White Friars Street and this thorough-fare intersected the plot by an oblique course from N. W. to S. B., taking off a good portion of the length of the south wall, which was parallel to the north one. The church at that time occupied the middle third of the plot in the shape of a parallelogram extending east and west with an addition to the north of an incomplete transept extending nearly to the north wall.
At a later period and subsequent to 1860 a similar addition to the church was made southward to complete the shape of the cross. At one time outside the south wall of the yard extended Church Alley, from Aungier's to White Friars Street, which seems to have been partially built upon. In the southeast corner on Aungier's Street and the Alley stood a watch or guard-house built over the church property to the depth of twenty-two feet and this building was In use before the beginning of the last century but was removed after 1830.
There exists no known map to indicate the exact locality of the Emmet family vault and the only clue is given by Dr. Richard R. Madden in "The Lives of the United Irishmen," etc., and in the second edition published previous to 1860 Dr. Madden records the death and burial of Dr. Robert Emmet as follows:
"Dr. Emmet died at Casino, near Miltown, in the autumn of 1802. He was buried in the graveyard of St. Peter's Church in Aungier's Street, on the right hand of the entrance close to the wall on the south side."
If my memory is correct it is stated in the "Sham Squire" that the Emmet burial-place was in the southeast corner of the graveyard, which would have been close to the rear of the old guard-house, and the author of this work probably made the statement from his own knowledge. Dr. Madden further records that the stone covering the tomb or vault had the following inscription on it:
"Here lies the remains of
Robert Emmet, Esq., M. D.,
Who died the 9th of December, 1802,
In the 73d year of his age."
In 1880, the writer was unable to find the vault or the covering, bearing the inscription among the head-stones of the different graves which were at that time laid in piles along the walls of the yard. On inquiry it was ascertained that the completion of the transept to the south had been made a few years previously and, as all interments had then been prohibited by law, the surface of the ground had been covered in from five to six feet with earth along White Friars Street to the level of Aungier's Street.
At the present time the tomb and head-stones, which the writer examined in 1880 and which were then placed one on the top of another, are now secured upright against the outer walls of the church and the enclosure with a few laid on the surface of the ground at random, for there existed no guide to indicate their proper position with any relation to the old graves or tombs.
Dr. Madden described the stone which covered the Emmet vault as a large flat one, and, as it was not found among those said to be all which had been disturbed, it was thought, in 1880, that the tomb had been simply covered in with the earth used for levelling the surface of the yard.
After enclosing a portion of the southeast section of St Peter's churchyard by a high board fence, at an early hour on Monday morning July 6th last in the presence of Messrs. Bigger, Quaid, Fuller, the Rev. Mr. Robinson the assistant curate of St. Peter's Church, Mr. Robert Emmet my son, myself, the contractor and a number of laboring men, a wide trench was opened extending along the south wall of the yard westward for twenty-eight feet. In this space a vault, eight feet long and eight feet and a half wide, was uncovered, besides two detached graves bricked in as single vaults, which were not opened.
.jpg)
SUPPOSED GRAVE OF ROBERT EMMET IN ST. MICHAN'S CHURCHYARD, DUBLIN.
The large vault occupied the supposed location of the Emmet burial-place in the southeast corner of the yard close to the south wall and about ten feet west from the remains of the foundation of the guard-house. The excavation was thus extended from the uncovered foundation of the guard-house along the south wall until the line of the west wall of the new portion of the transept had been reached and across nearly to the south wall of the church.
This exposed a concrete surface of from eight to twelve inches thick, which had been laid over the original surface of the ground after the head and foot-stones, with some of the coverings of the vaults, had been removed and on this was placed the earth used to fill in, the depth increasing towards the west. This uncovered vault projected above the surface of the concrete and its top was but a few inches below
