In the footsteps of rebels at Kilmainham Gaol – Mate, we’re lost!
Did you ever think of visiting a jail during your travels? I gotta admit, this was my first one.
During my solo Dublin trip, I was looking for things to see and do around the city that didn’t include pub crawls (I wasn’t drinking so that would be a very boring pub crawl :D) Along with the Guinness Storehouse and Trinity Library, Kilmainham Gaol (Jail) kept popping up on every site I checked. Full of history and with a cheap entrance ticket, it got onto my list pretty quick.
Situated a little bit outside of the touristy Dublin centre, it is a quick 20 min bus ride from Temple Bar. You could even take a river walk if the day is nice.
DON’T FORGET! You will need to buy tickets online. They sell out quickly, but don’t dispear; each morning new tickets for the day are loaded (if there were cancellations). I booked mine on the morning of my visit – I have been checking tickets for all days of my stay for a week prior and they were full each time. Once in Dublin, I checked the times in the morning and booked a time easily!
2024 marks a 100 years since Kilmainham Gaol closed its doors for good. After 128 years of witnessing some of the most heroic and tragic events in Ireland’s history, it was finally decommissioned by the Irish Free State Government.
It is one of the largest unoccupied gaols in Europe. But it almost didn’t live to get this title. The memories of the events that took place here were too painful and for decades the building was left to fall into ruin.
It was not until the 60s that a group of veterans and historians came up with the project to save the building and its historical significance. It is thanks to them that we can now walk the same corridors as some of the most prominent people in Irish history.
Kilmainham Gaol was seen as a site of oppression and suffering; walking the hallways and passing the filthy, darks cells sends a chill down your spine. The walls still speak of the cruelty and injustice that were taking place in this building for over a century.
It spared no one; men, women and children were imprisoned together. During peak overcrowding, 5 people would share a cell meant for one person. They had a single candle for light and heat that had to last for 2 weeks.
The gaol consists of two parts: West and East Wing (built in 1861).
West Wing was the older one and is preserved in its original state – dark, cold, squalid. This is where they kept political prisoners and the poorest criminals. The number of prisoners rose exponentially during The Great Famine (1845 – 1852). Thousands of people left the villages to find work in town. Many of them (especially women and children) ended up imprisoned for petty crimes like food theft or begging.
The East Wing feels and looks airier and lighter compared to the West Wing. Don’t let that fool you, it still wasn’t a nice place to be, although, it was an improvement. It’s panoptic design was inspired by Pentonville Prison and in return, it inspired many a filmmaker, just check Paddington 2 or The Italian Job (for more films and TV shows that were filmed in this location, check here)
Women and children at Kilmainham Gaol
It is no secret that women and children were imprisoned along with men at Kilmainham. It might seem shocking, but remember that it wasn’t uncommon for children to work from as young as 5 years old – it wasn’t until 1920 that child labour in factories and workshops was completely eliminated (for more on topic of child labour check The Museum of Childhood Ireland and Children and Young Persons Act 1933). And if they could work, they could be jailed as well.
There is conflicting information about the age of the youngest child to be imprisoned at Kilmainham. Some sources say it was a 5 year old, some say 7 and I saw a few that mention 3 years of age! They all agree it was a boy jailed for begging.
Women were kept in exceptionally poor conditions, especially if you think of this as a time when women were considered “the weaker sex”. A report made in 1809 states that male prisoners were supplied with iron bedsteads and women ‘lay on straw on the flags in the cells and common halls.’
Even with the East Wing opening and men being moved to the new, cleaner and bigger section, conditions for women remained bad. Another shocking fact – if a woman had a baby under 12 months old, the baby often came with her and stayed for the duration of her sentence!
Easter Rising
Easter Rising is a massive topic, too big to cover in this blog post. Nor am I a historian with all the correct facts. What you need to know is that it was an important event in the history of Irish independence, it was the spark that lit up the War of Independence. Why am I mentioning it here? Because Kilmanhaim was were they imprisoned and executed the leaders of Easter Rising.
At that point, Kilmainham wasn’t really functioning as a jail. In an attempt to save money, it was closed and given over to the British Army in 1910 to use as a military centre and military prison. And this is how it became a part of one of the most turbulent periods in Irish history.
Easter Rising lasted only a few days. It was suppressed by the Brits and its leaders sentenced to death. Between the 3rd and 12th of May 1916, fourteen men were executed by firing squad in the Stonebreakers’ Yard of Kilmainham Gaol.
The sense of accumulated tragedy, endless sacrifice, the never ceasing persecution of those who stand for Ireland’s freedom, has been terribly oppressive in this gloomy and evil reputed jail. The very stones of our exercise yard speak to us always of the blood that stained them in that awful week of May 1916.
Dorothy Macardle, imprisoned during the Civil War
I enjoyed my visit to Kilmainham Gaol more than I thought I would. We had an amazing guide who was a master story teller and kept us engaged througout the tour. I found you don’t need a Ouija board to feel the spirits of the past speak to you at Kilmainham Gaol. Just look into one of the cells! Don’t believe me? Come and visit yourself.
