November 30, 2016 (Kilmainham, Ireland)

A jail may seem like an an odd place to tour but I really enjoy Rick Steves’ guidebooks and one of the items on his list of things to do in Dublin is Kilmainham Gaol, pronounced “jail”. I like his suggestions as they tend to give high priority to historic places and museums. Kilmainham Gaol doesn’t disappoint in this regard.

Grant and I made the mistake of going there in the afternoon and by then, all of the tours had been booked for the day. I recommend purchasing tickets ahead of time, or arriving in the morning so you are able to book a tour, 4:30 being the last one available. So, we bought our tickets and came back two days later.

Kilmainham Gaol was built in 1796. And even though it looks old, with crumbling rock and worn-down stone steps, the jail was very modern for its time. Previously, jails in the West were built as one big room housing multiple people, ranging from kids to women to men, and for all manner of crime, from begging on the streets to violent murder. The jail wardens soon found that fights would break out and some criminals left more hardened than when they came in, often learning tricks of the trade from their more criminally advanced jailmates.

So when Kilmainham was built, a major innovation went into the design, which was…. none other than individual jail cells! This worked pretty well, until the Irish Potato Famine of 1845, where the jail saw a spike in inmate population. This was in part due to the fact that many saw going to jail as a means to survive the famine. As miserable as the jail was in those days, meals and “lodging” were guaranteed. Because Kilmainham lacked the space, up to five people were housed in the extremely cramped cells. Women and children were still separated from men.

This jail is also famous for housing political prisoners, mainly the Irish who caused trouble for the English who lorded over Ireland at the time. Many of these original Irish revolutionaries were held or executed here. Because of this fact, this jail is remembered for its historical role during the various uprisings for Irish independence. One of which occurred in 1916 during Easter. This led to a major turning point in Ireland and helped lead to independence.

Grant and I have seen many posters on buildings around Dublin commemorating the one-hundred year anniversary of this uprising and I imagine, it must be a celebratory year for the Irish.

The waiting room for the tour is an actual courtroom, situated in the same building complex of the jail.  We soon got called for our tour and got on our way.

The first stop was the jail chapel. Here, our tour guide described a story of Mr. Plunckett, one of the prisoners involved in the Easter Rising getting married to his fiancee, the evening before his execution. A sad story.

 

 

The hallway in which the original jail cells were located. The hallway had no glass panes on its windows, only metal bars, so I can imagine how damp, cold, and miserable the cells must have been in the chilly Irish Winter.

 

 

These are the cells where prisoners were kept the night before their execution. Many were hanged and later, prisoners were shot in the prison yard:

 

 

Some of these cells have plaques with the names of famous revolutionaries who had stayed there, including a few from the Easter Rising and Mr. Plunckett, who was able to see his wife after they got married and spend time with her for 10 minutes. Many later asked her what they had talked about in those 10 minutes, and she said that they had so much to say to each other but nothing was said. They sat together in silence.

 

Many of the stones on these steps have been worn away from age and the doorways were best ducked through so as not to hit your head on them.

This is the newer part of the jail, opened in 1862, and is designed in the Victorian style. Even this addition was built with the latest in jail design incorporated. The curved shape is a panopticon and allowed for the jailer to guard and watch all the doors and events from one location in the center:

 

 

A staircase in the Victorian part of the jail:

 

 

This was the outdoor exercise area. At first, inmates were required to do hard labor out here in complete silence, one hour per day. Later the rules were changed and it became a place for exercise:

 

 

Our guide said that this door was the site of a famous break out where three prisoners had arranged with two of the guards guarding this door to allow them to escape if they could cut through the lock. They attempted this with a bolt cutter but broke the cutter without cutting through the lock. So they had to sneak back in to prison. The next night, after having repaired the bolt cutter, they tried again. The third prisoner decided not to risk the escape and encouraged the other two to try and promised to start singing to create a major diversion for them. He started singing and it got other inmates in their individual cells to sing along which created a lot of noise. The reason given for this prisoner to not risk the escape was because he was going to stand trial the next day and felt there was a possibility of release.

The other two prisoners were able to get to this door, but to their astonishment, discovered that the lock was undone when they got there. One of the gate keepers had unlocked it for them. So these two prisoners escaped in one of the only successful jailbreaks. The third prisoner, stood trial and was found guilty of his crime, and was executed.

 

This next outdoor yard is where the executions by firing squad took place. This area felt a little somber:

 

 

The original door to Kilmainham. Up until the early 1800’s, public executions were carried out above this door.  Some of the bodies were left up as a warning to anyone who happened to walk by:

 

 

The tour ends at the museum which features the history of the jail, some of the inmates’ letters and possessions, and the history of Ireland’s independence:

 

This display features a box of chocolates that was given to an 8-year old girl (a neighbor of an inmate), and was snuck out by one of the guards. A message is written on the box to the girl explaining that they will eat the chocolates together if he is released. If he isn’t and is executed, she is to enjoy the chocolates on her own. He was executed and she had never opened the box of chocolates:

 

Kilmainham officially closed as a jail in 1924. At first, there was no interest in preserving the building as a National memorial and so it soon fell to ruin. During the 1950’s, a grassroots movement for the preservation of this jail began to gain momentum and soon a preservation group was formed and work began to restore the structure. Kilmainham was opened to visitors in 1971 after much effort was put in to its restoration. It is now recognized as one of the most important places representing the memory of the struggle for Ireland’s independence:

 

When the Easter Rising happened, which caused a bloody siege between Irish freedom fighters and British soldiers, it caused such damage to downtown Dublin buildings that at first, this event had been very unpopular with the public. But once the captured fighters were given a trial and executed fairly quickly (within one month of the Easter Rising), public opinion began to change and soon people supported the cause.

This eventually led to Ireland’s official independence in 1922.

Because this year is the 100-year anniversary of the Easter Rising, there is a special display featuring portraits of the fighters and organizers of the rebellion:

 

 

Visitor’s entrance to Kilmainham Gaol:

 

 

If you want a bit of Irish history that’s a bit somber but highly informative, I recommend this tour.

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