burieD IN MISTS OF TIME
FOR 80 years, a monument in an obscure corner of Glasnevin Cemetery has held a hidden secret.
That secret might never have come to light had the graveyard managers decided to leave the memorial in the spot it has occupied since 1927.
Last Wednesday a time capsule which was dedicated to the rebels of 1916 was found buried in the depths of the masonry of the Dublin cemetery's Sigerson memorial.
Made of indestructible lead, it was found in a stone canopy covering a beautiful sculpture -- reminiscent of Michaelangelo's famous Pieta -- by the late nationalist Mrs Dora Sigerson Shorter.
Cylindrical in shape, it measures three and a half inches in width and two feet in length and has lead caps soldered on either end.
Whoever wove the hardy time capsule into the memorial's intricate structure meant it to to survive for the eyes of future generations, possibly beyond ours.
The surprised builders who found it had no idea what they had stumbled upon when they began work to move the historic memorial into a more prominent position.
The graveyard authorities had decided it had been out of the public eye for far too long when they embarked on a plan to shift it closer to the front gate.
The monument now lies in rubble inside the gate of the famous cemetery, while the time capsule has been taken to a secret location.
It will remain there until the National Museum and Office of Public Works decide its fate before the memorial is reassembled next weekend.
In the meantime, rumours about the capsule's contents are gathering momentum.
Construction staff have come up with everything from an original Proclamation of the Republic to diamonds.
George McCullough, chief executive of Dublin Cemeteries Committee, which oversees the operation of the graveyard, reckons there may be documents inside.
"It doesn't rattle," he said.
"I think it would have been the Government who put it there. The time capsule is there for a reason, because it was intentionally put in and sealed into the apex of the canopy's roof," he said.
There is no notion of anything being there in the drawings we have of the monument, although there could be something in Government archives, possibly the records of the OPW.
"The capsule is still in safe custody and the OPW and museum have to make a decision either to open or reseal it and put it back in the monument.
"It belongs to the Irish people, but the capsule is probably too young to be significant.
"My personal feeling is that it should be put back where it came from so no one can get at it for a very long time. I am curious about its contents but its history should be left alone for a long time.
300 years
"We would never have known it was there and it might not have been found for 300 years or more only we were taking it down."
He said the memorial was in a pretty bad state. It had shrubs and grass growing out of the roof.
"In order to restore it, we had to disassemble it and took the roof off the canopy and found this long lead cylinder in the stonework," he said. "It was built into the masonry of the structure covering the statue and carving."
The enigmatic face of Mother Ireland etched in white Carrera marble, as she sits with a warrior draped across her lap, gave no clue of the potential treasure above her head.
Although popular in her day, its creator Dora Sigerson Shorter (1866-1918) is long forgotten. The writer and sculptor was married to journalist Clement Shorter and wrote over a dozen books of poetry and two novels which were very nationalistic, including The Tri-colour: Poems of the Irish Revolution, The Fairy Changeling, Madge Linsey and Love of Ireland: Poems and Ballads.
As well as designing the memorial to the rebel dead, she left funds in her will for its erection before she died in 1918. Her plan to erect the memorial in Dublin was welcomed by Michael Collins.
