Today I went to the Kilmainham Gaol, a former prison which is
now an Irish Heritage Site museum. It
was built in 1796 to replace a disease-ridden dungeon nearby; the jail was
built on a hill outside of Dublin.
Initially, public hangings were carried out from the balcony at the
entrance of the structure until the 1820s.
It was relatively unique in that men, women, and children were all held
in the prison, regardless of gender or age.
The youngest prisoner on record was a five-year old boy. The Kilmainham Gaol was built during a swing
of prison reforms throughout the British Empire and was designed to house
prisoners in their own cells. The
prison, however, always suffered from overcrowding due to the British practice
of “shipping.” If someone was arrested
in northern or western Ireland, they were deported to the fringe colonies of
the empire, most often to Australia and the island just off of the cost of that
place called “Van Daemon’s Land.” These
prisoners to be deported were held in Kilmainham while waiting for a ship to be
ready to sail out. The prison housed many
famous political prisoners including Robert Emmet, who led an uprising and
whose legacy contributed to many of the successive uprisings through the next
century. Also imprisoned there was
Ireland’s most beloved politician, Charles Stewart Parnell, who was a Minister
of Parliament who advocated Home Rule (semi-autonomy) for Ireland and for land
reform that would protect poor Irish farmers from being charged unfairly high
rent or from being thrown off their land.
Due to his outspokenness, he earned the ire of Prime Minister Gladstone,
who had him arrested for eight months.
The prison also famously held the leaders of the 1916 Easter
Uprising before their executions. The
uprising itself was very unpopular during the actual event, but when the populace
heard of the brutal treatment of its leaders, it turned popular opinion against
the British. Two stories were
particularly moving. James Connolly had
taken a bullet to the lower leg, which shattered it. It had turned gangrenous and he was held in a
hospital until the morning of his execution, when he was carried into the yard
of Kilmainham, tied to chair (because he was unable to stand), and then
shot. Joseph Plunkett received permission
to marry his fiancée the night before his execution. There was a small ceremony in the prison
chapel, they were then separated: she went home and he went back to his cell
and was executed the next morning.
It was a very interesting tour and a very moving experience
and I highly recommend a visit should you find yourself in Dublin.
After that, Nathan and I went to tour the Guinness factory. The brewery was founded by Arthur Guinness in
1759, who had signed a 9,000 year lease on the plant. It was interesting to see the differences in
the brewing processes between Jameson whiskey and Guinness beer. We also had lunch in the restaurant on the
facility, a traditional Irish beef stew that tasted great.
After that we went to the Collins Barracks, National Museum
of Ireland. Originally the British
Garrison, it changed hands after the Irish War for Independence, and was the
place where the British commander officially turned control over to Michael
Collins in 1922. It was named in his
honor later on, after the assassination of Collins. There was a very interesting feature on the
1916 Easter Rising that focused on the political causes and the legacy of the
failed revolution. There was also a very
interesting feature on Irish military service in foreign armies.
After the museum closed, I wandered through some shops
before heading back to the bed and breakfast.
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