Huguenot Cemetery

I like to walk while I think. Often while working out some issue or trying to come up with an idea in work I will take to the streets and my feet often lead me here. Although I would love to sit inside among the trees there is something calming about this serene and largely untouched spot.
Peering through the gates of this perpetually locked graveyard you will see a stone plaque with the names of all the families buried here. So who were the Huguenots ?? The short answer is they were French Protestants who came to Ireland as refugees. In 1685 King Louis of France expelled all of the Protestant clergy and told all Protestants that they could either convert to Catholicism or leave France. A large number of them left and traveled to all parts of the world. As they were generally speaking well education and professionals they were welcomed in most places they went especially Ireland where about 5,000 settled. They had a big impact in Ireland and many became very successful like the La Touch family who set up bank of Ireland and the ancestors of Samuel Beckett.
There are a number of these little graveyards around the country and all look quite similar to this little one which dates from 1693. I love that the city has developed up around it and it seems to have stayed untouched.

There was a gaggle of French tourists that just appeared out of nowhere when they saw my photographing this place. Us humans are indeed descended from sheep.
It was fitting that they were French tourists as their country men are buried behind the gates, about 200 plus of them. The Huguenots fled religious persecution from around the 17^th century. They came to Ireland to escape death. They brought their skills of textiles, watchmaking and finance which added to the Dublin community.
You cannot enter the cemetery but you can easily see the headstones through the railings, it’s unique to have a graveyard near Anglo Irish Bank but quite apt at the same time.