A Tour of Kilmainham Gaol
Former Prison in Dublin, Ireland
The first thing a visitor to Kilmainham Gaol in Dublin will notice is the greyness enveloping the prison. From the stone façade, to the stone walls and stony ground of the courtyards/former exercise yards, to the interior of former cells, a drabness cloaks the environment. However, the history and stories within the walls make it well worth a visit.
Kilmainham Gaol Now a Museum
Kilmainham Gaol was first built in 1796, but is now a museum run by the Office of Public Works. Over the 140 years it served as a prison, Kilmainham Gaol housed men, women and children for various offences, from petty theft to larceny to murder. Most famously, it incarcerated the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising, who were also executed at the prison.
Today, a tour of the prison takes visitors past the cells that housed these leaders. A hole in the doors reveals stone walls, a small, barred window, and large wood planks for floors. The cells used to contain a table, chair, shelf, bucket for toiletry purposes, and mattress on the floor to serve as a bed. Prisoners were given a blanket and a candle every two weeks.
The History Behind Kilmainham Gaol
The cells in the older west wing of Kilmainham Gaol — where the 1916 Easter Rising leaders stayed — are dimly lit, and the air is damp and chilly. They overlook a hallway, where as the newer east wing, or Victorian wing, cells set within creamy-coloured walls over a few floors surround an interior courtyard.
Ample natural light shows off the catwalk and stairway at the centre of the courtyard, once used by inmates. Filmmakers also made use of the space. The movies Michael Collins and In the Name of the Father, and the TV series The Tudors have been partially shot at Kilmainham Gaol.
Back in its heyday, the prison was overcrowded to the point where up to six people shared one cell, and inmates slept on hallway floors. Many inmates were shipped off to Australia, and during the Great Famine of 1845-1850, many people committed petty crimes just for shelter and a guaranteed daily meal.
Executions at Kilmainham Gaol
There is a chapel in Kilmainham Gaol. A small altar is still there, and now so are bleacher-style seats, where visitors sit to watch an audio-visual presentation about the prison. It was here Joseph Plunkett, a 1916 Easter Rising leader, married Grace Gifford, after which he spent 10 minutes with her in his cell before being executed in a courtyard. Today, a cross and plaque mark where Plunkett and his contemporaries were shot.
There is a museum in the prison that displays of old locks and keys, meal cards, uniforms, former belongings of inmates, display boards containing the history of the prison and how it functioned, and even a photographic exhibition of the prison.
Visiting Kilmainham Gaol
Admission to Kilmainham Gaol is 6 euro per adult. A visit through the prison is by tour only, which lasts about an hour. Kilmainham Gaol is on Inchicore Road, which is a 15-minute walk from Heuston station. Public buses stop nearby, whereas Dublin city tour buses take visitors right to the entrance.
Kilmainham Gaol is a former prison where its two wings show the different conditions in which inmates — both famous and not famous — lived. Now a museum, exhibits provide a glimpse of prison life, and crosses in Kilmainham Gaol’s courtyard mark history, where leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising were executed by gunshot, not too far away from the courtyard where children were allowed outside.
A View of Kilmainham Gaol's Victorian Wing.
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