Grave Matters

Death and dying in Dublin, 1500 to the present

Lisa Marie Griffith & Ciarán Wallace, editors

‘Death as an area of historical study is multi-faceted, covering many disciplines. It is appropriate that the areas of expertise of the contributors [to this book] reflect this and that many different approaches are taken throughout … this publication will take its place alongside a growing body of research into an area experiencing increased public interest. It might be most appropriate to look at this book as a modern day momento mori. It reminds us of the transient nature of life, both past and present, aids us in remembering and understanding the life experiences of those who have gone before us, and hopefully will encourage future historians to assume the mantle and do the same’, Conor Dodd, History Ireland (Nov/Dec 2016).

‘Genealogists and local historians will find this collection of essays of particular interest as they provide cultural and historical contexts that will illuminate the burial practices, in particular, of our ancestors and, in doing so, assist in our understanding of the societies and communities that sustained these practices for so long over the past five hundred years. An excellent read – high recommended’, Michael Merrigan, Ireland's Genealogical Gazette (July 2016).

‘This stimulating collection … is as diverse as Dublin city’, Canadian Journal of Irish Studies (2018).

'Grave Matters is written by Dubliners for Dubliners ... the book's many illustrations, especially the photographs, make the texts come alive ... The editors and authors have given us a vivid account of many aspects of death, dying and bereavement ... the book stands as a model for other local histories of death and dying', Dennis Klass, OMEGA Journal of Death and Dying (2018). 

'This collection of essays on matters related to death and dying represents a wide array of interests ... providing interesting and understudied perspectives on Dublin's culture  surrounding death and its causes ... The volume deals with engaging subjects, each essay presents appealing premises, and as a whole the collection highlights understudied, important and interesting facets of Dublin's history', Rose Luminiello, Journal of Ecclesiastical History (2017).

‘[Grave Matters] addresses questions of life and loss, memory, materiality, and identity, situated within the city’s experience of emergent modernity from c.1500 into the present day … [the book] documents the very stuff of how ritual and material strategies are inherited, contested, and adapted to meet the daily realities of life nad death in a protean world’, Helen Frisby, Folklore (2018).

'This immediately accessible collection of largely historical essays covers a range of topics relating to mortality in Dublin over the centuries from 1500 to the present ... a valuable collection that underlines the importance of locating mortality in a defined place, where it becomes possible to explore in detail the distinctive medical, political, religious and social histories that shape particular funerary practices and attitudes ... a valuable foundation for further research', Julie Rugg (Mortality, 2018).