Kilmainham Gaol

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Victorian Wing

Kilmainham Gaol (Irish: Príosún Chill Mhaighneann) is a former prison, located in Kilmainham in Dublin, which is now a museum. It has been run since the mid-1980's by the Office of Public Works (O.P.W.), an Irish Government agency.

Kilmainham Gaol has played an important part in Irish history, as many leaders of Irish rebellions were imprisoned and some executed in the jail. The jail has also been used as a set for several films.

When it was first built in 1796, Kilmainham Gaol was called the 'New Gaol' to distinguish it from the old jail it was intended to replace - a noisome dungeon, just a few hundred metres from the present site. It was officially called the County of Dublin Gaol, and was originally run by the Grand Jury for County Dublin. Over the 140 years it served as a prison, its cells held many of the most famous people involved in the campaign for Irish independence. The leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising were held and executed here.

Children were sometimes arrested for petty theft (as in the UK), the youngest said to be a seven year-old boy^{[citation needed]}, while many of the adult prisoners were deported to Australia.

There was no segregation of prisoners; men women and children were incarcerated up to 5 in each cell, with only a single candle for light and heat, most of their time was spent in the cold and the dark.

Kilmainham Gaol was abandoned as a jail in 1924, by the government of the new Irish Free State. Following lengthy restoration, it now houses a museum on the history of Irish nationalism and offers guided tours of the building.

An art gallery on the top floor exhibits paintings, sculptures and jewellery of prisoners incarcerated in jails all over contemporary Ireland.

1 Famous prisoners
2 Films
3 Photographs
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Famous prisoners

Henry Joy McCracken, 1796
Oliver Bond, 1798 (Bond, a native of St. Johnston, Co. Donegal, was to die in the gaol).
James Bartholomew Blackwell, 1799
James Napper Tandy, 1799
Robert Emmet, 1803
Anne Devlin, 1803
Thomas Russell, 1803
Michael Dwyer, 1803
William Smith O'Brien, 1848
Thomas Francis Meagher, 1848
Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa, 1867
J. E. Kenny, 1881
Charles Stewart Parnell, 1881
William O'Brien, 1881
James Joseph O'Kelly, 1881
John Dillon, 1882
Willie Redmond, 1882
Joe Brady, (Phoenix Park murders) 1883
Daniel Curley, (Phoenix Park murders) 1883
Tim Kelly, (Phoenix Park murders) 1883
Thomas Caffrey, (Phoenix Park murders) 1883
Michael Fagan, (Phoenix Park murders) 1883
Michael Davitt
Patrick Pearse, 1916
James Connolly, (Executed, but not held at, Kilmainham) 1916
Countess Markiewicz, 1916
Éamon de Valera, 1916
Joseph Plunkett, 1916.
Michael O'Hanrahan, 1916
Edward Daly, 1916
Willie Pearse, (Younger brother of Padraig, who was unaware his brother was also to be executed) 1916
Grace Gifford, (Wife of Joseph Plunkett) (1922)
Ernie O'Malley, during the Civil War.
Peadar O'Donnell, during the Civil War.

[edit] Films

The following films have been filmed at Kilmainham Gaol

The Quare Fellow, 1962
The Face of Fu Manchu, 1965 (starring Christopher Lee)
The Italian Job, 1969
In the Name of the Father, 1993
Michael Collins, 1996
Boondock Saints, 1999^{[citation needed]}
The Wind That Shakes The Barley, 2006
The Escapist, 2008 (starring Brian Cox)

A music video for the U2 song A Celebration was filmed in Kilmainham jail in 1983.[1]

[edit] Photographs

Prisoner crafts in Kilmainham Jail Museum.	A view inside a locked cell.	Mural of a Madonna painted by Grace Gifford Plunkett while she was held during the Civil War.	Robert Emmet's cell door.
A view of the landing where the 1916 leaders were held before their execution.	The view from the prison courtyards.	The view from the prison courtyards.	Cross marking the place of execution of the leaders of the 1916 Rising.
Cross marking the place of execution of James Connolly.	Plaque marking the executions of the leaders of the 1916 Rising.	Entrance to Kilmainham Jail, Five Snakes in Chains above Entrance.