From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Victorian Wing

Kilmainham Gaol (Irish: Príosún Chill Mhaighneann) is a former prison, located in Inchicore 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, and the last prisoner held in the jail was Éamon de Valera.

Children were sometimes arrested for petty theft (also the case in 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.

• Henry Joy McCracken, 1796
• Oliver Bond, 1798 (Bond, a native of St. Johnston, Co. Donegal, was to die in the gaol).
• 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, an Ulsterman, during the Civil War.

The following films have been filmed at Kilmainham Gaol

• The Face of Fu Manchu, 1965 (It starred Christopher Lee)
• The Italian Job, 1969
• In the Name of the Father, 1993
• Michael Collins, 1996
• Boondock Saints, 1999

Prisoner crafts in Kilmainham Jail Museum.	Sculpture in Kilmainham Jail Museum.	Jail Chapel where Joseph Plunkett was married to Grace Gifford on the eve of his execution.	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.

• Royal Hospital Kilmainham

• History of Kilmainham Gaol
• Protect Kilmainham Gaol Campaign

Coordinates: 53°20′31″N, 6°18′35″W