There are 17 Commonwealth burials of the 1914-1918 war and 2 of the 1939-1945 war commemorated here. The following, buried here, are now Alternatively Commemorated on the GRANGEGORMAN MEMORIAL, County Dublin: CONNELL, Leading Seaman, T. 194878. and COUGHLAN, Private, J. 15152.

In May 2019 Cork City Council took over the management of this old graveyard and not long after people began to complain that it was being neglected. Having read some of the related communication I suspect that some are now referring to this graveyard as St. Columba's as it is beside Saint Columba's church. However, the graveyard and the church in question are in no way related and in fact the graveyard is historically associated with St Luke’s Anglican Church across the road.

Saint Columba's is described a well-maintained example of a nineteenth-century Roman Catholic church. It retains its historic form along with much of its early fabric. Quality craftsmanship is evident externally in the lattice windows and render finishes, and internally with the stained glass, fine carving and decorated apse. The decorative interior contrasts with the more simple exterior of the building. Sited adjacent to the former national school, the two form a group which has played a significant role in the local social fabric.

Douglas graveyard has been in use since the eighteenth century or even earlier as it is part of the first Christian church site in Douglas. The history of Douglas graveyard is incomplete and somewhat vague because many of the monuments from before the nineteenth century were not preserved when graves were reused. Although plots were sold in perpetuity, family extinction, migration and poor record-keeping made this impossible. There are still a few scattered memorials from the eighteenth century.

Until the 1870s, the site was part of St Luke’s Anglican graveyard but separated from the church by a road. When the present building was consecrated in 1875, the church graveyard was realigned, leaving the part across the road outside the new boundaries. Under the disestablishment of the Church of Ireland, any burial grounds separated from a church building by a roadway were to be vested in the local authorities. The property was given to the Poor Law authorities, and has remained in public administration to this day.

Even after the Poor Law authorities took over this cemetery, some Protestants continued to use long-established family plots for burial. For example Eliza Lane, great-aunt of Hugh Lane, was buried here in October 1874.