Kilmainham Gaol Dublin Ireland

Several years ago my youngest brother was studying in Ireland, as neither Richard or I had ever been there we decided this was the perfect opportunity to fly over see my brother and explore this stunning country.

As we were walking the streets of Dublin one afternoon we came across Kilmainham Gaol ( jail) a daunting old stone building that proclaims to be the oldest preserved Victorian jail in Europe, it is of course also reported to be quite haunted.
Kilmainham opened in 1796 as the new jail for Dublin and operated as a prison until 1924. During its history this jail housed not only everyday criminals but also women, children and political and military prisoners. In its early days public hangings took place at the entrance where two  different shaded stones now mark the spot that the gallows protruded above the front entrance. Later a hanging room was added inside the prison.

(If you look above you can see the bottom drops out of the balcony, this is where the public hangings took place)

Fourteen leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising were executed in the stonebreakers yard among them James Connelly the founder of the Irish Socialist Republican Party.  James was mortally wounded and was unable to walk to his execution, instead he had to be carried tied to a chair. A cross now marks the spot where he was put to death by firing squad.

(Courtyard where cross and plaque dedicated to those who were executed stands)

As we walked through the damp and dark prison our tour guide explained to us what life was like in Ireland between the years of 1845 to 1847 during the famine when so many people starved to death or died from disease. We were told that the living conditions outside the walls of this depressing prison were far worse than inside so consequently many people purposely committed crimes in order to be sent to the prison. The youngest known prisoner was a 7 year old child whose crime is thought to be stealing a cloak.

Many of the prisoners were housed 5 to a small cell with only a candle for light and heat. Male prisoners were treated better than female, with the men being given iron beds to sleep in while the women often had only beds of straw. Given the horrific conditions that women were kept in 30 additional female cells were added in 1840, but even with these extra cells conditions within the prison remained overcrowded. Walking the halls and standing in the cells on a relatively warm day it was chilly; I could only begin to imagine how frigid the temperatures must have been inside during the winter months.

Chapel inside of prison

There is no record of the exact number of people who died within the walls of Kilmainham Gaol, but I imagine given the conditions they lived in the number is rather high. Today many of these souls are believed to still be present making the site one of the most haunted places in Dublin.