earth.
Fingal County Council evacuated 10 of the apartments in the Boyd House block citing “risk of further earth collapse”. A spokeswoman said those affected had been contacted door to door where possible and hotel accommodation was being arranged for residents without an alternative.
“Owners of four shop units to the front of the apartment block have been advised to close their premises and keep them closed until further notice, until the full extent of the public safety risk can be established,” she said.
The cemetery holds a number of famous graves and is listed on goireland.com as one of eight cemeteries worth visiting in Dublin.
“The ‘Stranger’s Bank’ at old Saint Mary’s Abbey was used for unidentified victims of disasters at sea,” the website says.
“When the Dollymount to Howth tram line was built in the last years of the 19th century, an unknown ‘ganger’ died during work and was also buried here. Colleagues set up two tram rails as a memorial to him here...”