Few would guess that the small graveyard tucked into the fabric of the village occupies ground that may have been sacred for well over a thousand years, long before the Georgian terraces and the southside bustle accumulated around it. The site is reputedly connected to St. Broc, an early Christian figure to whom the founding of a convent here has been attributed, and the ground was subsequently attached to the medieval parish church of Taney, which still stands some distance to the south in Dundrum.

By the sixteenth century the graveyard had become the burial place of the Fitzwilliams, a powerful Anglo-Norman family whose landholdings shaped much of south County Dublin during the medieval and early modern periods. Their choice of this ground for burial reflects the site's ecclesiastical prestige at the time, even as the physical remains of any earlier convent had long since disappeared. The oldest legible monument surviving in the graveyard today dates to 1629 and commemorates Thomas Jordan and Catherine Hanon, names that offer a rare personal anchor in what is otherwise a layered and largely undocumented history. Francis Elrington Ball noted the Fitzwilliam connection in his 1903 study of the county, and R. Parkinson recorded the Jordan and Hanon stone in 1993, which remains the earliest dateable marker on the ground.

The graveyard sits within Donnybrook Village itself, making it straightforward to find on foot. It is a modest, working burial ground rather than a managed heritage site, so visitors should expect an uneven mix of periods and monument styles rather than a curated display. The 1629 stone is the obvious thing to look for if the early modern material interests you, though weathering means older inscriptions can require patience and a decent angle of light. There are no particular seasonal restrictions, but a dry day with low, raking sunlight tends to make worn lettering more legible.