Attempts were made by the Roman Catholic clergy on one hand, and the Government on the other, to have these gatherings suppressed, but without success until the 1830s, in the wake of a cholera epidemic.

[5] About the year 1760 General Dilkes, Commander of the Forces, attempted to turn the cemetery into a botanic garden for the Royal Hospital and he caused the graves to be levelled, spread a thick covering of lime over the entire surface, and enclosed the place with a high wall.

The local men of the Liberties, however, annoyed at the offence to their ancestors and relatives interred there, collected in a body one night, and fought a pitched battle against the soldiers of the Royal Hospital.

John Cheyne, an eminent surgeon working in Dublin, wrote to his colleague Edward Percival describing the body-snatching techniques in vogue about 1818: "The bodies used in most of the dissecting rooms are derived from the great cemetery for the poor called Hospital Fields – vulgo Bullys' Acre.

"[7] Peter Harkan, a well-known Dublin surgeon from Sir Philip Crampton's school, and hitherto a very successful resurrectionist, fell victim in this cemetery while hunting for corpses.