A Long Journey

It is getting to the point in my time here that I have to start working on the various assignments that I am required to do for my classes. For the last week or so I have been taking notes for a history essay I needed to write, with the plan that I would start it this weekend. Being that I did not want to spend the entirety of my Saturday writing a paper about Ireland’s Third Home Rule Bill, I decided that I would go to a spot in Dublin that I have wanted to see for weeks now: Kilmainham Gaol. Now, before I could take a tour of the Gaol (Jail), I had to get there.

I had read in a guide book and on the Gaol’s website that tours filled up quickly, so I wanted to get there when it opened at 9:30. So, at 8:30 I got a bus to the city centre where I could catch the bus to Kilmainham. That all went fine, but when I tried to catch the 40 bus to Kilmainham after waiting fifteen minutes, the driver informed me that I was on the wrong side of the road and needed to catch the 40 on the other side. So, I crossed the street and tried to find a stop that serviced the 40, but to not avail. I continued to walk and after seeing a tourist information centre, I went inside and asked where I could catch the bus. “It would be easier to take the Luas to Heuston Station and then walk there, it is only a 3 or 4 minute walk,” they informed me. I have never taken the Luas, which is light rail train, and it took me a bit to find where I could get on and what to do. Once I did that, it was easy and I got off at Heuston Station, but there were no signs to Kilmainham Gaol. Not knowing where to go, I went into a hotel to ask directions, only to find a map that they provided for their guests, which clearly had the Gaol on it. Taking the map (thank you Hotel Ashling) I began to walk in the direction of the Gaol. Though I had been promised a 3 or 4 minute walk, it took me about 30 minutes, and I had no idea where I was most of the time, and it was raining. Eventually though, I found Kilmainham Gaol; which, at the time, felt like a miracle.

It was not 10 o’clock, and the next tour was not till 10:30, but we were allowed to wander through the museum about the Gaol while we waited for our tour. When it was built in 1796, Kilmainham Gaol was top of the line, very different from the jails that had come before it. Before this period, jails had simply been large rooms where people stayed; thieves and murders mixed with petty criminals. But for the first time, there were jails like we have today; one man to a cell and guards watching over at all times.  Over the 128 years Kilmainham served as a prison, its cells held many of the most famous people involved in the campaign for Irish independence. In the 19th century, it would house Charles Stewart Parnell, who tried to get the First Home Rule Bill passed, and Robert Emmet in the 18th century, whose failed rebellion would get him a death sentence. The British imprisoned and executed the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising here including Padraig Pearse, Joseph Plunkett and Thomas Clarke. Kilmainham Gaol was closed as a prison in 1924, by the government of the new Irish Free State. 

I saw this advertisement for Glasnevin Cemetery on the bus. The 27 Biggs, 18 Fellows refers to Michael Collins nickname, Big Fellah, but it just got to show how important these past political figures still are in present day Ireland. Michael Collins was in charge of the Free State after the 1922 Treaty and imprisoned many people in Kilmainham Gaol. More people would be executed by the Free State during the Civil War, than by the British during the War for Independence.  

This graph in the museum shows how many people came into Kilmainham Gaol each year. The large peaks you see are during the famine years when the average number of prisoners rose from 1-2 thousand to around 9 thousand due to food related crimes. Prison cells designed for one man would sometimes hold up to ten due to overcrowding.

The east wing, built in the Victorian era. Designed so that one or two guards could watch as many prisoners as possible.

Grace Plunkett's husband Joseph was executed along with the other leaders of the Easter Rising in 1916. They were married in prison the day before his execution. In 1923, Grace was imprisoned by the Free State for anti-treaty propaganda. She painted this mural in her cell.

The West Wing, is one of the oldest in the Gaol. All the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising were imprisoned here. All 16 that would be executed were held here. More had been sentenced to death, but the outrage caused by the executions caused them to be stayed. Eamon de Valera, who would later be President and Prime Minister, along with anit-treaty leader, was the next to be executed. Before the executions, most Irish did not support the Easter Rising, but afterward the men were considered martyrs.

A plaque in the yard honours those that were executed after the Rising. There is also two black crosses and an Irish flag. As we all know, the Irish flag is green, white, and orange. The green stands for Irish republicanism and nationalism, the Orange for unionism and Ulster, the white the the peace that is prayed will be between them. Today, July 12, is the holiday honouring the Battle of the Boyne. Typically there are marches, bonfires, and violence in Belfast due to these commemorations. Much of the news this past week has been about how people hope that there will be no violence tonight as Protestants march through Catholic neighborhoods in Belfast.